Why does honey not perish

The earliest recorded use of honey for medicinal purposes comes from Sumerian clay tablets, which state that honey was used in 30 percent of prescriptions. The ancient Egyptians used medicinal honey regularly , making ointments to treat skin and eye diseases. If you buy your honey from a small-scale vendor, however, certain particulates might remain, from pollen to enzymes.

As soon as you add water to it, it may go bad. Or if you open the lid, it may get more water in it and it may go bad. What is it that makes honey such a special food?

So why does one sugar solution spoil, while another lasts indefinitely? Enter bees. In fact, it proves your honey is real and not pasteurized! Crystallization happens most often in real honey, because it contains natural sugars and pollen, both things you want in your honey. Only natural, real honey undergoes these normal changes and can last for thousands of years. And those natural benefits go far beyond a long lifespan. Honey contains numerous vitamins and enzymes that make it a naturally occurring sugar replacement.

Unfiltered honey means that all of the goodies stay inside the honey, including pollen. Having a high pollen count in honey allows you to trace honey back to its original source.

This is more than a fun experiment; it proves your honey has come from real, living flowers and has not come from overseas. No imposters here! On a final note, you might also notice that, over time, honey tends to crystallise and solidify.

Over time, glucose will precipitate out of the solution, forming solid crystals. Hungry for more food and drink chemistry? Check out the Compound Interest book! In fact, the oldest known sample of honey, found in an Ancient Egyptian tomb and dated to approximately … […]. It certainly can last a reasonably long time, but unfortunately the thing about ancient Egypt is just an oft repeated myth.

He tells us that honey has such astonishing preservative properties that the oldest known sample […]. In fact, jars of honey found in Egyptian tombs have been tested, and determined edible even now, […]. Honey is hygroscopic: it absorbs water. Indeed it is — I think that all of the claims of it not going off are probably assuming correct storage! Want to help support us, and also get things to put on your walls, cover your torso and hold your liquids?

It is literally good forever. Unlike […]. It never goes off, not ever. Close Menu Home. Infographics Index.