As a term of endearment, we often say ‘honey,’ and the thought of honey generally brings to mind a positive image. Unlike sweet candies and chocolate, honey tastes sweet and packs beneficial ingredients. Being humanity’s first sweetener, people can consume honey as is or use it as an excellent ingredient in foods. This article introduces interesting and beneficial stories, including healthier ways to consume honey.
Why Sugar Pushed Out Honey
The sweet taste of honey was very appealing to humankind. Bees’ honey, being easy to digest and consumable immediately, became one of the first foods humans ate. Additionally, people used bees’ honey as a sweetener in food. However, the mass production of sugar eventually pushed this honey out of everyday use.
Sugar cane plantations and sugar made from beets led to a decrease in sugar prices, and sugar took the top spot as the most popular sweetener. Ironically, the perfection of honey as a food also contributed to its being pushed out. Honey has a unique aroma and complex substances, including bee enzymes, along with its sweet taste. Using honey in cooking can actually ruin its flavor, so it is best when consumed immediately after bees produce it.
‘Winnie the Pooh’ Being Female is a False Rumor
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The character ‘Winnie the Pooh,’ who loves honey and has a cute and cozy image, stands as one of the representative characters of pop culture. The original Winnie the Pooh started with the fairy tale ‘Winnie the Pooh’ by A.A. Milne. Winnie the Pooh appears as a character who grows by weaving stories with his best friend, Christopher Robin. A.A. Milne drew Pooh based on Winnie, the model in ‘Finding Winnie’ by Lindsay Mattick.
The boy who loved Winnie was A.A. Milne’s son, Christopher. A.A. Milne wrote Pooh’s stories based on the models he created. However, Winnie was said to be female. But Winnie Pooh’s voice is male, and in Winnie, the Pooh, written by A.A. Milne, Pooh is referred to as ‘He,’ ‘Him,’ words that denote males. While Winnie is female, it is correct that Pooh appears as a male in both the book and the animation.
How to Become a Queen Bee
Have you ever wondered about the creation of a queen bee? When an existing queen bee dies, or a mated queen bee leaves the colony to form a new one, the original hive needs a new queen bee. Worker bees then have to select an egg laid by the queen bee to be the new queen. Bees determine the criteria for this selection based on genetic strength. The bee destined to become the queen exhibits a significantly higher expression of proteins necessary for material metabolism within the mitochondria, cell growth, and cell differentiation.
Consequently, worker bees feed the future queen bee royal jelly to facilitate her transformation into a queen. The workers give less royal jelly to the larvae not chosen to be queen bees and provide them with pollen and honey. This diet suppresses the expression of growth-related proteins, thus creating a distinction between them and the queen bee.
The myriad benefits of honey, a superfood
Honey is not only sweet but also boasts various health benefits, making it a delicious and beneficial food. Honey has natural antibacterial properties. Often referred to as a natural cold remedy, its antibacterial effects can help alleviate cold symptoms, and it is also beneficial for asthma, easing symptoms such as laryngitis. Moreover, boiling jujube and bellflower and adding honey can enhance its effects, alleviating headaches and joint pain.
Furthermore, honey has excellent effects on skin care. It is known for its skin moisturizing and whitening effects. The skin cell-protecting stratum corneum tends to weaken due to reduced synthesis of filaggrin, a type of protein. However, honey aids in filaggrin synthesis, effectively preventing this weakening. In addition, with its various benefits, honey is often cited as a superfood that is good for the body.
Avoid consuming honey in hot form.
People expect that dissolving honey in hot water will alleviate a hangover in the morning after heavy drinking. However, honey water heated above 158 degrees Fahrenheit does not alleviate hangovers. The reason is that high-temperature honey water destroys the beneficial components of honey. High temperatures can quickly destroy honey’s vitamins and enzymes, and honey’s sugar, acids, and proteins are also sensitive to heat.
Honey is healthier when consumed cold or dissolved in lukewarm water, around 122 degrees Fahrenheit, the best temperature to enjoy honey healthily. Also, using a stainless steel spoon to scoop out honey and dissolve it in water can cause the honey to deteriorate, as honey and stainless steel are incompatible. Therefore, using a wooden spatula or a ceramic bowl instead of stainless steel utensils is better.
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