Products of the hive - sticky, sweet and healthful

Sugar, sugar ... ah, honey, honey

Probably the most familiar of all the products of the hive is honey. This is surprising when one learns just how much work it takes for honey bees to make honey. Consider this: according to the National Honey Board, to make one pound of honey, honey bees must tap 2 million flowers; to bring us one pound of honey, a hive of honey bees must fly more than 55,000 miles; and during her lifetime, the average honey bee makes just 1/12th teaspoon of honey.

Supporters of refined sugar as a sweetener tend to claim that honey offers no nutritional advantages over sugar. This is not true. Derived from cane or beet, sugar, once refined, loses its carbohydrate content, and level of other nutrients. When you do use sugar, look for all-natural (organic, if possible), unrefined sugar. When looking for honey. watch for unrefined raw honey, which looks cloudy in appearance due to its richness in suspended bee pollen.

In a landmark study done several years ago, H.A. Schuette, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), tested honey samples from various regions and found that every one of the samples contained a wide range of B vitamins (in mg) per 100 g of honey: riboflavin -- from 7 to 60; pantothenic acid -- from 9 to 110; niacin -- from 72 to 590; thiamin -- from 1.4 to 12; and pyridoxine -- from 0 to 27.7.

Research by the late J.I. Rodale revealed a vitamin C-content in honey from 0 mg to 311.2 mg per 100 g of honey. Darker honeys generally contain more vitamins and minerals -- specifically, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, silica, and sodium -- than do lighter honeys.

In an interview with U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritionist Richard J. Wood, Carlson Wade, in his book, Health from the Hive, learned that glucose in honey can increase the absorption of calcium by 25 percent. "`Our findings indicate that glucose can be an effective way of enhancing intestinal absorption of calcium,"' Wood stated.

Wade wrote that glucose from honey "boosts the absorption of other essential minerals, as well: zinc and magnesium. In contrast, sugar, according to kinesiology researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, can weaken bone strength and block growth by inhibiting calcium absorption in the intestines and reducing the amount that gets into the bones."

In addition, many researchers have found that honey, topically applied, helps to heal some slow-healing wounds.

In some recipes, you can substitute unprocessed honey for sugar -- one half tablespoon of honey to every whole tablespoon of sugar. Honey does contain more calories, however: a half tablespoon of honey contains 31.5 calories, compared with a tablespoon of sugar that contains 39 calories. Wade reminded us that, when you substitute honey for sugar, you should reduce the liquid called for by 1/2 cup for every cup of honey used to replace sugar.

"Add 1/2 teaspoon salt-free or reduced-salt baking soda to the recipe for every cup of honey substituted. Bake at a temperature 25 degrees lower than that called for in the recipe," he suggests.