Recently I noticed that a large art supplier was buying Dutch Gold honey and I wondered why an art supply company would be buying honey. It sounded a little curious so I looked into it and found out that honey is actually used to make watercolors! The binding agents in watercolor typically include glycerin and gum arabic, but both of these tend to dry out quickly. A humectant is needed in the mixture to retain moisture. Typically, the humectant in most watercolors is corn syrup because it is cheap, but some companies continue to use the original ingredient, honey, in their paints. Honey has been used since the 19th century in watercolors and it is better at retaining moisture than corn syrup. Honey keeps watercolor from hardening, gives an artist great washes and stays moist for longer, allowing an artist more time to manipulate the paint!
Probably the reason most people steer clear of bees is because they can
sting. Bee stings are certainly not the most pleasant thing to experience and
this is mainly due to the venom they leave behind. Apitoxin, or honey bee venom,
is a bitter, acidic, colorless liquid produced in the abdomen of worker bees.
Bee venom is a complex mixture of proteins
from secretions, which cause local inflammation and acts as an anticoagulant.
It is estimated that 1% of the population is allergic to bee stings. That being
said, bee venom is becoming an increasingly popular treatment for arthritis, rheumatism
and joint diseases because of its anticoagulant
and anti-inflammatory
properties. If getting stung by bees isn’t your cup of tea, bee venom balms are
also available to apply to your skin but they are less potent. Recent studies
from earlier this year have also found that a key ingredient in bee venom destroys HIV without harming other cells. I think it is
safe to say that the unique properties of bee venom will continue to be studied
by scientists and will may be used in a larger number of treatments in the
future.
In a natural hive environment, a queen will lay
eggs wherever she feels like (I am told queens lay eggs in a spiral pattern).
Honey cells are not necessarily separated from cells with larvae. This is fine,
unless you would go to eat a piece of honeycomb and half of it was bee larvae.
I can’t imagine that would be very tasty. In order to keep honey cells and
‘bee’ cells separate, many beekeepers will use what is called an excluder. It keeps
the queen from laying eggs in honey supers with honey. Excluders work because
queens are larger in size than worker bees so queens cannot pass through an
excluder. Drones are also too large to fit through an excluder. Some beekeepers
like excluders and some don’t. Non-fans have termed them ‘honey excluders’
because they believe that if a bee doesn’t have to go through another step to
get to the honey part of the hive, then it won’t. If you plan on keeping bees
mainly for the honey, I would suggest getting one.
Propolis is a glue-like
substance that bees collect from tree saps and plants to fill in and seal up any holes in the hive structure.
Propolis is used for small gaps while larger spaces are usually filled with beeswax.
Propolis helps to keep out dirt, disease, and parasites that may harm a bee
colony as wells as inhibiting the growth of any bacteria that may occur. The color can
vary, but it is usually dark brown. Humans have used propolis for its health benefits for
centuries. Propolis is believed to help heal inflammation
and burns and in some places is recommended for sore throats. It is also
thought to promote heart health and strengthen immune systems. If a person is
allergic to bees or bee products, propolis is not recommended as it may cause
bad allergic reactions.
If you don't know, honey smuggling is a large operation. Since 2001, Chinese honey that enters the U.S. has anti-dumping duties on it because Chinese honey was being sold at such low prices that it was harmful to the U.S. beekeeping industry. Also, some Chinese honey has been found to have illegal antibiotics in it and is many times mixed with corn syrup to make a larger profit. After the anti-dumping duties took affect, honey started to be transshipped to other countries so that it would avoid these duties. Since then, Homeland Security and the DOJ have fined and arrested people that have been smuggling Chinese honey into the U.S. illegally. Just recently the proposed preliminary renewed anti-dumping duties against Chinese honey have been set at $1.19/lb. This is good news for American beekeepers: hopefully it will deter corrupt honey companies from smuggling in Chinese honey. Purchase honey with the True Source Certified logo on it to make sure that your honey is not from China.
Would you like to get stung by bees on purpose? Apitherapy is treatment via controlled bee stings and the use of beehive products! Bees create quite a number of unique substances that no other creature can create. Propolis, bee venom, royal jelly, bee pollen and beeswax are the most noted of these. It is becoming more and more popular by the day as people turn away from Western medicine to treat their ailments. Many people swear by apitherapy to help alleviate certain types of pain including swelling and joint pain. Many people that suffer from arthritis have turned to bees to help. To learn more on apitherapy, a good website is www.apitherapy.org.
Why do bees make honey? So they have something to sustain themselves during winter of course! But since many commercial beekeepers need to sell the honey for profit, honey gets taken out of the hive and beekeepers must replace it with another food for the bees to survive on. Sometimes honey is replaced with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Research has shown that a bee's life is shortened about 4-5 days when fed a diet of HFCS. Not good! Even though HFCS may seem like a safe alternative, the original source --Corn-- is almost all genetically modified and treated with pesticides these days. It would be hard not believe that some trace of these pesticides helps to cause this. Sugar water seems to be a safer bet if you need to feed bees.
