If Bees Disappear? Threat to Human Survival & The Amazing Benefits of Honey [Everything About Honey]

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Honey’s Ancient Sweetness: A History for Humanity

Since ancient times, honey has been a precious food offering sweetness to humankind. Before sugar extracted from sugarcane and sugar beets in the West Indies was introduced, honey was the sole ingredient providing sweetness. Just as jochung is made by saccharifying carbohydrate starch, then boiled and stretched to create taffy, honey was a valuable substance possessing natural sweetness.

Anecdotes from the past, such as stories of trouble caused by broken honey jars or Oseong and Haneum stealing honey pots, illustrate just how precious and long-integrated honey has been in our lives.

Bees: More Than Just Insects

Bees are not merely pollinators; they are invaluable creatures providing humanity with four precious resources: honey, pollen, royal jelly, and propolis.

1. Honey: Nature’s Gift for Winter

Honey, collected by worker bees from flowers to sustain themselves through winter, is undoubtedly a precious medium for insect-pollinated plants to pass on their genes to future generations.

Recently, in rural areas, bees are essential for pollinating crops grown in vinyl houses, such as strawberries. However, due to a lack of domestic supply, the majority of these bees are imported from overseas.

Albert Einstein’s warning, “If bees disappear, humanity will have only four years left to live,” is by no means an exaggeration. The significant decline in the number of migratory beekeepers is an alarming situation.

2. Feeding Honey vs. Natural Honey: The Shadow of Human Greed

Due to human greed, honey stored as winter food is taken away, and bees are fed sugar water to produce what is known as “feeding honey.”

Various methods to distinguish natural honey from feeding honey have been devised since ancient times, but recently, beekeeping associations and other organizations utilize scientific methods employing specialized equipment.

Acacia honey in spring and chestnut honey in autumn are representative examples of natural honey. However, it is difficult to differentiate them from feeding honey by mere appearance, and authenticity can only be determined through component analysis.

The carbon isotope ratio (HMF count) indicated on honey packaging is a key indicator. According to experts, the carbon isotope ratio (¹³C/¹²C ratio) of the C3 plant group, the source of flower honey, ranges from -22 to -33‰, while that of sugar source plants ranges from -10 to -20‰.

3. Additional Gifts from Honeybees: Nature’s Power for Health

Pollen, royal jelly, and propolis are all natural substances produced by honeybees and are widely used as health foods due to their various beneficial effects. However, individuals with allergies or gallstone issues should exercise caution.

• 1) Pollen (Flower Pollen): A lump formed by mixing flower-collected pollen with honey, containing a variety of nutrients.
• 2) Royal Jelly: A substance secreted from the pharyngeal glands of worker bees to nourish queen bees. It contains various nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.
• 3) Propolis: A mixture created by bees combining their saliva and beeswax with substances collected from tree sap or flower pistils. It serves to fill gaps in the hive and protect it from external threats, containing various antioxidant components like flavonoids, phenolic acids, and terpenes.

In Conclusion: Honey is more than just a sweetener; it is a precious resource intertwined with human history, and bees are essential for maintaining our ecosystem. We must reconsider the value of honey and bees and strive for their protection.