Honey The Nectar of Life

Honey is the flower transformed, the landscape distilled. From the rich chestnut-blossom honey of Italy to the pale gold eucalyptus and acacia honeys of the rugged California coast, every variety of honey is redolent of a distinct place. 

In Jewish communities, honey had become an important component of festive occasions. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, was celebrated with apples dipped in honey, symbolizing a wish for a sweet year to come. Round loaves of challah (a braided yeast bread enriched with eggs) were spread with honey, and the meal ended with slices of spiced honey cake and honey-sweetened fruit compotes. On the first day of a boy s enrollment in chadar, or religious school, letters from the Talmud (the collection of Jewish laws and traditions) would be written in honey on a slate and licked off by the new boys so as to make their learning sweet (Rosenbaum, 2002). 

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Water is the second major component of honey (17.2 g/100 g Table 4.1). It depends not only on environmental factors, such as the weather and humidity inside the hive, but also on the treatments applied during nectar and honey collection and storage (Olaitan et al., 2007). It is an important quality parameter because it predicts the shelf life of the product and the capacity of the honey to remain stable and free from fermentation. Higher... 

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