Honey has many benefits beyond taste

Each morning, Ken Hayes puts two big squirts of honey in his coffee. He’s practically given up granulated sugar, so it’s a good thing he harvests his own honey.

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Hayes joined the ranks of beekeepers — or, apiarists — three years ago. A small pond spills into Big Creek within walking distance of his Rehobeth home. On one side of the pond sits 10 active bee hives that make up Hayes Big Creek Apiary. The beekeeper plans to add four more before next year’s harvest.

“I just wanted to see if I was in the right place to make good honey,“ Hayes said.

Big Creek provides all the water the bees could ever want. Clover and yellow poplar trees in the creek’s marshy surroundings supply the nectar Hayes’ bees need to create the light amber honey he sells around the Wiregrass.

“It does make good-tasting honey,“ he said. “ ... The nectar is the key. When they don’t have nectar, they don’t make honey.“

For centuries, it has been used as a sweetener, a medicinal remedy and as a beauty aid. Cleopatra reportedly took regular milk and honey baths to maintain a youthful appearance, according to the National Honey Board. Honey’s antimicrobial properties made it a common wound dressing and infection fighter before the days of antibiotics. Today, some people still use honey — particularly manuka honey — to treat burns.

Some people swear by a dose of honey a day to ward off allergy attacks.

Honey has 64 calories, 17 grams of carbohydrates, zero fat and 16 grams of sugar per tablespoon. It is a carbohydrate that supplies the body and muscles with energy and contains vitamins, minerals, amino acids and acts as an antioxidant.

Honey’s benefits, flavor and coloring all goes back to the nectar bees bring back to their hive.

“The darker the honey the more twang and a little more bite there is to it,“ said Phillip Carter, an urban regional extension agent with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

And it’s believed the darker the honey, the more powerful it is as an antioxidant.

Buckwheat honey — produced in Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — is dark and full-bodied. Avocado honey is dark with a buttery taste. Tupelo honey, harvested in northwest Florida, is a golden amber and considered premium honey. Local honey primarily comes from clover and Japanese privet, Carter said. The blooms produce an amber-colored and mild-tasting honey. And if someone has a enough cotton nearby, bees might even produce a nearly-transparent honey from the nectar of cotton blooms.

The prime collection time for bees is April and May with beekeepers beginning extraction in June. Unfortunately, 2009 has not been a good year for honey. Flooding rains in early spring kept bees close to their hives and washed away important nectar.

“Too much rain and rain at the wrong time like that is actually worse than having no rain,“ Carter said. “Bees will make more honey in a drought.“

Hayes got about 88 gallons out of his 10 hives this year. An extractor machine helps make the process of harvesting easier for Hayes, who sells his honey at Dothan Nurseries, Shutes Pecan Co., Stephenson-Smith IGA, the Butcher Block, Sawyers in Malvern, Taylor Grocery, Midland City IGA and Slocomb Feed.

Hayes has harvested as much as 21 gallons per hive.

“That’s a very good honey year, which this year was not,“ Hayes said.