Market Explorers: Honey

HONEY-

Did you know?

at a glance Eatwell Guide group: Sugary foods.

Main nutrient: Sugar carbohydrate, for energy.

Stored in the right conditions, honey lasts forever!

When exploring Egypt’s famous pyramids, archaeologists found pots of honey in an ancient tomb dating back approximately 3,000 years. The honey inside was still perfectly edible.

Origin: Wherever there are honey bees, there is honey so it has existed for as long as we have and can be found almost everywhere in the world.

Season: Late summer and autumn.

Storage: Keep in a cool, dark place for as long as you like.

Up to 80,000 bees live in one hive!

What shape is a beeswax cell?

TOP FACT!

There are around 20,000 species of bee. Less than 5% make honey.

Minerals, vitamins, pollen and protein

Water

Natural sugars including fructose and glucose

PRODUCING History

In ancient times the wax from beehives was used as glue or to make pottery waterproof.

In Spain, pictures over 7,000 years old were found of people collecting honey from beehives.

The 4th century Roman cookbook Apicius includes a lot of honey recipes. It is used to sweeten cakes, drinks, salad dressings and a cucumber stew with boiled brains!

where is it COLLECTED today?

Almost all countries produce honey.

You will find lots of honey on sale at Borough Market, including from traders From Field and Flower and Oliveology.

Say hello to the traders when you visit the Market!

See how many honeys from different countries you can find in the Market.

es A group of be ny is called a colo

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The honey is lightly filtered to remove any bits left over from the hive before it’s jarred.

Bee keepers collect the honey, being careful to leave enough for the bees to eat over the winter.

llect Luckily, bees co more nectar 2 or 3 times lony needs. than the co

TOP FACT!

From this...

From early spring until late autumn, worker bees gather nectar and pollen from flowers.

It would take 12 bees their whole lives to make only 1 teaspoon of honey!

How is it

MADE?

The bees travel as far as 4 or 5 miles away from their hive and will visit up to 100 flowers on one trip!

They use a long hollow tube, called a proboscis, to collect the nectar and gather pollen on their hind legs.

The bees feed on the nectar and pollen and turn the rest into honey which they store in beeswax cells.

Worker bees are all female and only live for a few weeks.

They clean the hive, collect pollen and nectar and take care of the offspring. Drone bees are male. They are bigger than the worker bees and their only job is to mate with the queen.

There is only one queen bee in a hive. She lives for 3-4 years and is the only bee to lay eggs - up to 2,000 of them a day!

VARIETIES Honey can come in different colours, flavours and consistencies.

If a honey is higher in fructose than glucose it will be clear and runny.

If it is higher in glucose than fructose it will be cloudy and set.

Once you have opened your jar of honey, temperature and age can also change its texture. For example, as runny honey gets older or is exposed to the cold, it starts to become grainy.

This is called crystallisation.

Look out for From Field and Flower’s white Swedish honey in the Market.

It is made in a special way to stop it going hard in the cold Swedish weather.

TOP FACT!

Bees are very important in growing food. Plants need the pollen they spread to grow fruit and vegetables.This is called

pollination.

As a general rule, light honeys tend to be mild in flavour and dark honeys tend to taste stronger. Honey colour and flavour depends on which flowers the bees have gathered the nectar from. Honeys made from acacia, heather, orange blossom, wild thyme and lavender will taste different to each other for example.

Honey is a natural preservative due to its high sugar content.

This is why it doesn’t need to be pasteurised (see Borough Market’s Milk unit for more on pasteurisation).

In fact, you can eat the honey filled wax combs straight from the hive, with no filtering or treatment at all. This is called honeycomb.

Did you know? Some companies will mix different honeys together and add extra ingredients to be able to sell more of it. So the mixture is the right consistency they often have to heat it up to a high temperature.

This gets rid of all the nutritional value and makes the flavour less interesting. Look out for ‘raw’ honey instead!

COOKING & EATING! There’s more to honey than just sugar!

NUTRITION It has remarkable antiseptic and preservative qualities and has been historically used to heal cuts and grazes, soothe sore throats and aid digestion.

PREP

Tag #marketexplorers and tell us why you love honey.

BREAKFAST

Start the day with a fruity breakfast beaker.

2. Put 1 heaped tbsp of the mixture into the bottom of a mug or glass then sprinkle over a tbsp of fruity muesli.

If your runny honey has crystallised in the jar, gently warm it to make it liquid again.

3. Repeat twice more, then eat!

COOKING Follow these easy recipes for honey loving goodness!

tbsp = tablespoon

We’d love to see all your experiments with honey so don’t forget to take some pictures to share!

1. Mix 1 tsp honey with 3 heaped tbsps natural yoghurt.

Store honey in a cool, dark place, in a glass jar with a tight lid.

tsp = teaspoon

Show + share

TIP: Also delicious if you cover and put into the fridge overnight.

fruit Try adding fresh layers like on top or in the raspberries. banana slices or

DINNER

This super oven-cooked Chinese style chicken will make you very popular.

1. Mix together 1 tsp grated ginger, 2 tbsps light soy sauce, a small clove of garlic (crushed), 1 tbsp runny honey and 1 tbsp vegetable oil, then add 4 tbsps water.

or Serve with rice f a yummy dinner!

2. Chop up a spring onion with scissors and put all of the mixture into a small, lidded casserole with 4 chicken wings or 2 skinned chicken thighs.

3. Ask a grown up to put it into the oven at 160ºC fan for 30-40 minutes.

4. Check the chicken is cooked through and eat.

SNACK

Lavender and honey buns.

1. Mix together 40ml vegetable oil, 80g warm lavender honey, 1 large egg, 1 medium banana and 25ml milk, then stir in 125g self-raising flour.

2. Line a muffin tray with 9 muffin cases and divide the mixture evenly between them. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 165°C. TIP: Try different honey varieties to change the flavour.

Can you smell the lavender as they bake?

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Please tag us in any photos or videos taken while exploring these units.

@boroughmarket #marketexplorers

© Borough Market 2020

This unit is part of Borough Market’s Market Explorers series, helping primary school children discover more about the produce sold in the Market. Each booklet looks at a specific ingredient from field to fork, and has been devised in collaboration with children’s cooking authors and TV consultants Sally Brown and Kate Morris – the duo behind CBeebies ‘i can cook’ and ‘My World Kitchen’.