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Probably one of the healthiest foods in the entire history of humanity, with a history so old as to make the pyramids envious. Honey is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most interesting and unique foods that humanity has to offer
Before agriculture
For millennia, honey has represented the only sweetener available, immediately entering the hearts and kitchens of thousands of families. Its origins, however, are very complicated to identify also because, unlike many plants, it is possible to find very large quantities in nature. Nonetheless, it seems that the word “honey” derives from the hittite melit, a word later taken up by the Greeks and Romans for Malta, “the island of honey”.
Considered by the Hellenists as the “food of the gods”, this precious food spread quickly throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, becoming one of the very first “superfoods” of antiquity. Its incredible therapeutic properties, combined with an enormous vastness of flavors and aromas, made it become an absolute must for every table, being replaced only by the subsequent arrival of sugar. It must be said, however, that thanks to the discovery of its potential, it is gradually recovering the lost ground, also because honey is a “malleable” food.
A honey for every malaise
In fact, it varies greatly both in taste and in consistency according to which plants come in contact with bees. Unlike sugar, this food is able to vary a lot of its characteristics, managing to reproduce a good part of the original aromas of that given flower and / or plant. Precisely for this reason, in Italy alone over 50 different varieties are available, thus promoting a continuous exploration of flavor. Arbutus honey, for example, is one of the most prized in the world both in rarity and in taste, as well as having antiasthmatic, diuretic and antiseptic properties.
In the Quran we find traces of the precious food in Surat 16, dedicated precisely to bees. In these verses, in particular, we are clearly shown the incredible healing vein of honey, taken from the belly of bees to heal the whole of humanity. Highly recommended to treat any Ramadan malaise, combined with milk it is more effective than many syrups.
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