DATE: 9/4/07

CONTACT: Mike Hood, (864) 656-0346; mhood@clemson.edu

WRITER: Diane Palmer, (864) 656-4741; spalmer@clemson.edu

September is a honey of a month

CLEMSON – September is National Honey Month and this year Mike Hood, Clemson Extension bee specialist, urges consumers to appreciate honey as nature’s sweetener.

Honey has many nutritional benefits, according to Hood. It is composed primarily of carbohydrates and water, and includes small amounts of a wide array of vitamins and minerals.

Of recent interest is the antioxidant content of honey. It contains a variety of flavonoids and phenolic acids act as antioxidants, which eliminate free radicals from the body.

Honey’s color and flavor depends on the blossoms the honey bees visit in search of nectar. It can be almost colorless or dark amber brown and the flavor varies from delectably mild to richly bold. As a general rule, the lighter colored honey is milder in taste and dark colored honey is stronger.

More than 300 types of honey varieties are available in the United States. The National Honey Board maintains a website called the Honey Locators, which provides consumers a quick and easy way to search for honey varieties as well as honey products and honey suppliers. The website address is: www.honeylocator.com.

The National Honey Board recommends consumers store honey at room temperature. When substituting honey for granulated sugar, begin by substituting honey for up to half of the sugar called for in a recipe. When baking, remember to reduce any liquid by ¼ cup for each cup of honey used. Add ½ teaspoon of baking soda for each cup of honey used and reduce oven temperature by 25 degrees F to prevent over browning.

Honey is also used for treating minor burns and scrapes and for aiding the treatment of sore throats and other bacterial infections. For more information, visit www.honey.com.

Honey production in the United States is down by 11 percent and prices are up by 14 percent, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Honey bees have had some rough years with such problems as colony collapse disorder, small hive beetle, pesticides used by man, genetically modified crops and parasitic mites.

Honey bees play an important role in food production. Many food crops are heavily dependent on honey bees for pollination. Some fruit and vegetable crops that are dependent on honey bees and are grown commercially in South Carolina are apple, cantaloupe, cucumber, squash and watermelon. An estimated 2,000 beekeepers in South Carolina manage about 25,000 honey bee colonies.

“Without honey bees and beekeepers to move colonies, U.S. food production would decline,” Hood said.

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