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Authors: Cal Orey

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BOOK: The Healing Powers of Honey
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PART 7
F
UTURE
H
ONEY
CHAPTER 12
Honeymania: Honey for the Household
When you shoot an arrow of truth, dip its point in honey.
—Arab proverb
1
 
 
 
 
 
Like a field bee making a beeline to its colony, I returned home to San Jose, a region still plentiful in corn fields, lemon and apple trees, and flower gardens. My life included the three of us: one motocross racer; my dog, Stone Fox; and me. We found a garden apartment in the South Bay.
A typical night before a race, I'd be in the kitchen of our garden apartment. Busy as a worker bee, I'd create peanut butter honey balls. In a bowl I'd mix up peanut butter, raisins, nuts, and honey to hold it all together like honeycomb. On our drives to different races, we both enjoyed the honey balls for energy and a feel-good boost.
The summer before our domesticated San Jose lifestyle, we camped outdoors like wild bees in Sonora, gold miner's country. Again, I was amid nature with the Tuolumne River, trees, and flowers—a honey bee's paradise. I remember making sun tea laced with honey. A local woman watched me working, sunning, and swimming in the river with my lab. She called out to us, “Life is short and you'll remember days like this!” Today, her words ring true. I can envision the freedom of traveling from place to place like a honey bee.
In this chapter, I will show you that while honey is used as a food, it's also making a splash in the United States and around the world for other reasons. There's the amazing world of honey and how it's used in amazing ways. The nectar of the gods is “in” and appreciated both indoors and in the great outdoors, wherever your honey bee spirit guides you.
THE HONEY CRAZE
The National Honey Board's recent survey shows that a pro-honey attitude is on the mark, sort of. More than 500 households, both men and women between the ages of 21 and 74, were contacted to find out about their honey attitude:
• 65 percent of households currently use and have honey in their home.
• 60 percent of respondents reported purchasing honey within the past year.
• One-quarter of the total number of respondents did not know that pure honey has no other ingredients. Those who believed there were ingredients added to honey expected to find syrups, sugars, and/or preservatives on the ingredient list.
• More than two-fifths of all households indicate they are willing to pay a premium of about 10 percent for whole-wheat bread, barbeque sauce, and breakfast cereal made with honey.
• For the total number of respondents, it was reported that honey was primarily used as a sweetener in beverages and/or as a spread on toast and thus was used most often at breakfast.
(
Source:
National Honey Board, 2009.)
WIDESPREAD HONEY APPEAL
While honey is a household name in the kitchen for people in the United States, it is praised for its edible uses around the globe, too. If traveling in another country, you'll find these honeys can be a fruitful experience (like tasting chocolate in foreign countries), as imports are sweet but not as fresh to the palate.
Honey Type
Country(ies) of Origin
Acacia
Eastern Europe (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria)
Apple blossom
UK
Borage
UK/New Zealand
Cherry blossom
UK
Clover
Canada / New Zealand
Eucalyptus
Australia
Hawthorn
UK
Lavender
France/Spain
Leatherwood
Tasmania
Lime blossom
China/UK/Poland
Orange blossom
Spain/Mexico
Rosemary
France/Spain
Strawberry clover
Australia
Wild thyme
Greece/New Zealand/France/Spain
Sunflower
France/Spain
(
Source:
The Honey Association.)
BEESWAX IN YOUR HIVE
Welcome to the world of beeswax, another gift of the honey bee. Before I entered Honeyland, I was clueless to using this honey product in my home. I've discovered that it is a common household item that is used for lots of essential needs. We're talking candles, soaps, and furniture polishes.
Once you try beeswax candles, honey soap, and homemade beeswax furniture polish it's going to be a task to go back to whatever it was that you were using before. If beeswax items make it into your home, they will be a much-appreciated staple.
CANDLES—A BEE-AUTIFUL GIFT
I love the warmth and ambiance candles create in my home. The glow of candles makes each room in your home more inviting. In the kitchen, a scented candle provides a nice effect when you're cooking and baking. When you are serving a meal at any time of the day, candles in the dining room or living room can make the occasion more special and comforting. Moving on into the bathroom, we all know candles can provide a relaxing spa-type experience. And from the living room to the bedroom, from dusk to late night, flickering candles are more soothing and romantic than a bright light.
In ancient Egypt, tombs revealed carvings of candles. During the Middle Ages in Europe, only the wealthy could afford beeswax candles. In 1857, paraffin wax, stearin, and a wick were combined to create candles everyone could afford. Nowadays, beeswax is often used to make candles and beeswax candles are in many ways better than the popular paraffin candles—less costly but with a price to pay when it comes to your health and well-being. After all, the beeswax candles are 100 percent pure. What's more, they burn a clean, hot, and bright flame, are long lasting, create minimal smoke, and are nontoxic and nonallergenic. And that's not all....
Dutchman's Gold's bee experts explain that beeswax is a natural wax—and immediately the word “natural” has got my attention. As they tell it, beeswax is secreted by the glands of honey bees as they do their work of producing and storing honey in the hive. Not only does beeswax have a natural scent—like the floral source from which the bees gather nectar—but when beeswax candles are burned they make negative ions that remove toxins and impurities from the air. Think philodendron plants and make room in your house for the natural candle, a gift to you from the honey bee and their people who make candles.
A Candlestick Maker's Beeswax Story
Ferdinand Knorr came to the United States in 1904 after fleeing from his native Poland and the Russian Czar. Tinkering in his machine shop and enjoying his hobby of beekeeping proved to be a successful combination. Fred produced an improved honeycomb for his bees and his famous candles soon followed . . . candles that were dripless, smokeless, and had a gentle scent.
The candles were developed in 1928 and initially sold to gift shops and a local inn.
The business took off like a forager bee and has been operated by his family since the mid 20th century.
Henry, Judy, and new owner Steve have made Knorr Candle Factory an ongoing success by using the finest materials and holding on to traditional manufacturing methods. Knorr's high quality dripless 100 percent beeswax candles with wicks are a welcome addition to homes in all fifty states and around the globe.
Speaking of locale, 160,000 bees must travel 150,000 miles collecting nectar to produce 60 pounds of honey that yield only 1 pound of beeswax.
A do-it-yourself candle-making kit with candle rolling instructions paid me a visit, thanks to Knorr's. I received all earth-tone colors from the Beeswax Candle Color Palette. At first, the instructions appeared challenging (I flunked the IQ test in grade school and the army test, too: it had lots of math and tool recognition). So, when I first saw the diagrams my thought was,
I'm out of here.
But then, it made sense. Diagram A shows how to roll one 8-inch candle; Diagram B shows how to roll two 4 ¼–inch candles, and Diagram C shows how to roll one jumbo 4 ¼–inch candle. But note, it's easy once you get the hang of it after a few tries, and easier than making candles from scratch over a hot stove. I'll save that project for a snow day.
THE ABCS OF BURNING BEESWAX CANDLES
Is there really a fine art to burning beeswax candles? Well, if you want to enjoy those beautiful tea lights, tapers, molds, and pillars, yes, there are some tips to help you get it right the first time.
• To ensure even-burning and dripless features, keep all beeswax candles away from drafts and ceiling fans.
• Do not leave burning candles unattended.
• Keep out of reach of children and companion animals. Remove any potential flammable material from the vicinity of candles.
• Pillar candles are more high maintenance than tapers. To keep pillars in tiptop shape, trim the wick when needed to ¼ inch. Always put out the flame using a candle snuffer. Be sure the ember is out.
• When pillar candles are fully extinguished, pour off excess liquid wax into a nonflammable container. With a knife or sharp tool, trim outside edges on the top of the candle down to the height of the top wick.
(
Source:
Dutchman's Gold.)
SWEET HOLIDAYS, SWEET HONEY
As a kid raised Catholic I can remember honey played a role during the holidays in suburbia where I grew up. Even on Fridays (no meat) honey played a role with our glazed fish dinners. In the winter, on special days such as Valentine's Day, my mother would always make a dinner including honey-basted game hens, wild rice, green peas, and homemade biscuits paired with clover honey. During Easter, a honey-baked ham was a tradition in our home. And in the summer, on the Fourth of July, fried chicken and corn bread slathered with honey didn't get ignored at neighborhood block parties.
In the fall, birthdays in October were celebrated with tea and honey because this was the month that usually one of my siblings or I caught a cold or flu. Thanksgiving was a main event and a honey-glazed turkey was served on our dining room table. Once Christmas vacation rolled around and through the New Year's holiday, cookies—all types—were baked and often infused with honey. Honey was part of our household and made each holiday special. But I'm hardly alone in celebrating the golden nectar, and its ways differ from religion to religion.
HOLY HONEY
Take a look at other ways honey is used in households, be it as food or decorations for honoring different religions.
Religion
Uses
Buddhism
Honey is used in the festival of Madhu Purnima, observed in India and Bangladesh. Buddhists give honey to the monks in memory of the legend of a monkey bringing Buddha honey while he was making peace among his disciples in the wilderness.
Christianity/Catholicism
Honey is used in beeswax candles. Religious candles are used for decoration and observance of holy holidays, including baptisms, confirmations, Christmas, and Easter, as well as altar candles.
Christianity/Catholicism
Honey is used in grasshopper pie to remember John the Baptist, who, as a legend tells it, survived in the wild on a diet of locust and wild honey.
Hinduism
Honey is one of five elixirs of immortality. In temples honey is poured over deities in a ritual dubbed Madhu abhisheka.
Judaism
Honey is a symbol for the New Year, Rosh Hashanah. The tradition is apple slices dipped in honey.
Honey To-Do List: The week before your honey holiday invite friends and family; familiarize yourself with the traditional ceremony; buy special foods and items at online sites, which offer a wide variety; write out recipes and a menu; and purchase small honey-related gift items. The day of your holiday create a bee-autiful table setting and make the food.
BEESWAX WORKERS
Making your own all-natural beeswax polish seems easy enough, but I gravitated toward a ready-made product. The Original Bee's Wax Old World Formula Furniture Polish snagged my interest. This is dubbed as “America's Premier Furniture Polish since 1974” and has natural beeswax. I captured the magic of beeswax because of this polish's convenientto-use aerosol form (visit their website:
www.beeswaxpolish.com
).
It lives up to the promise that it's the one furniture polish that “won't fingerprint; leaves no wax buildup; makes granite and marble acid resistant; needs no buffing; and enhances the true natural beauty of all wood.” It's good to use on antiques, kitchen cabinets, wrought iron, porcelain, mirrors, marble, leather, glass, stainless steel, and more. In my Old Tahoe–style cabin with a Mediterranean charm, it made my antique dining room table with wrought iron shine. I fell in love with this beeswax furniture polish. But there are other choices if you want a DIY furniture polish or other household cleaners....
Beeswax Polish
Beeswax furniture polish with its soft, satin shine is considered the ultimate in wood care. Note that there is very little difference between this formula and the formula for shoe polish.
 
4 ounces (weight) beeswax
2 tablespoons carnauba wax
2½ cups odorless turpentine or mineral spirits
 
Melt the waxes on high in a microwave or in a double boiler. Remove the waxes from the heat and stir in the turpentine or mineral spirits. Apply the polish with a clean cloth and rub in small circles. Turn the cloth as it becomes dirty. Allow the polish to dry, then buff with a clean cloth. If more than one coat is desired, wait two days between applications.
Copper Cleaner
42 parts soap flakes
42 parts vinegar, 5 percent to 7 percent acetic acid
2.4 parts beeswax
9.2 parts mineral oil
42 parts citric acid, USP crystals
 
Combine the soap and vinegar to make a paste. Melt the beeswax and mineral oil together in a microwave or double boiler. Stir in the soap mixture and the citric acid. Let the cleaner set overnight before using it. Apply the polish with a clean, damp cloth. Rinse the copper and wipe it dry with a clean cloth.
Spice Sachets
1½ oz. weight beeswax
1 cup applesauce
1½ cups ground cinnamon or a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice,
and cloves
Up to 1 teaspoon of essential oil from any of the spices may also be added.
 
Heat the wax and applesauce in a microwave or double boiler until the wax is melted. Stir in the ground spices. Knead the mixture until it is dough-like. Roll the dough into sheets and cut out forms or handform the dough into balls or beads. Place the forms on cardboard. They will harden in 3 or 4 days. The fragrance will last for years.
(
Source:
Courtesy of SoulShine Beeswax Candles; www.soulshinecandles @charter.net.)
BOOK: The Healing Powers of Honey
8.58Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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