CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Honey is as old as written history dating back to 2100 BC where it was mentioned Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform writings, the Hittie code and then sacred writings of India and Egypt it is presumably even older than that. It names from English living and it was the first and most wide spread sweetener used by man, legend has it that cupid dipped his love arrows in honey before aiming at unsuspecting lovers. In the old testament of the Bible, Israel was often referred to as the land of milk and honey. “Mead, an alcoholic drink made from honey was called nectar of the goods” high praise indeed. Honey was valued highly and often used as a form of currency tribute or offering. In the 4th century A. D German peasants paid their feudal Lords in honey and beeswax. Although experts argue whether the honeybee is native to the Americas, conquering spanards in 1600 AD found Mexicans and Central Americans had already developed bee keeping method to produce honey.
In ancient days, honey has been used not only in food and beverages, but also to make cement in furniture polishes and varnishes and for medicinal purposes. And of course, bees perform vital senlice of pollinating fruits, legumes and other types of food producing plants in the course of their business of honey production. Honey was pronounced in English (hnni) is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees i.e. (GenusApis) is the most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by bee keepers and consumed by human. Honey produced by other bees and insects has distinctly different properties. Honey bees transform nectar into honey by a process of regurgitation, and store it as a primary food source wax honey combs inside the beehive. Beekeeping practices encourage over production of honey so the excess can be taken from the colony.
Honey acts its sweetness from the monosaccharides fructose and glucose and has approximately the same relative sweetness as that of granulated sugar. It has attractive chemical properties for baking and a distinctive flavours that leads some people to prefer it over sugar and other sweetness. Most microorganisms do not grow in honey because of its low water activity (9w) of 0.6. However, honey sometimes contains dormant endospores of the bacterium clostridium botulinum which can be dangerous to infants, as the endospores can transform into toxin producing bacteria in the infant’s immature intestinal tract, leading to illness and even death. Honey has a long history of human consumption, and is used in various foods and beverages as a sweetener and flavouring. It also has a role in religion and symbolism, flavours of honey varies based on the available. It is also used in various medicinal traditions to treat ailments. The study of pollens and spores in raw honey (mellissopalynology) can determine the floral source of honey. Because bees carry an Electrostatic charge and can attract other particles, the same techniques of melissopalynology can be used in area environmental studies of radioactive particles dust or particulate pollution.
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PROXIMATE AND THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES ANALYSIS OF HONEY
