Honey History

Do you have a bottle of honey in your pantry? Maybe it looks like a little bear. Or perhaps you got it from a local beekeeper at your nearby farmers' market? Wherever you get your honey, it is one of nature's most unique products for your body and skin.

Honey comes from bees; this you probably know. But did you know that honey begins as flower nectar collected by bees? Once the bees travel from flower to flower, they return the nectar to the hive, breaking it down into simple sugars and storing it inside the honeycomb. The honeycomb's design and fanning from the bees cause some nectar to evaporate, creating that sweet, liquid gold! While most of us picture that beautiful golden color when we hear honey, it comes in different colors and tastes based on the kinds of plants from which the bees collect their nectar.

Honey has been used for thousands of years. The first written records of beekeeping come from ancient Egypt, where honey was used as a sweetener in baked goods and as a product in their burial rituals. In ancient Athens, beekeeping was so popular that laws were passed about how far hives needed to be from one another. The Vedas and Ayurveda texts of ancient India talk about honey's spiritual and therapeutic use. 

Cleopatra was one of the most famous honey users in the ancient world. Honey is a natural humectant, which means it retains moisture! She used to bathe in donkey milk and honey to keep her skin soft and beautiful. While we don't think anyone is still bathing in donkey milk and honey, by using our body wash and creams- both of which have honey as an ingredient- you are helping your skin to stay soft and clean since we also use a lot of other ingredients that are just as good as our honey. And if you love the sweet smell of honey, don't miss our honey beeswax lip balm. 

Now go get that honey out of the cabinet- I bet you'll never look at it the same way again!