PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



" What a Man Eats He Is." 

 Edited by C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D. 

 Author of "On Citraconic, Itaconic and Mesaconic Acids," "Fish as Food," etc. 



SOME FACTS ABOUT HONEY. 



Honey, as everyone knows, is a thick, 

 sweet liquid of more or less pronounced 

 flavor, produced by bees of various kinds 

 and by other insects. The neuter or work- 

 ing bees gather the nectar from the necta- 

 ries of flowers, and other sweet substances 

 if flowers are lacking, extracting it by 

 means of the proboscis and passing it into 

 the crop or honey bag. The bee disgorges 

 the honey into the cells of the comb. Ap- 

 parently the sweet substance undergoes 

 some change in the honey bag, as honey 

 differs in flavor from the nectar of the 

 flowers from which it is gathered. The 

 consistency of honey varies with age and 

 is influenced by its source, that from some 

 flowers being much thicker than that from 

 others. The flavor also varies with the 

 source from which it is gathered, that from 

 clover, sweet clover, basswood, or linden 

 flowers, for instance, being agreeable, while 

 that from buckwheat is strong and less 

 generally liked. Age also affects the fla- 

 vor. Some honey which at first has a 

 weedy taste loses this on keeping. 



Honey has on an average the following 

 percentage composition : Water, 18.2 ; pro- 

 tein, 0.4; carbohydrates, 81.2, and ash, 0.2. 

 The carbohydrates are made up of dex- 

 trose and laevulose in about equal propor- 

 tion. Honey contains some aromatic bod- 

 ies which give it flavor, and sometimes a 

 little wax. The best and newest honey is 

 clear and contained in a white comb. Old- 

 er honey is of a yellowish tone and some- 

 times darker. On standing, dextrose some- 

 times crystallizes out from the liquid honey, 

 rendering it opaque or often thick. The 

 composition of honey varies somewhat ac- 

 cording to the food of the bees, their age, 

 season, etc. Hyblas, a mountain in Sicily, 

 and Hymettus, a mountain in Attica, were 

 in ancient times celebrated for their honey, 

 doubtless in consequence of the wild 

 thyme and other fragrant herbs growing on 

 them. Since earliest times man has ap- 

 propriated the honey gathered by wild bees 

 and bees of different kinds that have been 

 raised in hives to produce it in quantities 

 under favorable conditions. It is a favor- 

 ite article of diet owing to its sweet taste 

 and agreeable flavor. The actual food 

 value depends on Oie carbohydrates pres- 

 ent. Like all other carbohydrate foods, it 

 is a source of energy in the body. Honey 

 has a fairly high fuel value, on an aver- 

 age 1520 calories a pound. It is, however, 

 generally, eaten for its flavor rather than 



for its food value. Honey is most com- 

 monly eaten as relish, with bread and 

 other foods. In Europe it is generally 

 served with rolls and coffee for breakfast. 

 Many Americans use honey as they do 

 syrup, with hot bread or cakes. Before 

 sugar was as plentiful as it is today, honey 

 was used for sweetening foods, and some 

 cakes are made at the present day, espe- 

 cially in Germany and Switzerland, in 

 which it is so used. Candy is sometimes 

 made from honey. It is said that it is al- 

 ways used for making the genuine nougat. 

 Doubtless little of the confectionery which 

 is sold under that name contains honey. 



To the ancients who were unacquainted 

 with sugar, honey was of more importance 

 than it now is. "A land flowing with milk 

 and honey" offered the highest conceivable 

 advantages to the Eastern mind. Taken in 

 moderate quantity, honey is wholesome 

 and laxative, but persons suffering from 

 digestive disorders often find that it aggra- 

 vates their symptoms; and there are per- 

 sons in health who, owing to some idiosyn- 

 crasy, can not eat honey without distress. 

 Its therapeutic action is probably not great, 

 but it is frequently employed in mixtures 

 prescribed for allaying coughs and in va- 

 rious agreeable cooling drinks used in feb- 

 rile and inflammatory affections. 



It should be mentioned that honey occa- 

 sionally possesses poisonous properties, due 

 to the flowers from which it was gathered. 

 The poisonous honey of Trabizond is gath- 

 ered from Azalea pontica. In America, 

 poisoning has occurred from eating honey 

 gathered from laurel, Kalmia latifolia and 

 Kalmia augustifolia. Many other instances 

 of poisonous honey are on record. 



Honey is marketed in the comb and also 

 extracted from it. The latter, sometimes 

 called "strained" honey, is frequently adul- 

 terated with commercial glucose. It is 

 stated that much of the so-called honey 

 which is sold contains none of the product 

 gathered by the bee, and is entirely artifi- 

 cial. Of 68 samples of honey recently ex- 

 amined by the Massachusetts State Board 

 of Health, 15 were adulterated with cane 

 sugar or commercial glucose, or both. 

 One sample contained as high as 88 per 

 cent, of commercial glucose. 



475 



PACKING ORANGES IN SPAIN. 

 "In no instance are the oranges in Span- 

 ish groves plucked," says a recent writer, 

 "but with a short pair of clippers, resem- 

 bling wire-cutting pliers, they are slipped 



