Keep bottled honey Modern archaeologists uncovering the ancient Egyptian tombs, often find they are completely preserved pots of honey - things that would seem hard to expect to see in the millennial burial. According to archaeologists, centuries this honey does not go bad, and it means that we are talking about food that can be kept forever.
Moreover, it imparts durability honey other properties, particularly medicinal, which have no other products. And that brings us to the question: what is so special about honey?
The answer to this is as multifaceted as the taste of the honey. To get the food product with unlimited shelf life, you need to match a harmonious whole slew of factors.
First, the case in the chemical composition of honey. First, honey - a sugar. Sugar is hygroscopic, that is, contain very little water in its natural state and is easy to absorb moisture if they are not tightly sealed. The Executive Director of the honey and pollination of the Robert Mondavi Institute at the University of California at Davis, Amina Harris (Amina Harris) explains: We honey in its natural form is extremely low humidity. In such an environment can survive only a few of the bacteria and micro-organisms - they are usually simply die therein.
She literally strangling them. This is an important factor contributing to the longevity of honey: that he corrupted, you need to have something in it that can damage it. A medium in the pot of honey is so inhospitable that it is difficult to live long enough to spoil the honey.
Furthermore, extremely high acidity honey. Its pH is between about 3 and 4.5, and a level of acidity kills almost everything that could be in it to grow, - says Harris. Therefore, bacteria and harmful organisms should look for something else to housing - a bank of honey life is too short.
However, honey - not only hygroscopic food product. Let's take the molasses, a by-product of sugar production, it is extremely hygroscopic. In addition, it is also acidity is high, although lower than that of honey (pH about 5.5).
However, it is still spoiled, albeit slowly - after all a product of processing sugar cane is kept longer than fresh food.
So why does one sugar syrup can be stored indefinitely, and the other - no? The fact bees.
Bees have their own magic, - joking Harris. In the process of making honey does have something of alchemy. Nectar - the raw material for honey that is collected by bees - contains a lot of water, from 60% to 80%, according to Harris - and bees removed most of it, literally draining the nectar of flapping wings. In addition, the important role played by the device bee stomach.
It produces an enzyme called glyukooksidaza. When the bees regurgitate nectar cell, the enzyme is mixed with it and forms two side product - gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. It is a hydrogen peroxide - Harris says - this is the next line of defense against harmful organisms that could grow in it.
So honey used for centuries as a medicine. Since it is thick, it does not develop, and it comprises hydrogen peroxide, it provides excellent protection against wound infection. The earliest mention of the fact that honey has been used for medicinal purposes, can be found on Sumerian clay tablets: it contains 30% of medical prescriptions.
The ancient Egyptians used honey as a regular medication, turning it into an ointment from skin diseases and eye. Honey covering wounds, burns, cuts, and so on, because it does not develop. It was such a natural bandage - says Harris.
Also, if the honey is not airtight, it absorbs moisture. It draws water from the wound, which could be a source of contamination, and emits little hydrogen peroxide. This amount of peroxide - as much as you need.
That was the minimum dosage, it promotes healing. Honey for the treatment of open wounds now uses not only traditional medicine - in the past decade, medical company Derma Sciences began to produce honey-coated bandages MEDIHONEY, which are now being used in hospitals around the world.
If you buy honey in the store, this golden nectar in a plastic bottle warmed, filtered and cleaned off from the solid particles. Accordingly, no impurities in the fluid in which the molecules could form crystals, and it can store the same kind of virtually forever. However, if the honey purchased from a small supplier, it may remain impurities - from the pollen to the enzymes.
In this case, honey may crystallize, but do not worry - if it is not sealed, it was not damaged and will not go bad for a long time.
Finally, the last factor that provides long-term storage of honey - a sealed vessel, as evidenced by thousands of years of Egyptian pots of honey. Honey, no doubt, - Superfoods, but there is nothing supernatural: leave it open in wet environments, and it gets messed up. While the cover is in place and there is no water in the product, it does not spoil.
If you add the water - it will go bad. If you open the lid, it does not absorb water and deteriorate, - says Harris
Thus, if you want to store honey for centuries, act like bees, and keep it bottled up. While it is of course difficult - it is delicious too!
in the footsteps of The Science Behind Honey's Eternal Shelf Life, inosmi.ru
Mikky Ekko - Sedated [HQ/HD]
Album : Strange Fruit - EP (2009).
Lyrics :
It was pretty simple
The pro-blade, honey
Sara choked on a pigeon wing
And stole my money
Why is it difficult
If you already know how I feel?
Either you are or you aren't stupid
Are you ready for me?
Keep this kid sedated
With color and sound
With color and sound
We're gonna keep this kid sedated
With color and sound
With color and sound
Contradictions in words
Prey on a soul-wide, honey
And an addiction to verbs
Is a slow-eyed junkie
Yeah, we walk, walk, walk
On our hands, hands, hands
We are strange fruit
Yeah, we walk, walk, walk
On our hands, hands, hands
We are strange fruits, yeah
Keep the kid plugged in
The kid plugged in
The kid plugged in
The kid plugged in
Gonna keep this kid sedated
Keep this kid sedated
With color and sound
With color and sound
We're gonna keep this kid sedated
With color and sound
With color and sound
