The Honeybee. Apis Mellifera. What a wonderful creature. The honeybee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man (and eaten by the Gods). In Greek mythology, honey was believed to have been an ingredient in Ambrosia, the nectar of Gods and Goddesses. Aphrodite bathed with it, Achilles was anointed with it as an infant, Zeus commanded Apollo to bless the fallen Sarpedon with it. Honey is referenced in Homer’s Iliad, as well as in the texts of Plato and Aristotle. Democritus, the Greek philosopher, claimed: "The secret of my health is applying honey inside and oil outside." He reportedly lived to 109.

The Source
For 10-20 million years the honeybee has been doing her thing. She and her sisters fly up to 15 miles per hour, visiting over 2 million flowers in order to produce a single pound of honey. For this very same pound, a hive will collectively fly over 55,000 miles in total to gather enough nectar. And however valuable honey is to bees, humans didn’t overlook its worth. In fact, in ancient Egypt honey was liquid gold – literally: townspeople paid their taxes with it. Honey is undoubtedly one of the purest products we can consume. It is manufactured by nature with simplicity, delicacy and accuracy.

What Honey Does For You
Hippocrates attributed over 300 cures to honey. It was his practice of medicine through nutrition that led him to explore the vast possibilities of apitherapy. The Father of Medicine believed that we could take care of ourselves and cure our ills by utilizing the healing properties of certain foods.The key to why honey is so self-sustaining and curative is in its make up. Seventy percent of honey consists of naturally occurring sugars, along with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and antioxidants.

Most importantly, though, honey is highly acidic and low in protein, with very low moisture and oxygen contents. This particular combination of elements is what makes honey a contaminant free antiseptic. (The lack of moisture is also why it stores on your shelf so well.) Honey also contains a naturally occurring hydrogen peroxide (introduced when flower nectar is stored in the worker bee’s stomach) that is released when honey touches the skin. And while it’s proven itself to be extremely effective in treatments, it’s also a lot gentler than manmade products.

Honey is used to treat a multitude of ailments. Among them are upper respiratory problems, stomach and sleep disorders, sore throats, eye diseases, baldness, constipation, and diarrhea. Skin treatments include dryness, rashes, burns, scars, wounds, diseases, cancer sores, and tissue regeneration. For ages honey was used as an antiseptic to treat wounds. Then, with the discovery of penicillin and other antibiotic drugs, the use of honey as medicine wavered. Little by little, though, honey is making a comeback. For those who would choose to use natural treatments over man-made ones, there are a vast array of honey and bee-derived products in various forms for sale: you can find anything from throat lozenges to Royal jelly hand cream. And of course, olive oil and honey soaps and honey body cream are abundant.