Why ancient honey is still edible

[guy]

There have been a few previous posts about the use of honey in wound care (see below).

Here is an article that does a good job of summarizing honey’s long term survival.

Honey found in sealed Egyptian tombs remains edible even after more than 3,000 years because it had overlapping antimicrobial defenses: extremely low water content that dehydrates microbes, natural acidity that inhibits bacterial metabolism, and slow‑releasing hydrogen peroxide produced by enzymes in the honey. 

Tomb conditions—cool, dark, sealed, and dry—kept the honey from absorbing moisture and prevented fermentation, allowing it to survive essentially unchanged except for darkening and crystallization.

While its antibacterial potency fades over millennia as enzymes break down, the honey remains chemically stable and safe to eat, illustrating why it outlasts nearly all other foods and why ancient Egyptians also used it medicinally.

Honey was one of the most reliable ancient wound treatments because it naturally protected injuries, prevented infection, and supported healing. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans spread honey directly onto cuts, burns, and ulcers, where it acted like a natural bandage: it sealed the wound from dirt, kept the surface moist, and slowly drew out excess fluid. Its acidity, low water content, and enzyme‑driven release of hydrogen peroxide made it hostile to bacteria, so wounds treated with honey were far less likely to become infected.

Because honey doesn’t spoil, ancient healers could store it for years, making it a dependable remedy in homes, temples, and battlefields.

 

https://share.google/qjSk5zZYBZeG2sgPv

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 09:04 PM by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

Microbes don't grow on and spoil honey for the same reason that old bag of sugar in your pantry doesn't go bad-- no protein or vitamins and an osmotically unfavorable environment for microbial growth.

Vergil advocated for beekeeping in his Georgics. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilGeorgicsIV.php

https://www.apiaristsadvocate.com/post/keeping-bees-in-ancient-rome-a-glimpse-from-virgil-the-poet

...and even Sherlock Holmes retired to the relaxing, rustic life of bee keeping.

Partially educated American Treehuggers have had their shorts in a bunch for the past thirty years over Colony Collapse Disease, not realizing that honey bee populations follow the usual, natural  cyclic changes in numbers, in dynamic equilibrium with their environment, and they completely ignore the fact that honey bees are non-native invasives in N Am that squeeze out their native pollinator competition.