Mellivorous
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Honey badgers (genus ''Mellivora'') are named for their diet of honey">Mellivora.html" ;"title="Honey badgers (genus ''Mellivora">Honey badgers (genus ''Mellivora'') are named for their diet of honey Mellivory is a term for the eating of honey. Honey is a sweet and viscous substance created by some Eusociality, eusocial insects, notably bees, for consumption by members of their hives, especially their larva, young. Honey is also consumed by many other animals including human beings, who have developed
beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...
to make supplies of honey both reliable and plentiful. Despite honey's limited antimicrobial properties (caused by the very high
osmotic pressure Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to prevent the inward flow of its pure solvent across a semipermeable membrane. It is also defined as the measure of the tendency of a solution to take in a pure ...
of its concentrated sugars) it remains a food source for a variety of
microorganisms A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
.


Etymology

The word mellivory derives from the Latin , "honey", and -, "-eating".


Nutrition

Honey is a syrup composed of several simple sugars, primarily
fructose Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galacto ...
and glucose. Wild honey also contains traces of bee larvae, adding fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals. In many environments honey is the single richest source of
carbohydrates In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or may ...
for those organisms that consume it. It has been suggested that the concentrated energy provided by honey is in part what allowed humans to evolve such large brains, as large brains are metabolically expensive. Like other sources of simple sugars, it is a potent cause of tooth decay.


Mellivory by humans


Food

Over its history as a food the main uses of honey have lain in cooking, baking, confection, as a spread on bread, as an addition to various beverages such as tea, and as a sweetener in some commercial beverages. Due to its energy density, honey is an important food for virtually all
hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
cultures in warm climates, with the
Hadza people The Hadza, or Hadzabe (''Wahadzabe'' in Swahili), are a Tanzanian indigenous ethnic group mostly based in southwest Karatu District of Arusha Region. They live around Lake Eyasi in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring Serengeti Platea ...
ranking honey as their favorite food. Honey hunters in Africa have a mutualistic relationship with certain species of
honeyguide Honeyguides (family Indicatoridae) are near passerine birds in the order Piciformes. They are also known as indicator birds, or honey birds, although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genus '' Prodotiscus''. Th ...
birds.


Fermentation

Possibly the world's oldest
fermented beverage This is a list of fermented foods, which are foods produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms. In this context, fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to alcohol using yeast, but other fermentation processes involv ...
, dating from 9,000 years ago,
mead Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining character ...
("honey wine") is the alcoholic product made by adding yeast to honey-water
must Must (from the Latin ''vinum mustum'', "young wine") is freshly crushed fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of t ...
and fermenting it for weeks or months. The yeast '' Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' is commonly used in modern mead production. Mead varieties include drinks called
metheglin Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining characteri ...
(with spices or herbs), melomel (with fruit juices, such as grape, specifically called pyment),
hippocras Hippocras ( ca, Pimentes de clareya; lat, vīnum Hippocraticum), sometimes spelled hipocras or hypocras, is a drink made from wine mixed with sugar and spices, usually including cinnamon, and possibly heated. After steeping the spices in the ...
(with
cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...
), and sack mead (high concentration of honey) Honey is also used to make mead beer, called "braggot".


Traditional medicine

Honey is a
folk treatment Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
for burns and other skin injuries. Preliminary evidence suggests that it aids in the healing of partial thickness burns 4–5 days faster than other dressings, and moderate evidence suggests that post-operative infections treated with honey heal faster and with fewer adverse events than with antiseptic and
gauze Gauze is a thin, translucent fabric with a loose open weave. In technical terms "gauze" is a weave structure in which the weft yarns are arranged in pairs and are crossed before and after each warp yarn keeping the weft firmly in place. ...
. Honey has long been used as a topical
antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...
by practitioners of
traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
and
herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...
. In myths and folk medicine, honey was used both orally and topically to treat various ailments including gastric disturbances, ulcers, skin
wound A wound is a rapid onset of injury that involves laceration, lacerated or puncture wound, punctured skin (an ''open'' wound), or a bruise, contusion (a ''closed'' wound) from blunt force physical trauma, trauma or compression. In pathology, a '' ...
s, and skin burns by ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and in Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine. Honey is used in
apitherapy Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom. There has been no scientific or clinical evidence for the efficacy or safety of apitherapy treatments. ...
as a form of
alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...
.


Religious consumption

Humans consume honey as parts of some religions. In Judaism during ''
Rosh Hashanah Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...
'', apples are dipped in honey as a ''siman'' (symbol/omen) for a sweet new year. The custom is referenced neither in Tanach or the Talmud; one of its earliest mentions is in the
interpolation In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...
of Rabbi Moses Isserless to the Shulchan Aruch, which he cites as a non-universal custom - unlike other Rosh Hashana simanim like beets and leek. Nevertheless, the custom has grown to become nearly universal. Some suggest the custom has different or more ancient origins; Dr. Jefferey Cohen suggests the custom is a reminder of the '' manna'' provided by God to the Israelites as sustenance while wandering through the desert for 40 years. In Hinduism, honey (''
Madhu Madhu (Sanskrit: ) is a word used in several Indo-Aryan languages meaning ''honey'' or ''sweet''. It is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*médʰu'', whence English '' mead''. Metaphorical use ''Madhu'' has been used for millennia si ...
'') is one of the five elixirs of life (''
Panchamrita Panchamrita (, lit. ''five s'') is a mixture of five foods used in Hindu as well as Jain worship and puja and Abhiṣeka It is often used as an offering during pooja post which it is distributed as prasad. There are regional variations in t ...
''). In temples, honey is poured over the deities in a ritual called ''Madhu abhisheka''. The ''Vedas'' and other ancient literature mention the use of honey as a great medicinal and health food.A Meaningful Story of Buddha, Elephant and Monkey
by Marguerite Theophil, United Press International, 16 November 2006, accessed 9 August 2008
In Buddhism, honey plays an important role in the festival of '' Madhu Purnima'', celebrated in India and Bangladesh. The day commemorates Buddha's making peace among his disciples by retreating into the wilderness. According to legend, while he was there a
monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
brought him honey to eat. On ''Madhu Purnima'', Buddhists remember this act by giving honey to monks. The monkey's gift is frequently depicted in Buddhist art. In Islam, according to the '' hadith'', Muhammad strongly recommended honey for healing purposes. The Quran promotes honey as a nutritious and healthy food.


Mellivory by nonhuman animals


By invertebrates

There are several species of insects that are considered
pests PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...
in
beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...
. Notably,
small hive beetle The small hive beetle (''Aethina tumida'') is a beekeeping pest. It is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, but has spread to many other locations, including North America, Australia, and the Philippines. The small hive beetle can be a destructive pe ...
s, the unaptly named
bee louse Braulidae, or bee lice, is a family of true flies (''Diptera'') with seven species in two genera, ''Braula'' and ''Megabraula''. They are found in honey bee colonies due to their phoretic, inquiline, and kleptoparasitic relationships with the be ...
(a species of fly), ants,
wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...
and wax moths such as '' Galleria mellonella'' and '' Achroia grisella'' cause damage by eating honey directly. Of course, bees themselves also feed honey to their larvae. Western honey bees will rob honey from other hives, as will yellowjacket wasps. In the ''
Nomada With over 850 species, the genus ''Nomada'' is one of the largest genera in the family Apidae, and the largest genus of Kleptoparasitism, kleptoparasitic "cuckoo bees." Kleptoparasitic bees are so named because they enter the nests of a host and ...
'' genus, which is a genus of cleptoparasites, the female enters a beehive to deposit her eggs, and leaves. The offspring will eat the hive's resources and eventually leave themselves.


By vertebrates

Honey is eaten by several types of mammals, notably skunks, raccoons, opossums, bears, and honey badgers. Bears in particular are stereotyped as commonly attacking beehives, which does happen in nature. Bears are attracted to beehives for not just the honey, but also larvae and immature honey bees, which provide fat and protein. The Russian term for bear, literally "Honey Eater," reflects this. Honey badgers are also well known for raiding beehives and eating honey, and are named after this part of their diet. Honey and beeswax are also eaten by some birds, including
honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family (biology), family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Epthianura, Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, Manorina, miners and melidectes. They are ...
s and
honeyguide Honeyguides (family Indicatoridae) are near passerine birds in the order Piciformes. They are also known as indicator birds, or honey birds, although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genus '' Prodotiscus''. Th ...
s, the latter of which are known to guide humans to bee colonies in order to partake in foraging mutualism.


Mellivory by microorganisms

Honey, despite having antimicrobial properties, is consumed by some microorganisms, particularly yeasts and
spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
-forming bacteria. Notable fungi found in honey are '' Alternaria alternata'', '' Aspergillus niger'', ''
Aspergillus proliferans ' () is a genus consisting of several hundred mold species found in various climates worldwide. ''Aspergillus'' was first catalogued in 1729 by the Italian priest and biologist Pier Antonio Micheli. Viewing the fungi under a microscope, Mic ...
'', ''
Aspergillus spelunceus ''Aspergillus spelunceus'' is a species of fungus in the genus '' Aspergillus''. It is from the ''Nidulantes'' section. The species was first described in 1965.Raper, K.B.; Fennell, D.I. 1965. The Genus Aspergillus. :1-686 It has been isolated fr ...
'', '' Chaetomium globosum'', '' Cladosporium cladosporioides'', '' Daldinia concentrica'', ''
Emericella discophora ''Emericella discophora'' is a fungus. Its ascospores produce wide and entire, nonstellate equatorial crests. It was isolated from soil in Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (ma ...
'', ''
Emericella qinqixianii ''Emericella'' is a genus of fungi. The genus name of ''Emericella'' is in honour of Emeric Streatfield Berkeley (1834 - 1898), a British Lieutnant/Major General who served in India. He was also a botanist. Bio-active isolates called stromemyci ...
'', ''
Penicillium corylophilum ''Penicillium corylophilum'' is a species of the genus of ''Penicillium'' which occurs in damp buildings in United States, Canada and western Europe but it can also be found in a variety of foods and mosquitoes. ''Penicillium corylophilum'' produ ...
'', ''
Penicillium decumbens ''Penicillium decumbens'' is an anamorph species of the genus of '' Penicillium'' which occurs widespread in nature, mainly in subtropical and tropical soil but it also occur in food. Analysis have shown that ''Penicillium decumbens'' has antibi ...
'', ''
Penicillium polonicum ''Penicillium polonicum'' is a species of fungus in the genus ''Penicillium'' which produces penicillic acid, verucosidin, patulin, anacine, 3-methoxyviridicatin and glycopeptides. ''Penicillium polonicum'' can spoil cereals, peanuts, onions, dri ...
'', and ''
Penicillium echinulatum ''Penicillium echinulatum'' is a mold species in the genus ''Penicillium''. It is a source of cellulase. 5-Hydroxymaltol and mycophenolic acid Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is an immunosuppressant medication used to prevent rejection following o ...
'', while notable bacteria species are ''
Debaryomyces hansenii ''Debaryomyces hansenii'' is a species of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae. Also known as ''Candida famata'', it accounts for up to 2% of invasive candidiasis cases. Ecology ''Debaryomyces hansenii'' is an osmo-, halo- and xerotolerant ...
'', ''
Zygosaccharomyces rouxii ''Zygosaccharomyces'' is a genus of yeasts in the family Saccharomycetaceae. It was first described under the genus ''Saccharomyces'', but in 1983, it was reclassified to its current name in the work by Barnett ''et al''. The yeast has a long his ...
'', ''
Zygosaccharomyces mellis ''Zygosaccharomyces'' is a genus of yeasts in the family Saccharomycetaceae. It was first described under the genus ''Saccharomyces'', but in 1983, it was reclassified to its current name in the work by Barnett ''et al''. The yeast has a long his ...
'', '' Aureobasidium pullulans'', and '' Cryptococcus uzbekistanensis''.


References

{{feeding Honey Animals by eating behaviors