Honey

[Legs]

I have been led to believe that Honey is the only foodstuff that never, ever goes off. In fact, if you were to find a jar of honey that had been sealed up in one of the Egyptain Pyramids eleventy-twelve centuries ago then it would still be as good as the day the bees made it.

So why does the pure honey (ingredients listed on the jar: Honey) have a best before date? My guess is that this is some marketing ploy. You know, 'quick, use it or bin it, and buy some more...'

 

[florence]

Legs, as long as its in an air tight container and kept in a cool dark place honey seems to keep. I'm just about to put a ham in the oven using a jar of honey I bought 3 years ago.

 

[gobbyidiot]

Honey is so sweet the bacteria can't cope. This is why they use it to coat wounds.

 

[theprior]

Yes darling?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey#Honey_preservation

 

[copepod]

I used honey to treat the infected sacral (bottom) pressure sores of a young man who had broken his back falling out of a palm tree when he climbed it drunk to get a coconut to go with the rum they were drinking - a common cause of spinal injuries in Mexico.

As the honey came from a local hive, the bees hadn't thought to write a use by date on their product! But, keeping his weight off the sores and applying honey twice daily treated the sores better than antibiotics.

 

[PoisonDwarf]

I've always thought it funny that bottled water in the supermarket has a best before date. Completely ludicrous.

 

[JohnSmith]

It's bloody EU regs. that all honey sold must have either a best before date &/or a "L" number.......

Yes, it lasts for years if kept in sealed containers, if left exposed to the air it will absorb water from the air eventually ferment ot become mouldy.

I've never tracked down the source of the story of honey being found in an ancient Egyptian tomb. It may be true or it may not be!

 

[gobbyidiot]

I used honey to treat the infected sacral (bottom) pressure sores of a young man who had broken his back falling.

Digressing more than a bit, I know someone who did this rock climbing, and because he arrived in casualty under his own steam he lay in casualty for hours while people with skelfs in their fingers and upset stomachs were seen. The fact that he was lying on the floor seemed not to bother them. When he had an involuntary bowel movement they decided that maybe they had better see him next.

 

[copepod]

To continue with the injuries while climbing digression - I know what you mean - medics can treat climbers oddly. A rock climbing friend of mine went to hospital somewhere in SW England with a chest pain, that turned out to be damage to her aortic artery, which she thought was just a pulled chest muscle, but medics should have noticed that she had Marfan's syndrome (tall & slim, with long fingers). She left hospital reassrued, but found she couldn't sleep lying down, so slept sitting in her car. Anyway, problem solved some time later with surgery in specialist chest hospital in London (she lived in NW England).

More recently, I've got involved in adventure racing, sometimes competing, but more usually marshalling and support driving - and often patching up my non-driving partner after he has landed on his nose, for example, plus any other competitors or marshals. Tend to use vaseline / petroleum jelly rather than honey!