Passadoc Gazette – No 190

André Abbe :

– My friend Pierre... Beloved only of his shorts, he would see if the frames of his hives were loaded with honey!

Honey**... it probably exists since the bees appeared on earth; So, about 100 million years ago, at the same time as the arrival of flowering plants!

There are traces of bee wax 7,000 years B.C.E., especially in the Balkans, Greece, Central Europe. Honey is known by prehistoric man who of course harvests in wild swarms. 7,000 years... it's also at that time that the hydromel* would appear in China.

Until the Middle Ages, the technique hardly evolved. Then beekeeping is born; The first hives are built, simple boxes of straw about waterproof. In the 18th century, smoke was used to calm bees during the honey harvest.

The most famous beekeeper is probably Maurice Maeterlinck*** : in his remarkable work The life of bees (1901), he described « The extraordinary discipline of bees, the sacrifice of workers, their dedication, their affection for their sovereign. »

As for mathematicians, they always ask!
– How these little ones do Hymenoptera to build such perfect hexagonal cells?

AToday, honey is everywhere : in the kitchen of course, in confectionery, in beauty products, in pharmacy where it is used for its multiple virtues : antibacterial, antioxidant, antiseptic, antiviral, calming, sedative, healing, digestive, diuretic, expectorant, hypotensive... Wonderful bees!

Jeanne Monin