Food & Beverage

Honey’s Important Role in Society

Honey is far more than just a sweetener for your tea or toast. In fact, some researchers have argued that honey played a key evolutionary role in human development. Consuming this energy-rich food for over a million years became integral to fueling our brain growth and development. To understand the complexities of the global honey market today, it’s important to first recognize the critical environmental role that honey bees play. Not only do honey bees power a multi-billion dollar industry, but many farmers depend on them to pollinate crops. Our very food supply depends in part on the health of honey bees and the honey industry. However, there simply aren’t enough honey bees to meet rising demand for honey.

The Declining Health of Honey Bees

Over the past few decades, demand for honey has steadily increased. However, honey production does not easily scale. Honey bees need time to visit millions of flowers, drinking the nectar and transporting it back to their hive to make honey. As our landscapes become dominated by single-crop farms rather than biodiverse ecosystems, beekeepers are left with fewer and fewer viable areas for their bees to forage. Ironically, the same crops being farmed depend upon honey bees for pollination. Migratory beekeeping has emerged to truck bees around the country, pollinating farms along their route. However, bees do their best work in diverse natural environments, which continue to decline. With bees caught in the middle, supplies of both bees and honey lag behind rising demand.

Rampant Honey Fraud

With demand outpacing supply, honey has become increasingly valuable on global markets. This makes it prone to adulteration and fraud by companies seeking to profit. Shortcuts like overharvesting honey, leaving no reserves for bees to survive winter, are common among commercial beekeepers focused exclusively on their bottom line. However, some suppliers skip real honey altogether, bulking out their products with cheap sweeteners like corn syrup and rice syrup instead. China has shouldered much of the blame for contaminated honey, although suppliers worldwide partake in illegal mislabeling and dangerous ultrafiltration designed to hide honey’s source and make it difficult to detect fraud.

Finding Quality Honey

While most honey found in supermarkets suffers from lax regulations, consumers still have options to source high-quality honey. Seeking out verification seals like True Source Certified validates the authenticity and legality of honey products. Reading labels for terms like “raw” and “unfiltered” can help identify honey that retains its natural pollen content. However, sourcing honey from local beekeepers through farmers markets and farm stands provides the ultimate way to ensure quality. Local raw honey contains the pollutants and bee byproducts linked to health benefits. Supporting ethical, sustainable beekeepers also benefits local food systems and landscapes. With consumer interest growing, the organic honey market offers promising solutions for people and bees alike.

Have you ever wanted to make ginger beer but didn’t know where to start? In this guide, we will take you through the step-by-step process of making ginger beer at home. We’ll show you how to make a ginger bug, prepare the ginger beer, and even give you a recipe for a perfect fall cocktail to try.

Making ginger beer is an inexpensive and easy fermentation project that’s perfect for beginners. All you need are three ingredients: ginger, water, and sugar. The fermentation occurs from the bacteria and yeast found on the ginger, which is known as lactobacillus.

The first step of making ginger beer is to make what is called a ginger bug, which is the equivalent of a sourdough starter for making bread. All you need is a clean mason jar and some organic ginger, sugar, and water. After one day, you can repeat the process for the next three to four days until the ginger bug starts to foam up, a sign that the yeast is doing their thing.

In a small stockpot, add one liter of water and turn on the heat. Once the water is almost to a simmer, add sugar and chopped up ginger. After five minutes, strain out the ginger and let the liquid cool down to room temperature. Then strain out 50 grams of the ginger bug liquid and set it aside. Once the liquid has cooled down, you can combine those two and pour them into a fermentation grade bottle. The ginger beer will continue to ferment, and it will build up carbonation. After three days, set it aside in the fridge to chill.

For long-term storage, you can put the ginger bug in your fridge, and it will last indefinitely. When you want to make more ginger beer, take your ginger bug out of the fridge and feed it for a few days until it starts to foam up. You’ll just do the same process again, and you’ll have an easy ginger beer.

Conclusion: Making ginger beer at home is an easy and fun project that anyone can try. With just three simple ingredients and a little patience, you can make a delicious and spicy ginger beer that’s perfect for cocktails or to drink on its own. Follow this guide to make your own ginger beer at home, and don’t forget to try the apple cider moscow mule recipe. Cheers!