2,000-year-old honey that's still edible? Oh, I so want to taste. My grandfather was a beekeeper, and I learned about the different flavors of honey as he harvested from different locations throughout the season.<p>It's fun to purchase honey from beekeepers a hundred miles away and see how the flavor changes. I personally like late-season honeys, which tend to have richer flavors from late-summer and fall flowers.<p>A rare treat I've had was honey from Pitcairn Island. This is how you get in the queue for a jar. <a href="https://pitkernartisangallery.pn/products/pipco-pitcairn-island-pure-honey-250gm" rel="nofollow">https://pitkernartisangallery.pn/products/pipco-pitcairn-isl...</a> <a href="https://livebeekeeping.com/honey/pitcairn-island-honey/" rel="nofollow">https://livebeekeeping.com/honey/pitcairn-island-honey/</a>
I don't know for the US, but in Europe fake honey is a big problem. There were several grocery chains who had to call back their honey because of it
Yes. Good episode about fake honey and its interaction with almond growing:
<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/beeconomics-101/" rel="nofollow">https://freakonomics.com/podcast/beeconomics-101/</a>
That has been a global problem, lots of it in the US as well. I tend to only buy honey from known local producers, either at specialty stores or street markets.
> So if you’re interested in keeping honey for hundreds of years, do what the bees do and keep it sealed<p>Doesn't this make honey somewhat less unique? Aren't there many foods that will keep for hundreds of years if kept sealed?
Most foods taken from nature will still rot in their naturally-sealed forms. Pressure canned foods last a long time but use far more robust and energy intensive processes than a thin layer of wax and "the way that it is" to seal and stabilize the contents.<p>Ferments could be an outlier but usually dance on the edge of rot by design and can last longer than the raw cabbage or milk or meat they start from, but like honeycomb, they must be carefully stored.
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11951860">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11951860</a>
There is an interesting story (only slightly relevant) about glycerine. It was a pure liquid, held in many labs throughout the world. Until for some reason it crystallised in one lab. Wishing a short amount of time all the world's samples crystallised.
Sounds similar to the real-life case of ritonavir:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritonavir#Polymorphism_and_temporary_market_withdrawal" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritonavir#Polymorphism_and_tem...</a>
Just to be clear -- this story is fictional, it did not happen in real life. It has become a bit of an urban legend because of a video game but does not have a basis in fact.
Tangent vulture bees yuck