Ancient honey is still edible after thousands of years
This ancient food has a secret that keeps it perfectly good to eat
Picture cracking open a sealed clay jar inside a three-thousand-year-old Egyptian tomb
Why can honey found in 3,000-year-old Egyptian tombs still be eaten?
- This ancient food has a secret that keeps it perfectly good to eat
- When bees make honey, they regurgitate nectar from a specialized pouch called a honey crop.
- Because of these properties, honey was used for centuries as a wound dressing to prevent infection long before we understood what bacteria were.
Honey is one of the few foods that can remain edible for thousands of years. You could walk into an Egyptian tomb from 3,000 years ago, crack open a sealed clay jar, and spread the contents on toast without getting sick.
Its immortality comes from a "perfect storm" of chemistry. Honey is naturally very acidic, with a pH that kills almost anything that tries to grow in it. It is also extremely low in moisture; it is so dry that it sucks the water out of bacteria through osmosis, effectively dehydrating them to death.
When bees make honey, they regurgitate nectar from a specialized pouch called a honey crop. During this process, enzymes from their glands, such as glucose oxidase, mix with the nectar. This enzyme reacts with the sugar to produce hydrogen peroxide as a byproduct-the same stuff you use to disinfect cuts in your kitchen cabinet.
Honey is essentially a concentrated sugar-acid-peroxide bomb that is inhospitable to life. As long as the lid stays on and moisture from the air can't get in, the chemical seal remains permanent.
Because of these properties, honey was used for centuries as a wound dressing to prevent infection long before we understood what bacteria were.
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