Eva Crane, A Book of Honey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980)
Softcover, pp.193 with black and white illustrations. Size: 17 (W) × 24.3 cm (H).
ISBN 0 19 286010 0
“Honey is a splendid, entirely natural food, which has been treasured by people the world over from earliest times. Its production does not impoverish the environment, but actually enriches it, as bees pollinate the flowers they visit. Today honey is a commodity with an annual production of 800,000 tons, but it is only recently that research has shown how bees locate flowers containing nectar, and produce honey.
The book opens with a clear exposition of the amazing instinctive behaviour of bees, and of the composition and properties of honey. The use of honey in the home is discussed: as a gastronomic delicacy (and the author provides mouth-watering recipes, some new, some several thousand years old); as a remedy (for such ailments as hay fever and hangovers); and as a constituent of cosmetics. Dr. Crane goes on to tell the fascinating story of honey, from times before prehistoric man to the present day, and to show how bees have figured in the minds of men as magical or scared creatures. Numerous literary references show the value accorded to bees through the ages, as agents of industry and thrift, and as objects of superstitious belief. The hive is considered, too, as a political symbol.
Dr. Eva Crane began keeping bees in 1942 when she was given a swarm as a wedding present. She is now Director of the International Bee Research Association and travels widely to lecture and to study bees and honey.”
Blurb from the back cover.
