Honey
Honey was the most important sweetener in
Europe until the 16th century, when cane
sugar and its more neutral sweetness became
more widely available. Germany and the
Slavic countries were leading producers in the
meantime, and honey wine or mead (from the
Sanskrit word for “honey”) was a great
favorite in both central Europe and
Scandinavia. Honey is now valued as an
alternative to sugar, a premade syrup with
many distinctive flavors to offer.
The Honeybee While the New World
certainly knew and enjoyed honey before the
arrival of European explorers, North America
did not. The bees native to the New World,
species of the genera Melipona and Trigona,
are exclusively tropical. They also differ from
the European honeybees in being stingless and
in collecting fluids not just from flowers, but