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What is honeydew?
The honeydew - in English: "honeydew" - is a sticky fluid, rich in sugars, secreted by small insects that feed on the sap of plants. Among the creatures capable of producing honeydew, aphids and cochineals stand out above all.
The production of honeydew occurs through the "digestion" of the plant's vital liquids and the consequent expulsion of waste. These insects parasitize the plants by sucking the sap, processing it by absorbing the necessary, and eliminating the honeydew from the anus.
The honeydew is collected from various animal species; among the many, honeybees are of great importance to humans, which - above all with a lack of nectar in the environment - are able to transform this substance into dark honey with a very intense taste. Honeydew honey, to which a hypothetical medicinal value is attributed, is particularly appreciated in various parts of Europe and Asia. In the opinion of many, honeydew honey is rich in nutrients and has an antiseptic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and energizing power. It is not particularly common in Italy, where traditionally nectar honey is consumed, and in particular chestnut honey, wildflower honey and acacia honey.
In the past, honeydew also played an important role in the survival of the human species in various parts of the world with arid and desert climate, for example in Africa, Australia, the Middle East, Mesopotamia and Egypt. Today, however, the honeydew is consumed mainly in the form of honeydew honey - produced mainly in coniferous forests.
In the kitchen it finds applications similar to those of traditional honey, therefore it is used substantially as a sweetener and condiment; for others - but without any evidence to support the hypothesis - it is an excellent food supplement - also associated with propolis.
Nutritional Properties
Nutritional properties of honeydew honey
Honeydew honey is a very caloric product. It produces fewer calories than other types of honey, but still approaches 300 kcal per 100 g, most of which is supplied by simple / soluble sugars such as glucose, fructose and sucrose. Proteins and lipids appear to be contained in marginal quantities.
Honeydew honey does not provide cholesterol, fiber, lactose, gluten and histamine; purines and phenylalanine are irrelevant. It may contain potentially allergenic molecules, which is why subjects with adverse reactions to various plant components such as pollen should be carefully informed.
Honeydew honey provides various minerals, especially calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium; the quantities are objectively moderate. Among the vitamins, retinol and some carotenoids (vit A), vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and a few of the B complex stand out; also in this case, the concentrations are variable and not always significant. You can also find polyphenols and other antioxidants, as well as probiotic bacteria.
Note : due to pasteurization - mandatory for marketing - part of the thermolabile vitamins (for example vit C) and all the bacteria contained in it (good and bad), are inexorably compromised.
Diet
Role of honeydew honey in the diet
Honeydew honey is a food that lends itself, in adequate portions and with a frequency of normal consumption, to the diet of healthy people. Excessive amounts are always contraindicated, as they increase the calories in the diet due to the excess of simple sugars. This can also harm the healthy person, but especially the obese, type 2 diabetic and hypertriglyceridemic. It can also increase the risk of tooth decay.
It is instead pertinent in the nutritional schemes of celiac, of the lactose and histamine intolerant, of hyperuricemic and phenylketonuric. The specific allergic forms are an exception.
Honeydew honey has no digestive implications.
Many use honeydew honey as a substitute for table sugar. With the same portion, the average of the honeys contains over 30% of carbohydrates and fewer calories. However, a lower sweetening power must be reported; for this reason, sometimes, it is necessary to use larger quantities to obtain the same sweetening effect. Ultimately, replacing table sugar with honey has a caloric advantage only if the same portion is retained; using more than necessary would nullify the nutritional advantage mentioned above.
The average portion of honeydew honey is about 20 g (<60 kcal).
Kitchen
Culinary use of honeydew honey
In the kitchen, honeydew honey has a use very similar to that of other types of honey, even though it has rather unique organoleptic and taste characteristics of its kind.
Honeydew honey has a strong sweetening function, which is widely used in beverages, such as tea, herbal tea, milk and coffee, but also in recipes, such as cakes and doughs of various kinds.
Honeydew honey can be used to replace or alternate with jams, syrups like maple syrup, condensed milk and spreads, on pancakes and waffles, on bread, on rusks, etc.
Some use it as a food supplement, along with two or three drops of propolis every morning.
Description
Short description of honeydew honey
Honeydew honey has a less sweet taste than that produced by nectar. It has a liquid consistency and does not crystallize. It has a dark and slightly translucent color. The scent is intense, often with significant notes of resin, while the flavor can vaguely remember the caramel.
Biology
Honeydew and biology
Aphids are insects belonging to the Aphidoidea biological superfamily; scale insects, on the other hand, are framed in the Coccoidea superfamily - while in the past they belonged to the now obsolete group, Homoptera. Aphidoidea and Coccoidea superfamilies belong to the Hemiptera biological order, Suborder Sternorrhyncha and Infraordine Aphidomorpha. Certain caterpillars of butterflies belonging to the Lycaenidae family and some moths also produce honeydew. It can be secreted by some mushrooms, in particular by the ergot - read also: Segale Cornuta.
These insects are able to penetrate the phloem or book - a complex of living tissues with a triple function: transport or conduction, reserve and support - thanks to their mouthparts, sucking the sugary liquid and expelling it from the anus. They could be compared to ticks, fleas, lice and bed bugs for humans and animals.
Honeydew is the basis for trophobiosis, a symbiotic association between organisms that provide and others that receive food. The food supplier is indicated by the English noun trophobiont - from the Greek "trophē" which means "nourishment" and "biosis" which represents the abbreviation of English "symbiosis".
They feed on honeydew, or at least they take it, some species of birds, wasps, stingless bees - a group of bees of the Meliponini Tribe - and honey bees - which, as we have said, can process honey from honeydew. Recent studies have shown that honeydew honey is produced by over 40 species of wild, native and mostly solitary bees in the state of California. Parachartergus fraternus, a species of eusocial wasp, collects the honeydew to nourish its larvae during growth. Ants can collect, or "milk", honeydew directly from aphids and other honeydew producers, which benefit from their presence capable of removing many predators such as ladybirds or parasitoid wasps ( Crematogaster peringueyi ). Animals and plants in a mutual symbiotic arrangement together with ants are called "myrmecophilia".
In Madagascar, some species of gecko belonging to the Phelsuma and Lygodactylus genera have the particular habit of expelling the honeydew from the flatids, teasing them with the muzzle, to eat them.
The honeydew can cause many problems to the plants; the typical example is that of sooty molds on many ornamental plants, a real ruin for gardeners. Furthermore, the honeydew, falling from the plants, dirty the vehicles parked under the trees and is difficult to clean from the bodywork.
