Have you ever taken a long look at a bee hovering over a flower? Although Nesmahar Sayed is afraid of the sting, Sherif Sonbol could not resist a photograph One day five-year-old Shahd asked her mother what the meaning of her name was. "It means the purest kind of honey," her mother replied. Shahd didn't understand. "But bees sting!" she exclaimed. "Bees are the source of that marvellous honey I keep telling you about," her mother said. And not only that: honey is also a term of endearment, and bees are mentioned in almost all the holy books and are cited as an example of organisation and team work the world over. The Quran, for example, has the following to say about bees in Surat Al-Nahl : "And thy Lord inspired the bee, saying: Choose thou habitations in the hills and in the trees and in that which they thatch; (68) Then eat of all fruits, and follow the ways of thy Lord, made smooth [for thee]. There cometh forth from their bellies a drink divers of hues, wherein is healing for mankind. Lo! herein is indeed a portent for people who reflect; (69) And Allah createth you, then causeth you to die, and among you is he who is brought back to the most abject stage of life, so that he knoweth nothing after [having had] knowledge (70)." Aside from their place in religious texts, according to Mahmoud Nour, professor of apiculture at Cairo University's Faculty of Agriculture, even bees' stings can be valuable. Although bee honey is the product humans most obviously prize, when used therapeutically bee stings can also have human uses, notably in treating certain kinds of immune conditions. Many people associate bees only with honey, Nour told Al-Ahram Weekly, but there are many other benefits, such as royal jelly, well-known for its medical uses and vital for the body, and propolis, a natural antibiotic and antiviral product. As a result of his career working with bees, Nour's admiration for them has only increased. Apiculture, he explains, was not the branch of agriculture he thought he would be working in when he graduated, but now he believes that fate played a role when he was chosen as the first graduate from his college to teach in the apiculture department. "Bees work together as a society in a way that goes far beyond what human beings are capable of," Nour said, pointing out ironically that at time when females in human societies are still claiming their rights, female bees have not only attained all of theirs, but they also live in colonies in which the female bee plays the most important role. Bees are associated with flowers, and flowers are associated with the spring. As the spring in Egypt begins on 21 March, the number of bees that can be seen is currently increasing. Although the hot weather will soon be beginning, together with the dusty winds of summer, no one can ignore the increasing volumes of flowers in the flower shops and on flowering trees. Spring is also the season for bees to reproduce and prepare their colonies, Nour explaining that bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers, use this to produce honey, and then use the honey to feed the bee larvae back at the hive. It is this food, produced in large quantities to feed the growing colony, that we steal from the bees and eat in the form of honey. Nour explains this process as a form of "unintended generosity" on the part of the bees. But there are also other forms of essential generosity carried out by bees. As bees are essential to the process of plant pollination, their activities in the spring are essential to the harvest that follows later in the year. No bees, no harvest, Nour says, pointing out that this connection between bees, plant pollination and the appearance of the harvest was known to the ancient Egyptians, who drew images of bees on the walls of tombs. However, there is a difference between the quality of bee honey depending on the nectar from which it is made, and Nour explains that the high prices of "mountain honey" when compared to regular varieties stem from the relatively few numbers of bees involved. "Mountain honey tends to come from the mountains of the Gulf countries, and since most of these do not practice apiculture in a modern way or on a large scale this means that the honey tends to come from wild bees already living in mountain areas. The amount of honey collected is very little, and its scarcity explains the very high prices it is sold for." Some apparently mountain honey may not be mountain honey at all, he adds, but the only way to know for sure is to analyse it in a laboratory. How should honey be kept, in order that it can retain all its goodness and optimum quality? Nour replies methodically by enumerating four main points: "first, honey should always be kept in a dark jar because putting honey in transparent packs affects its antibiotic characteristics," he says. "Second, granulated honey should not be placed in hot water because this can result in the formation of harmful chemicals known as hydroxyl methylfurfurals (HMF), and these, if they exceed certain limits, can make honey unsuitable for human consumption. Third, honey should not be stored for long periods at high temperatures because this destroys the enzymes that are important for the human body; and finally, a spoonful of honey every day can increase the body's natural immunity," Nour says.
