Honey has long been a staple of the kitchen. In Bible times, wild honey was collected from tree hollows and the clefts of rocks. John the Baptist had wild honey as a mainstay of his diet. The numerous references to honey in scripture indicates that honey must have been fairly abundant and popular in Palestine. Wisdom literature likens pleasant words and wisdom to honey.
Honeybees collect nectar to make honey to use as a food.
A good colony of about 50,000 worker bees can put away about 2 lbs of honey in a day. To produce a pound of honey, bees may travel as far as 40,000 miles and visit more than 2 million flowers. Over 200 million pounds of honey are produced in the US annually. Honey bees collect nectar from different floral sources. There are over 300 varieties of honey, with clover and alfalfa providing the major sources of nectar.