There was no other source of sweetening except maple sugar which the Indians learned to make by laboriously boiling down maple sap. Soon, swarms of these Old World honeybees escaped and established colonies in hollow trees. Over the years they spread westward through the forests, usually keeping about 100 miles in advance of the frontier. Woodlands near prairies with their wealth of flowers were especially productive and, in 1820, an early traveler said that Illinois had more honey than any other place in the world. Bee trees were hunted as much as big game and were more valuable.
Honey is the sweet, sticky fluid which bees make from the nectar of flowers.
Honey is not the same as nectar because the double sugar in nectar is changed chemically while it is in the bee's honey sac. Then each cell is sealed with a cap. Honey contains about 77 per cent of sugar and only 18 per cent of water. Used as human food, the dextrose of honey is quickly absorbed by the blood and becomes an immediate source of muscular energy and heat. In contrast, before levulose can be used as fuel, it must first be converted into glycogen in the liver, then reconverted into dextrose.