[Sca-cooks] the Melipone bee, vanilla

[Stefan li Rous]

Bear replied to me with:
<<< Many bees produce honey, but only the species that form colonies are of use 
to humans.  The European honeybee (Apis mellifera) is a prolific producer of 
honey and it flourishes in temperate climates, but it is not the only 
producer of honey.  Central and South America, Africa and Australia all had 
honey before the Europeans arrived, but the evidence suggests it was 
gathered from the wild rather than farmed. >>>

Oops. Then it looks like I've been wrong in using honey in the Old World/New World food game and telling people honey originated in the Old World.

Sigh. Omitting honey means I can no longer work in how honey was used in the oldest alcoholic beverage, mead, or compare honey and sugar use or about the honey bee die-off. :-( Or that the biggest use of the honeybee is in pollinating imported fruits and crops from the Old World and not in harvesting honey.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****