Читать книгу Honey For Dummies - Howland Blackiston - Страница 14

Spoiler alert. This section gets a little gross and may put you off honey for a while, but it’s interesting to note that due to its high acidity and hygroscopic properties, honey acts by drying out the water necessary for microbes and bacteria to survive. And when combining that with the antiseptic qualities of the hydrogen peroxide produced by honey, you have a pretty effective embalming fluid. In fact, upon his death, it is said that Alexander the Great’s body was preserved in a golden coffin filled with honey and taken back to Macedonia.

Now if that’s not gruesome enough, here’s a honey of a legend you may want to skip over. Have you ever heard of a mellified body? It is said that Mellification was a way for elderly people nearing the end of their lives to donate their body to become medicine that would be ingested by others to alleviate ailments. In short, turning the body into—yuck—a mummified human confection to be consumed for its healing properties. I’ll skip over any further details.