Honey and it's vitamins

[torilen]

There seem to be a lot of people on here with access to scientific information, so maybe someone can answer this for me. When you make mead, does the honey keep its enzymes and vitamins and such, or does it lose those in the process?

Thanks in advance.

 

[honeycon]

Not sure if I can answer all of your question, but here's a start. Honey is mostly sugars. The honey bee introduces glucose oxidase, which is an enzyme,to produce gluconic acid and acidify the honey. This process also produces hydrogen peroxide. This is a key reason that honey is naturally so long lasting. The bees also introduce what is called bee protective enzyme. This is for the bees hatching in winter and early spring. Honey has almost no vitamins. The enzymes are for an animal the size of a bee. Not real sure what health benefit they have for a human. Then when you dilute the honey and ferment it into mead, what's left?. But honey is wonderful stuff. Ken Schrams "the complet meadmaker" has a very good section on honey. It lists the ingredients and details what makes honey so special.

 

[Sourz4life]

Honey contains Vitamin B6, niacin, thiamine, pantothenic acid, and riboflavin as its major vitamins. The vitamin b6 and Thiamine will degrade as the alcohol content increases. As far as the others I'm not 100% sure, but I don't believe the yeast would be interested in consuming any of that. I'm also not sure of the affects of alcohol on those vitamins and minerals. The yeast will eat the amino acids and anti-oxidants however. Hope that helps!

 

[torilen]

Yes, that helps. I've only made mead once, so far, and I was talking with a friend the other day on the differences between honey and sugar in tea, and it got me thinking about this subject. I was just curious.

Thanks.