I have been browsing through this delectable book and given that the honey here on Kangaroo Island is vey special and specific to our Island, I thought I would share the words of Isabel Allende about …honey!! Enjoy.
“The nectar of Aphrodite, golden treasure of the earth drawn from the soul of flowers and the labor of bees, honey served to sweeten life long before the discovery of sugar. Its taste and aroma depend upon the flowers from which the winged toilers have sipped. Honey’s reputation as an aphrodisiac is extensive: bride and groom go on a “honeymoon”, and in many cultures honey is part of the wedding ceremony and banquet. Its high vitamins B and C content, and the minerals in the pollen, stimulate the production of sex hormones. It instantly revives exhausted lovers, because the body absorbs it in minimal time. Avicenna, the celebrated Arab physician, whose prescriptions were used for centuries during the Middle Ages, recommends honey and ginger to cure impotence. Honey is used in the preparation of sensual sweets, mixed with nuts, coconut, camel or goat’s milk, eggs, spices, and so on. It is thought that the saliva of the beautiful houris of Allah’s Paradise tastes of honey. Attila, who believed steadfastly in its stimulating power, drank so much mead on the day of his wedding that he died of cardiac arrest, to the jubilation of his enemies, and possibly his bride. King Solomon sings to his beloved. “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon”. (The Song of Solomon 4:11)
If its hasn’t already occurred to you, here is a fact: warm honey on your body lends itself to many exotic games. Cleopatra like to apply a mixture of honey and ground almonds to beautify her skin. Julius Caesar and Mark Antony grew fat at her side not only because they had deserted the rude life of the barracks for the languid pleasures of the Egyptian court, but because they grew so fond of licking dessert from the intimate goblet of that seductive queen.”
