• Institution
    • Leitung
    • Gremien
      • Wissenschaftlicher Beirat
        • Gesamtliste seit 1981
      • Stiftungsrat
      • Mitgliederversammlung
    • Ansprechpartner
    • Das Kolleg
      • Historie
        • Geschichte der Institution
          • Kurze Geschichte des Kollegs
        • Geschichte der Häuser und Gärten
          • Hauptgebäude
            • Exkurs - Der Garten
          • Weiße Villa
          • Neubau
          • Villa Jaffé
          • Villa Walther
        • Geschichte des Signets
      • Finanzierung & Satzungen
        • Satzung der Wissenschaftsstiftung
        • Satzung des Wissenschaftskollegs
      • Förderer & Freundeskreis
    • Initiativen & Kooperationen
      • Working Futures
        • Interviews
          • Gabriel Abend
          • Ève Chiapello
          • Elena Esposito
          • Michel Lallement
          • Sophie Bernard
          • David Stark
          • Richard Swedberg
        • Publications
          • Shifting Categories
          • Wiko Briefs - Working Futures in Corona Times
            • The digital transformation of work. COVID-19 as a taste of things to come?
            • Thinking the Global Rise of Forced Labor: Old, New, and Changing Forms of Labor Exploitation in Times of Crisis
            • Rearticulating globalization, solidarities, and work in Ethiopia
            • The future of shopping - Corona as a catalyst for the transformation of work
            • The End of the Pandemic of Productivism?
            • Covid and Looking for the Exit
            • Who or what is being tested in pandemic times?
            • The Crisis as Beginning of a New Relationship to the Professional World?
            • Controlled Avalanche – A Regulated Voluntary Exposure Approach for Addressing Covid-19
            • Caring about what we hold dear and the final purposes of work
            • How does the Corona crisis affect the future of work and our view of it?
            • "Useful", "indispensable", “essential”: Is the health crisis changing the categories with which we consider professional activities?
            • The Corona Crisis Reveals the Struggle for a Sustainable Digital Future
            • The Need for De-Integration in Pandemic Times
            • The COVID 19 crisis accelerates structural change in the world of work
            • How can we strengthen the contributory logic of work?
        • Events
        • Network
      • Blankensee-Colloquien
      • Anna Krüger Stiftung
      • Some Institutes for Advanced Study (SIAS)
      • Ukraine-Förderung
      • VUIAS
        • Bilder der Eröffnungsfeier
      • Elkana Fellowships
    • Bibliothek
      • Bestellen & Ausleihen
      • Recherche
        • Zeitschriften
        • Kataloge
        • Fachinformationsdienste
        • Archive
      • Bücher & Musik vor Ort
      • Fragen?
  • Fellows
    • Fellowfinder
    • Fellows 2024/2025
    • Fellows 2025/2026
    • Permanent Fellows
      • Frühere Permanent Fellows
    • Alumni
      • Fellowclub
        • Verein
          • Geschichte
        • Mitgliedschaft
        • Newsletter
          • März 2025
            • Editorial
            • Architekturen des Überlebens: Ein Interview mit Natalia Romik (Elkana-Fellow 2024/2025)
            • „Definitionen sind keine letzten Wahrheiten“
            • Weitere Videos aus der Wikothek
            • Die School of Human Rights Association: Für eine gerechte und demokratische Wissenschaft in der Türkei
            • Wissenschaftsfreiheit im Kleinen
            • Save the Date: Jahrestreffen des Fellowclubs
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Mitgliedsbeiträge und Spenden
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Obituarium
          • Februar 2024
            • Editorial
            • Mit essbaren Insekten die Welt ernähren
            • Schöner Leben
            • Weitere Videos aus der Wikothek
            • Gespräch mit einer linkshändigen Friseurin: die Soziologin Barbara Thériault (Fellow 2023/2024)
            • Teller, die Fragen aufwerfen: Interview mit Chef de cuisine Sonja Frühsammer
            • Runden um den Grunewaldsee: fünf Jahre Wicked Wiko Runners
            • Save the Date – Treffen des Fellowclubs 2024
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Mitgliedsbeiträge und Spenden
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Obituarium
          • Februar 2023
            • Editorial
            • Geschichtslehrer des Volkes
            • Krieg und Frieden. Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Ukraine
            • Frostig, beschämt, befreit
            • Musik eines Geflüchteten
            • Grußwort des Vorsitzenden
            • Save the dates – Fellowtreffen 2023
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Mitgliedsbeiträge und Spenden
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Obituarium
          • März 2022
            • Editorial
            • Politik, Recht und Wissenschaft in Zeiten der Pandemie
            • Pandemics: The Maths, the Masks, the Madness
            • Roni Taharlev: Der Vorbote von Corona
            • Rachel Wheatley: Berlin mit Maske
            • Grußwort des Vorsitzenden
            • Save the dates – Fellowtreffen 2022
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Mitgliedsbeiträge und Spenden
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Obituarium
          • Februar 2021
            • Editorial
            • Zwischen Eigenzeit und Interdisziplinarität
            • Sag's durch die Maske!
            • Was war und zu welchem Ende studiert man Trumpismus?
            • Als die Computer laufen lernten
            • Zum Abschied von Sonja Grund
            • Angelika Leuchter
            • Blog-Serie zur Wissenschaftsfreiheit
            • Save the dates – Fellowtreffen 2021 und 2022
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Obituarium
          • März 2020
            • Editorial
            • Verfassung als gewaltlose Revolution
            • Imre Kertész und die europäische Literatur der Gegenwart
            • Es sind die Verluste, welche die Polen umtreiben
            • Das Kolleg und der Osten – das New Europe College in Bukarest
            • Save the date - Fellowtreffen: Biodiversity: Conceptual Challenges in an Era of Rapid Change 11./12.Juni 2020
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Obituarium
          • March 2019
            • Editorial
            • Paintings for the Future
            • Landmark Papers Revisited
            • Working Futures
            • Society Benefits From Our Autonomy
            • Two Million Blossoms in a Jar
            • Save the Date - Meeting of the Fellows' Club: June 13-14, 2019
            • Lectures on Film
            • New Publications in the Fellows' Library
            • Preise
            • Join the Fellows' Club
            • Obituaries
          • März 2018
            • Editorial
            • A Good Bet: Five Years of the College for Life Sciences
            • Lectures on Film: Lisa Herzog
            • Return to Gdańsk
            • Sign the Gdansk Petition
            • Lecture Series: "Recht und Digitalisierung"
            • The Future of the Humboldt Forum: An Epiphany
            • (Almost) A Lifer
            • Late Checkout
            • Save the Date - Fellowtreffen
            • Preise
            • New Publications in the Fellows' Library
            • Obi­tu­a­ri­um
          • March 2017
            • Editorial
            • Luca Giuliani: Facets of Stephen
            • Berliner Abend 2017
            • Michael Jennions: Walking Berlin
            • Nostalgia
            • Prizes
          • June 2016
            • Editorial
            • Daniel M. Weary: Three days at Wiko to imagine a new world
            • Katharina Wiedemann: Travelling Lights
            • William Marx: The Rising of Kaspar Hauser
            • Luc Steels: Grunewaldkirche, Bach, and Passions
            • Nostalgia
          • June 2015
            • Editorial
            • Adam S. Wilkins: Humanities and Natural Sciences
            • Rob Page: The Decline of the Humanities?
            • Alfons Söllner: From "Exilforschung" to "Emigrationsforschung"? A Journey in Memory.
            • Susan Rose-Ackerman and Bruce Ackerman: Wiko Then and Now: 1991-1992 and 2014-2015
            • Daniel Schönpflug: Ins Grüne
          • December 2014
            • Editorial
            • Sebastian Conrad: Global History
            • Sahotra Sarkar, Chris Margules: Biodiversity group at the Kolleg
            • Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus: On Uwe Pörksen: Camelot im Grunewald. Szenen aus dem intellektuellen Leben der achtziger Jahre
            • Meredith Reiches: "Literary studies and biology: The Shakespeare-Workshops at the Kolleg 2012 and 2013"
            • Simon Teuscher: Workshop: Perspectives on Actors in Social History
            • Gebhard Kirchgässner: Workshop “The Economic Model of Human Behaviour”
            • Gerald Wilkinson: Workshop “Mind the Gap: Closing the Gulf between Genomic and Phenotypic Studies of Sexual Selection”
            • Sonja Grund: News from the Fellows’ Club
          • May 2014
            • Editorial
            • Peter Reill: From the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin to Wiko: Reflections on a Return after Twenty-Seven Years
            • Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus:Why artists are needed at research institutions
            • Martin Loughlin: Constitutions beyond the Nation-State
            • Franco Moretti: Invisible objects
            • Stefanie Rentsch: The Forum Transregionale Studien – its Mission and History
          • November 2013
            • Editorial
            • Jim Hunt: Ten Years in the Rearview Mirror
            • Thorsten Wilhelmy: My First Year at the Wissenschaftskolleg
            • Giovanni Frazzetto: The College for Life Sciences at the Wissenschaftskolleg
            • Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus: The Fellow Forum for Former Fellows
      • Fellow Forum
  • Veranstaltungen
    • Veranstaltungskalender
    • Workshops
    • Veranstaltungsreihen
      • Gesprächskonzerte
      • Zur Zeit
      • Observatorium
      • Ernst Mayr Lecture
    • Three Cultures Forum
  • Wikothek
    • Wiko Shorts
    • Lectures & Keynotes
    • Features
    • Köpfe und Ideen
    • Arbeitsvorhaben
    • Jahrbuch
    • Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte
  • Fellow werden
    • Fellowshipbewerbungen
      • Voraussetzungen
      • Auswahlkriterien
      • Auswahlverfahren
      • FAQ
    • Wiko Early Career Calls
      • Early Career Call Humanities and Social Sciences
        • Bewerbung und Auswahl
        • Zulassungsvoraussetzungen
        • FAQ
      • Early Career Call Life- and Natural Sciences
    • Leben und Arbeiten
      • Finanzielle Regelungen
      • Wohnungen
      • Wissenschaftliches Leben
      • Dienste für Fellows
      • Dienste für Partnerinnen/Partner und Familien
image/svg+xml
DeutschEnglish
 Login


MENU

  • Institution
  • Fellows
  • Veranstaltungen
  • Wikothek
  • Fellow werden

  • Fellowfinder
  • Fellows 2024/2025
  • Fellows 2025/2026
  • Permanent Fellows
  • Alumni

  • Fellowclub
  • Fellow Forum

Two Million Blossoms in a Jar: In Search of the Perfect Honey

by Kirsten Traynor (Fellow 2018/2019)

I eat my peas with honey
I’ve done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on the knife!

Ogden Nash

“Honey, fresh from the hive,” Rick said, handing me a hunk. I pulled up my veil and popped it into my mouth. The comb was still warm and the flavor exploded across my papillae. It tasted sharp, stealing my breath, a cacophony of flowers vying for attention, filling my nostrils. As my teeth sunk into the soft wax, silken honey spilling across my tongue, the flavor mellowed into a gentle river of vanilla tinged with lemon, but more floral, as if a bouquet bloomed inside me.

It had only been a few months since Rick had moved the hives to the farm where I was living after finishing my BA, and this was my very first taste of honey still warm from the hive. It did not take much more than that to awaken in me an almost addictive fascination with honey – and to transform a young literary scholar into a biologist.

While Western cultures shy away from eating insects, they have a soft spot for honey. Germans are overachievers in this realm, consuming 1.1 kg per person annually or just over two jars per year. They put Americans to shame, who in the 1990s consumed a measly 225 g per person, though that almost doubled to 410 g by 2016. Judging by the collection of eight jars on my countertop at the Wissenschaftskolleg, plus the three empties I have already recycled, I am a bizarre outlier. The little sugar tin that came with my apartment sees use only when company visits. I have not yet stooped to eating my peas with honey, as Nash suggests, but honey sweetens my tea, coffee, and yogurt. I apply earthy, darker honeys for glazing meats and whip the light, floral honeys into salad dressing. During flu season, I mince ginger and store it in acacia honey—a Berlin specialty—dissolving a spoonful into a cup of hot water whenever my throat starts to tickle.

Bees sup on over two million blossoms to make a single pound of honey. They zip through the air, picking up an electrostatic charge. When they land on a blossom to collect dilute nectar, pollen grains stick to their hairy bodies. On a single foraging trip, they will visit up to 50 flowers of the same species. If they visited an apple blossom, they will stick with apple blossoms, never straying toward a wanton dandelion—a trait scientists have dubbed floral fidelity. Nectar has up to 80% moisture, while honey must be below 17.8% moisture or it will ferment.

During transport and processing, the bees add special enzymes that break the complex sugars of nectar down into the two simple sugars, fructose and glucose. Honey is a supersaturated sugar solution. In the warmth of the hive, the bees are able to create a shelf-stable product that holds more calories than a solution should normally be allowed to contain—an energy-dense larder that lets the bees survive the winter dearth in cold climates. According to a 1497 record, a group of fur traders took the bees as a Vorbild (role model), transporting 2.5 tons of honey as a concentrated energy source on an expedition to Siberia.

Nature’s first sweetener comes in a wide variety of hues and flavors, from water white to molasses black. The two specialties of Berlin are acacia honey, also known as black locust, collected from Robinia pseudoacacia, and linden honey, often sold as basswood in the States and lime in the UK, which the bees make from several Tilia species. Just like olive oil and wine, honey is influenced by the terroir, the soil and surrounding landscape that subtly change the nectar’s properties. Wildflower is the generic term slapped on jars when beekeepers don’t know what their bees have been foraging on or there is a plethora blooming simultaneously.

Last summer I harvested a beautiful, red-tinged, late spring honey that had undertones of smoky and velvety tulip poplar mixed with the light floral vanilla of acacia. Low in moisture, the thick honey unfolded gently on the tongue, releasing a complex and exotic bouquet. Everyone has their own preferred palette, but if all you have ever tasted is the generic clover honey dished up on supermarket shelves, you are missing out on a diverse world of flavors.

Avocado honey is buttery and rich, melting on the tongue. Heather honey is almost metallic and astringent, an acquired taste. True lavender honey, made high up in the scraggly mountains of Provence and not from the lower lands where they predominantly grow lavandin, explodes in the mouth, releasing aromatic esters that invigorate. The longer I’ve been tasting honey, the more I appreciate the darker honeys, especially Waldhonig, made not from nectar but honeydew, a sticky sweet sap aphids excrete in fir forests.

If kept in a sealed container, honey typically does not spoil. Sealed jars of honey found in King Tut’s tomb were still edible. Yet, my training in biology and my research in the field have opened my eyes to the dangers that apiculture is facing. Pollution, shrinking of habitat, industrial beekeeping, but most of all: the fatal effects of the global spreading of the verroa mite. There is so much at stake, as thousands of plants – among them many of our most common groceries – depend on pollination. And who would even want to imagine a world without honey!

In Jonathan Swift’s The Battle of the Books, Aesop notes that the bees fill their "hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light”. Spooning into a jar of honey on the short days of winter, I remember last year’s flowers and know that spring will return soon. When the days warm up, my bees will fly out again. As I taste honey, I am transported to an apiary, abuzz with bee traffic. I stand next to a hive and watch the nectar-laden ladies struggling home, weighed down from smelling too many flowers.

  • Verein
  • Mitgliedschaft
  • Newsletter
    • März 2025
    • Februar 2024
    • Februar 2023
    • März 2022
    • Februar 2021
    • März 2020
    • March 2019
      • Editorial
      • Paintings for the Future
      • Landmark Papers Revisited
      • Working Futures
      • Society Benefits From Our Autonomy
      • Two Million Blossoms in a Jar
      • Save the Date - Meeting of the Fellows' Club: June 13-14, 2019
      • Lectures on Film
      • New Publications in the Fellows' Library
      • Preise
      • Join the Fellows' Club
      • Obituaries
    • März 2018
    • March 2017
    • June 2016
    • June 2015
    • December 2014
    • May 2014
    • November 2013

Institute for Advanced Study

  • Pressenotizen
  • Ansprechpartner
  • Kontakt
  • Vakanzen
  • Impressum
  • Datenschutz
  • Sitemap

Institution

  • Leitung
  • Gremien
  • Ansprechpartner
  • Das Kolleg
  • Initiativen & Kooperationen
  • Bibliothek

Fellows

  • Fellowfinder
  • Fellows 2024/2025
  • Fellows 2025/2026
  • Permanent Fellows
  • Alumni

Veranstaltungen

  • Veranstaltungskalender
  • Workshops
  • Veranstaltungsreihen
  • Three Cultures Forum

Wikothek

  • Wiko Shorts
  • Lectures & Keynotes
  • Features
  • Köpfe und Ideen
  • Arbeitsvorhaben
  • Jahrbuch
  • Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte

Fellow werden

  • Fellowshipbewerbungen
  • Wiko Early Career Calls
  • Leben und Arbeiten