Honey is a sweet, viscous food substance made by honey bees and some related insects. Bees produce honey from the sugary secretions of plants (floral nectar) or from secretions of other insects (such as honeydew), by regurgitation, enzymatic activity, and water evaporation. Bees store honey in wax structures called honeycombs. The variety of honey produced by honey bees (the genus Apis) is the best-known, due to its worldwide commercial production and human consumption. Honey is collected from wild bee colonies, or from hives of domesticated bees, a practice known as beekeeping or apiculture.

For best quality, store honey for up to 12 months. After that time, it remains safe but the quality may not be as good. Honey can become cloudy, crystallized or solidified but this is not a safety concern. The honey can be microwaved or heated in a pan of hot water to clarify or melt it.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that you do not feed a baby honey or syrup -- at least for the first 12 months. Honey and syrups can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum. The immune systems of adults and older children can prevent the spores from growing once ingested. However, in an infant, these spores can grow and cause infant botulism.