Honey, from Hive to Honeypot

Beekeepers, cooks and honey-lovers will cherish this charming, attractively designed volume. Style ( A Taste of Switzerland ), a cooking teacher and cookbook author, first learned about bees and honey-making from her neighbors in Alsace. Here she traces the history of honey from ancient Egypt to Europe and America today, noting the changes in beehives and methods of production. Following the beekeeper through the year, she discusses the medicinal uses of honey and devotes a chapter to its taste. We learn about ``flea'' honey (made by bees from honeydew secreted by aphids), single-flower honey and that 181 chemical substances have been identified in honey. Some 20 recipes comprise about a third of the book, which is much enhanced by Evernden's drawings. (Mar.)