Q: Why does it take honey so...

Q: Why does it take honey so long to spoil?

A: Because there is very little water in honey--so little, in fact, that it sucks the water out of anything that comes in contact with it. When bacteria try to colonize honey, they become dehydrated, which generally kills them.

Also, bees treat honey with enzymes that generate highly reactive chemicals called free radicals. These free radicals, much like the oxygen free radicals generated in contact lens sterilizing solutions, kill any bacteria they contact.