Wal writes ...
Bees collect nectar, which is mainly sucrose and 40-80% water. They process this using the enzyme invertase, and by evaporation into a product containing 18-20% water we know as honey:
Water 18%
Fructose 38%
Glucose 33%
Sucrose 1.5%
Maltose 7.2%
Higher sugars 1.5%
Minerals 0.2%
Total acid (as gluconic acid) 0.6% (pH 3.9)
Mock Honey. Not to be outdone by bees, we can also process granular sucrose to make a home-made 'honey'. Here is a mock-honey recipe (a form of invert sugar syrup), based on the above, using 4 units of granulated sugar to 1 unit of water:
2000g raw sugar (say 8 heaped cups). For a darker color substitute with soft brown sugar (1 cup)
5tbsp. malt extract (maltose)
500ml water (say 2 cups)
6g or 1tsp. acid (a mixture of various - tartaric, citric) or juice of 2 lemons. A pH of 3.6 is equivalent to 6g of citric acid/litre or 1tsp.
Boil water, add acid and sugar and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool. When cool add 1tbsp raw sugar (sucrose). This produces about 1 litre of mock-honey syrup. SG of honey is 1.5kg/l.
You could infuse dried flowers (camomile, roses, citrus flowers) to provide a floral aroma. If you are making a heavily spiced mead, and you want to save money, the recipe is appropriate.
For low technology brewing techniques using honey, as still practised in East Africa, see "Honey Beer"
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e08.htm
For brewing using honey as practised in Medieval times, see "A Guide to Mead"
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/articles/guide_to_mead.html.
"Spirit of Honey", distilled from a honey mash, consisting of 1 part honey to 5 parts water is mentioned in "Delightes for Ladies" by Sir Hugh Plat, 1609
Vikings made mead and sometimes added honey to malt when making ale. In Tudor times a mixture of honey and ale fermented together and spiced with pepper was called 'braggot'. Prior to hops the herbs (gruit) used to flavor ale included bog myrtle, rosemary, yarrow, alecost.
I always have a jug of the stuff.