Science Monday: Why Does Honey Last (Literally) Forever?

3,000 year old honey, from the tombs of pharaohs, is still edible. How can a food last thousands of years without spoiling?

“Yeah, this is some good bee goop, right here. Can’t wait to leave this out on the counter for 2,000 years, and then eat it. Sounds like a good plan to me.” Photo by Arwin Neil Baichoo.

What’s the oldest food that you’ve ever eaten? If you look in your fridge and cupboards, what food has been in there the longest? Would you still consider it safe to eat?

Ignoring spices and some condiments, most of the food in my house is less than two years old. There are a couple tins of canned meat that are probably still safe to eat, despite being purchased a few years ago, and it’s hard to ever imagine a box of kosher salt actually “going bad.” I wouldn’t feel much concern over adding a splash of year-old soy sauce to my food, or eating some canned food from a couple years ago (as long as it was still in a sealed can, of course).

But what about food that was way, way older?

What if that bit of food was more than 3,000 years old?

If you were an archaeologist exploring a pyramid, and you found some of the pharaoh’s preserved snacks, would you feel comfortable taking a bite (putting aside the whole “damaging a dig site and destroying ancient artifacts” angle)?

For almost any food, I’d turn down the chance to eat a 3,000 year old sample.