Yemenis Recognize Medicinal Benefits of Honey

AP Blog From Yemen
Donna Abu-Nasr, Associated Press, 2/22/2006

Yemenis have honey for dessert. After a meal, they dip bananas in the thick, sweet liquid, the color of which varies from amber to black. Or it's poured in circles over a huge round pastry that tastes like chewy puff pastry.

But that's not its only use. Long before honey stores cropped up about three decades ago, honey was used mainly for medicinal purposes. It was not sold commercially; rather, jars were presented as gifts.

Today, the medicinal benefits of honey are touted by honey stores, which display jars of honey-laced cream to treat everything from hemorrhoids to back pain, fatigue to dry skin. The shelves the jars are on look like beehives.

There's also the "newlyweds mix," honey spiked with ginseng and herbal extracts that salesmen promote as an aphrodisiac.

"We give it to men and women who come to us with sexual problems," said salesman Ahmed al-Nahari. "Honey is a good aphrodisiac." . . .