Humans have relied on the honey and wax bees provide for tens of thousands of years, whether to make food, candles or aid in medicinal and cosmetic applications. Here are a few key moments (and fun facts) throughout honey's history—and its importance to mankind.

13,000 – 8000 BCE

6000 BCE

First recorded rock painting of someone gathering honey.

3100 BCE – 300 BCE

First use of honey for food, medicine and religious rites in Egypt.

1400 AD

Romans utilize honey for medicinal properties as well as water refreshments and honey cakes.

1538

The Spanish import the first European honeybees to South America.

1682

George Wheler, an English travel writer, discovers and publishes the design of Greek hives (one of the first with a moveable frame).

1730

170,000 beehives set up in America, challenging the price of hogs and sheep.

1852

“The Father of American Beekeeping,” L.L. Langstrom, invents the Collateral Hive— officially commercializing the honey industry.

1926

Winnie the Pooh enjoys his first jar of honey.

1948

Vernon Adee begins beekeeping full-time in Haddam, KS.

1957

Adee Honey Farms opens in Bruce, SD.

1969

Richard Adee works as a founding member of the American Honey Producers’ Association.

1975

Richard Adee becomes the third president of the American Honey Producers’ Association.

1990

Adee Honey Farms first sends their bees to California for the annual almond pollination season.

2017

Kelvin Adee becomes president of the American Honey Producers’ Association.