The bees have lent us some of their immunity in the product of their hives. If you have never eaten raw honey, you are in for a taste and health treat.
Facts about Raw Honey
Honey has been around as long as there have been bees. We see cartoons about bears getting stung mercilessly while trying to grab some of this sweet confection from the hives. If they risked pain, there must be something good about it.
Here’s a little about the process. Bees gather nectar from plants and return it to the hive. Through the enzymes secreted in their saliva and the nectar, the bees create honey and store it in their hives. Bee keepers keep bees and remove the honeycombs once the honey making process is completed by the bees.
Raw honey differs from processed honey in that it is taken from the bees and then jarred in its natural state. Different types of flower nectar can produce different colored honeys with different tastes.
The honey is not heated as processed honeys are. Therefore it retains its enzymes, pollen, royal jelly, vitamins and minerals. You may even get a jar that still has the honeycomb in it. There is talk about unpasteurized honey containing impurities. If there are any, they are of such low amount that the benefits of eating the raw honey would outweigh any negatives. And, it wouldn’t be enough to be harmful to human beings.
Health Benefits of Raw Honey
Raw honey is a natural sweetener. If you want to cut back on the white sugar or even the brown, try using honey to sweeten your coffee, desserts, and your glazes for your meats.
Honey is an antiseptic. It can be used to help fight infection in wounds and burns. There is also an antibacterial effect that assists here as well. Because of the heating process, this same effect is not necessarily true of processed honey products.
Honey is an antioxidant. This means that eating it can help you fight the free radical damage that leads to arthritis, heart disease, wrinkling and other signs of aging within and on the outside of the body.
Raw honey contains many vitamins including: niacin, riboflavin, B complex vitamins, biotin, and vitamins A, C, D, E, and K. Minerals present are: potassium, zinc, copper, calcium and phosphorus. The body needs all of these.
You may have heard that honey can soothe a sore throat. It can also help stop coughs, prevent colds and act as a laxative to help with motility in the intestinal tract. Add honey to your tea to help you sleep when you are restless.
Use this sweet health booster as a first line of defense for common ailments.