Honey is not a new or rare thing for all of us. It’s part of the first drink in the morning and for some, it’s a perfect partner to spread on the bread. No matter what, when you use it, honey surely gives you a zest to refresh your mood, energize you, and keep you healthy. In India, honey is consumed for its medicinal purposes and in cultural rituals rather than as a natural sweetener. But with increased awareness of health and fitness, the young generation is looking at it as a replacer for sugar in their detox regime.
You may have used it on the bread slice or in your tea or coffee as a natural sweetener, but have you ever wondered what is honey and how this honey comes to your plate from the hives? Or apart from this first-morning drink, what are the other benefits, it can offer? You will get answers to all these questions as you go on reading…
What is Raw Honey?
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance, golden in colour produced by industrious bees, which is made using the nectar of flowering plants and bees save it inside the hives for consumption during scarcity times. Bees extract the nectar from the flowers with their tube-shaped tongue and store it in their extra stomach – crop. This gathered nectar changes its chemical composition and pH as it gets mixed with the enzymes in the crop and making it more sustainable. After returning to the hives, the honeybee regurgitates the gathered liquid into another bee’s mouth. This process continues until this partially digested nectar gets finally decomposed into the honeycomb. What a fascinating process!
Now, one may get confused about raw honey. Raw honey is the version of honey which exactly exists in the beehive. One can gather this raw honey by extracting honey from honeycombs and filtering it with a mesh or nylon cloth to separate the impurities. This honey is bottled and termed raw honey!
If you have strolled any supermarket, you must have seen jars of honey labelling pure honey. On second thought, you must have questioned yourself, is it true? How to identify whether it is pure or not? Here are quick tricks & tips to check the purity of honey:
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Thumb test- Test the purity of honey by placing a drop of honey on your thumb; if it doesn’t stick and drips away, bad luck, you have adulterated honey!
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Aesthetic test- Pure honey smells flowery, cloudy in nature, and doesn’t have a shiny appearance.
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Honeycomb test- Take some honey in a bowl, add some water and swirl it clockwise. Pure honey will make a hexagonal honeycomb texture.
What is Raw Honey and Regular Honey?
You can find honey in both raw and regular forms. To your wonder, they differ from each other. Depending upon their manufacturing process, these types of honey differ from each other. Another distinction factor can be quality.
1. Process of Extracting:
Raw honey comes directly from the honeycomb without any pasteurization, whereas, the production of regular honey involves the processes of pasteurization and filtration after extracting it from beehives.
2. Aesthetic Features:
Raw honey is cloudy or opaque in appearance and doesn’t have any shine. Basic difference between manufacturing process of regular honey and raw honey brings differences in their appearance also. Additional adulteration processes make the regular honey shiny, clear, and smooth.
3. Shelf Life:
With the absence of any chemicals, raw honey has less shelf life as it directly comes from honey hives and without any processing. Some ingredients used in the processes like pasteurization increase the shelf life of regular honey.
4. Additional Ingredients:
Raw honey is free from added sugar or additives. Regular honey uses additional sugar or additives in regular honey such as fructose corn syrup.
What are the Benefits of Honey?
Honey is extremely nutritious and enriched with antioxidant properties. Apart from its use in detox water and as a sweetener in breakfast cereal, the benefits of honey can lure you to replace your sweetener with this healthy option:
1. Extremely Nutritious
One tablespoon of honey can offer you nutritional benefits with no fat and traces of protein and fibre. One of the major gains from honey is polyphenols which are health-promoting plant compounds. You can get almost 17 grams of carbs and 61 calories from 1 tablespoon of honey, which is quite healthier compared to other sweeteners.
2. Good for Blood Sugar Levels
Original honey is a good option for people with high blood sugar levels. Although it can increase blood sugar levels just like other sweeteners, the antioxidants of honey can save you from metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
3. Improved Heart Health
Honey may help in lowering blood pressure and may improve blood fat levels. Organically harvested honey can regulate the heartbeat and prevent the loss of healthy cells. All these factors can contribute to improved cardiovascular health. Further, propolis of raw honey can improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
4. Suppress Cough
Children suffering from upper respiratory infections, like coughing may get some relief with honey. Honey, can reduce cough duration and may improve sleep quality with no side effects. But here, only the original honey which is free from adulteration may better help.
Is there any risk of eating Raw Honey?
Although raw honey is the purest honey, there are some kinds of risks involved init. Learn about those important points that involve some risk factors:
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Raw honey may contain spores of Clostridium botulinum bacteria, which may be harmful to infants and may cause botulism poisoning.
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Although honey is a natural sweetener, it is a form of sugar. So, it is always recommended to have limited consumption of it.
Our lives have been divided as before and after the pandemic categories as the deadly wave impacted us drastically. Many of us have transformed our lives with healthy habits after experiencing the real meaning of “Health is wealth”. Honey is a popular addition with its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. Honey uses have increased after the pandemic and have become a necessary grocery item for many families. You can purchase pure honey from us and take this natural sweetener and energizer home without any doubt of adulteration! Step into our stores or hit our websites to have this healthy jar - substitute for sugar that too in its purest form!
