Raw honey vs. Regular honey
Why Raw Unfiltered Honey?
What is honey?
Honey is a sweet, syrupy, golden-colored liquid made by honeybees. Honeybees store honey in the beehive to use for food and nutrients. Raw honey comes directly from the hive while regular honey undergoes processing before being bottled.
People use honey for food and medicine. Humans may have been using honey medicinally for as long as 8,000 years.
Originally, people would have used raw honey, but today, most honey on supermarket shelves is processed, usually through pasteurization, which involves intense heating. Many of these processed types of honey may contain added sugars.
What is raw honey?
- Raw honey comes straight from the honeycomb. The beekeeper will usually just filter the honey to remove small bits of debris, including bee pollen, bee propolis, enzymes, amino acids, certain vitaminsand minerals, beeswax, and parts of dead bees. They do not pasteurize the honey.
- Raw honey appears cloudy because it contains these extra elements. It is still safe to eat.
- Raw honey, which comes straight from the beehive, contains healthful bee pollen, bee propolis, and plenty of antioxidants.
- Raw honey also contains bee pollen and bee propolis, which is a sticky, glue-like substance bees use to hold their hive together.
What is regular honey?
Regular, or pasteurized honey, is clear and smooth. The pasteurization process improves the honey’s appearance, increases its shelf life, and kills yeast cells that can affect the taste of the honey.
How do they differ?
- Raw honey is naturally cloudier than regular honey due to honeycomb debris that is too small to be filtered out.
- Raw honey tends to have more variation in color and texture than regular honey. The color of raw honey may change depending on what flowers the bees pollinated.
Honey naturally offers the following healthful benefits:
- Antibacterial action
- Honey is a natural antibacterial and antimicrobial agent. It contains hydrogen peroxide and glucose oxidase and has a low pH level, which means it can kill harmful bacteria and fungi.
- In addition, because of its unique chemical composition, it does not help yeast or bacteria to grow.
- Wound-healing effects
- Honey is useful in wound healing because of its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.
- In addition, honey is acidic, which helps release oxygen from the wound and promote healing.
- Dietary antioxidants
- Natural honey containsa range of compounds that act as antioxidants, including phytochemicals, flavonoids, and ascorbic acid.
- Anti-inflammatory effects
- Nutrition
- Honey contains specific nutrients that can make it a healthful addition to the diet.
- Relieving coughs
- Many cough medicines are not safe for younger children to take, so honey may be a good alternative for children over one year of age.
- Treating diarrhea
- Raw honey may have a soothing effect on digestion, helping with symptoms of diarrhea.
- Protecting the brain
- Some evidence suggests that honey may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory powers that can benefit the brain
