Our honey is raw (not pasteurized like the stuff you get in the store), unprocessed (not like the the super fine filtering you get from the store stuff). The only filtering that is done, if it's needed, is to screen out all the junk that can come with the honey after extracting....like honeycomb peices, bee parts, etc. All the pollen is still intact---it's what some call 'really raw'.
I thought I would share some fun facts about honey......
HONEY HISTORY:
Honey (along with fruit) is one of the earliest forms of sweetness know to man.
In ancient Egypt, taxes were paid with it, while early Greece and Rome it symbolized fertility, love and beauty. To the ancients, honey was a source of health, a sign of purity and a symbol of strength and virility. In Greek mythology, it is said that cupid dipped his arrows in honey to fill the lovers heart with sweetness.
In the Bible, honey is mentioned 56 times in the King James version. For a time John the Baptist lived on a diet of just wild locust and honey. It was prophesied (in Isaiah 7) that by the time Jesus was old enough to eat curds and honey, that he would know enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong.
In the time of the ancient Olympics, athletes were reported to eat special foods, such as honey and dried figs, to enhance their sports performance.
Democritus (430-370 BC), Greek philosopher and physician, chose a diet rich in honey and lived until he was 109 years old.
In the first century AD, Apicus, a wealthy Roman gourmet, wrote a series of books in which more than half the recipes included honey.
HONEY 101:
Honey never spoils. No need to refrigerate it. It can be stored indefinitely at room temperature in a dry cupboard. It was found in the tomb of King Tut and was still edible.
Due to the high level of fructose, honey is 25% sweeter than table sugar.
Honey comes from the nectar of the plants. It has different flavors and colors, depending on the location and kinds of the flowers the bees visit. The lightest colors of honey have the mildest flavors, while the darker colors have the fuller flavors and usually a the higher antioxidant content to them.
THE HONEYBEE:
The honeybees has 4 wings and the wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz, and it flies at a rate of about 12 miles per hour.
Bees communicate with one another by 'dancing'.
80% of the pollination of the fruits, vegetable and seed crops in the US is accomplished by honeybees.
A Cornell University paper released in 2000 concluded that the direct value of the honeybee pollination to the US agriculture is $14.6 billion annually.
GATHERING THE GOODS:The honeybee is not born knowing how to make honey, the younger bees are taught by the more experienced ones.
A bee visits between 50 to 100 flowers during one collection flight from the hive gathering nectar to make honey. There are other bees that collect just pollen.
In order to produce 1 pound of honey, 2 million flowers must be visited. A hive of bees must fly 55,000 miles to produce a pound of honey and one bee colony can produce 60 to 100 pounds of honey per year. Now that's a lot of flying--no wonder they need 4 wings!
It takes 35 pounds of honey to provide enough energy for a small colony of bees to survive the winter.
HONEY AND YOUR HEALTH
Research has found 165 ingredients in honey-- it has enzymes, minerals, amino acids, vitamins and antioxidants (the antioxidant call 'pinocembrin' is only found in honey) but is fat, cholesterol and sodium free, it has proline (amino acid) in high amounts, proline is the main component of collagen.
Honey was the most used medicine in ancient Egypt. Of the more than 900 medicines remedies, we know about for that time, more than 500 were honey based.
As recently as the WWI, honey was being mixed with cod liver oil to dress wounds on the battlefield. Modern science now acknowledges honey as a antimicrobial agent, which means it deters the growth of certain types of bacteria, yeasts and molds.
A Russian study of the inhabitants of the province of Georgia, where many live to 100 years old and a few to age 150, revealed that many of these centenarians were beekeepers who often ate raw, unprocessed honey.
Honey is nature's energy booster! It provides a concentrated energy source that helps prevent fatigue and can boost athletic performance. Honey supplies 2 stages of energy. The glucose in honey is absorbed by the body quickly and gives an immediate energy boost. The fructose is absorbed more slowly providing sustained energy. Recent studies have proven that athletes who took some honey before and after competing recovered more quickly than those who did not.
Suffer from seasonal allergies? Honey has pollen in it and by consuming the pollen, the body builds immunity, which in turns causes less allergies. The honey to use should be from a local source as it will have the pollen in it that's from your area.
As good as honey is, it is recommended that infants under the age of 1 not consume honey.
Enjoy some honey today....your body will thank you for it!
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