Category Archives: Raw Honey

The amazing world of honeybees is fascinating and inspiring! It is abuzz with lots of interesting things. More importantly, there’s so much to learn and get inspired from!

A typical honeybee lives for about 120 to 150 days. They are barely 15 mm in size. To put that in perspective, that’s about half the size of one of the three divisions on your index finger.

What makes this little insect with such a short life so interesting and so inspiring?

Let’s find out!

1. Honeybees are great managers

Yes, you read it right! Honeybees are great managers. They are highly skilled and efficient managers.

What do we mean by that?

To begin with, honeybees need to find nectar that they will convert to honey. Next, this nectar will have to be converted to honey. After that, the bees will remove the extra moisture from this honey.

And when this honey is ready, they will seal this honey inside the cells of the honeycomb.

While it may not sound like something complicated, it sure is a lot of work for this brown-colored creature. And to make sure their efforts aren’t wasted, they rely on a lot of understanding about how they will work.

These bees tend to work differently during the different stages of their life. They take up multiple roles and perform their duties with the highest efficiency.

2. Honeybees are wonderful communicators

We humans are always on the lookout for newer media and platforms to express ourselves and communicate better.

Honeybees, on the other hand, have an extremely well-established communication system.

Two of their interesting communication systems include a dance. The first is called the waggle dance. Using this dance pattern, which is a relatively sophisticated set of movements, they communicate to one another the sources of nectar.

What’s interesting is that if the source of nectar is very close, the dance pattern changes. It becomes less specific. This dance style has been labelled the round dance.

Another dance movement the honeybees use is called the tremble dance. It’s not as well-known as the waggle dance, Through this dance, the honeyebees ask their fellow honeybees to collect the nectar from the forager bees.

3. Honeybees are smart designers

Have you ever wondered why the cells of a honeycomb are always hexagonal in shape?

No? Well, you’re in for a big surprise!

Let’s see what happens if the shape of a cell is circular. Have a look at the following design.

In the above figure, the orange circles are the circular cells where the honeybees store honey. The space lying idle between the circles is colored grey. This space becomes useless since honey cannot be stored

The above sample diagram has about 21% of the total area in gray color. In other words, the above figure shows about 21% wastage of space.

A square or rectangle would not have this problem, but it will still not be what is called the ideal shape, in terms of efforts, load borne or amount to be stored.

You must remember that constructing a honeycomb is not an easy task. But it’s difficult not to be impressed by the bees’ unusually high understanding of design.

4. Honeybees understand specialization

Yes, honeybees very well understand the importance of specialization.

Each type of the honeybee knows exactly what they are best at and will stick to that job.

A queenbee has two unique functions and it carries out those functions very well. It lays lots of eggs so that the next generation of honeybees doesn’t fall short in numbers. And secondly, it will release chemical scents that will keep the unity of the entire honeycomb intact.

A worker bee has the important role of collecting nectar. You’ll remember that this nectar is later converted into honey that all of us love.

The male bees mate with the queen bee so that the queen bee may lay eggs. Apart from that the male bees (called drones) help regulate the temperature of the hive, by flapping their wings along with the female bees.

This approach of distribution of labor gives honeybees lots of leverage and it’s clearly reflected in their sweet end-results.

5. Honeybees produce more than just tasty honey

Remember, honey has a lot of medicinal properties. Depending upon which flower the nectar came from, honey of a particular will have some unique properties. So honey isn’t just good taste. You can read more about the benefits of honey in our earlier post.

Well, honey is certainly the main thing that honeybees give us. But that’s not all.

Honeybees give us beeswax. In the olden days, beeswax was used to prepare candles (though most of the modern candles are made of paraffin wax, a derivative of petroleum).

Today, beeswax has multiple uses. It is used in a number of cosmetic and skincare products. For instance, it is used in eye shadow, blush and eyeliners. Skincare products using beeswax include moisturising creams and lip balms.

6. And they are beautiful too!

Well, honestly, their looks are certainly one more reason to love these winged insects! Their brown bodies with a special set of wings and a hardworking, courageous nature is certainly fascinating for all of us.

No wonder most of us can’t stop admiring this miniature powerhouse!

Summing up

Honeybees are very important to our environment. But there are many other reasons to respect honeybees. For instance, they are extremely hardworking and organized. They are highly skilled managers and play the role assigned to them very efficiently.

Such traits make honeybees one of the favorite insects (but hey, be careful of their stings!).

What do you think? What’s the reason you love honeybees?

We all know honey has a great taste and a greater nutritional value, but we must also know the do’s and don’ts of eating honey. In this article, we’ll cover what other foods work best with honey. Also, we’ll talk about what foods you shouldn’t eat with honey.

Four ways of enjoying honey

Some things are so right that there almost anyway you do them, you’ll probably be right. Thankfully, eating honey is one of them. There are hundreds of different ways of eating honey, but we will share four most popular ones.

1. Eat honey by the spoonful

Yes, you read it right! Just dip a large spoon inside your jar of honey, stack it up well and slurrp! There you go!

Most people love eating honey by itself, without mixing it with anything. And if you haven’t tried eating honey just the way it is, go ahead, take a spoonful of honey and lick it dry! Enjoy the unique, lingering and sweet taste of thick, lustrous honey inside your mouth!

2. Add honey to nuts

Who doesn’t love nuts? That woody, soft taste of walnuts, cashew nuts, almonds… Such nuts are always a superhit!

Now you can add a delicious twist to your favorite nuts! Pour honey generously over roasted or unroasted nuts. Or dip each nut in a small bowl of honey before you eat it. Whatever your favorite nut, honey will be the best thing you combine with nuts. Go ahead and enjoy the combo!

3. Fruits taste better with honey

Yes, seriously!

We all have a favorite fruit or two – raspberry, apple, mango, dragon fruit… What’s amazing is that honey is best friends with nearly all of them. That means any fruit you love eating by itself, you’ll love it even more when you eat the fruit with honey.

Slice your fruit and spread it over a wide plate. Then begin drizzling honey over the fruit. Next, pick up a fork and start eating! Wait, you may not even need a fork – the pairing of your favorite fruit and honey might look so delicious!

4. Give your cornflakes a surprise

Fond of your bowl of cornflakes in the morning or any time of the day? Honey will make it even better!

Take a bowlful of your cornflakes and top it up with honey! The amber honey over the flakes will make the breakfast so irresistible you probably will have a hard time stopping!

Foods you should not combine with honey

We must point out that the research on how not to eat honey is still ongoing. The findings of the current research are not very clear. Hence, we will rely on traditional knowledge and a bit of Ayurveda about the foods to avoid with honey. You must also remember that honey is not advisable for infants. Any child below 12 months of age should not be fed honey.

Anyway, here are four wrong ways of eating honey:

1. Do not heat honey

We have said this earlier too – honey shouldn’t be heated. That’s because heating will rob honey of all its nutritional value and likely lead to body toxicity.

When you heat honey, its fructose and sucrose will dehydrate and form Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). This can build up toxicity in your body and hence it is strongly recommended you don’t heat honey.

The same rule applies when you add honey to a glass of hot, boiling water. If you take honey and lemon with water in the morning for weight-management, be sure that the water is only warm and not boiling hot.

2. Do not use honey with ghee

Another food you shouldn’t mix with honey is ghee. While the exact reason why the combination is harmful is not entirely clear, Ayurveda mentions that a mixture of ghee and honey can prove harmful to your health.

In particular, Ayurveda prohibits mixing honey and ghee in equal propositions. That means don’t mix one spoonful of honey with one spoonful of ghee. Some Ayurveda practitioners say an unequal proportion, say 2:1 isn’t harmful while others disagree.

The same rule applies when you add honey to a glass of hot, boiling water. If you take honey and lemon with water in the morning for weight-management, be sure that the water is only warm and not boiling hot.

3. Do not mix radish and honey

This tip also comes from Ayurveda but current research doesn’t have a clear explanation on this. Hence, we didn’t find any concrete understanding of why radish and honey shouldn’t be mixed.

You might be using honey to dress your salads, but don’t do it if your salad has radish in it. It’s relevant to note that Ayurveda suggests that radish shouldn’t be eaten with milk either. It is likely that one or more of the four principal acids in radish (erythorbic, malonic, malic,and oxalic acid) don’t go well with honey (or milk). And that’s why it’s best not to combine honey and radish.

4. Honey and some non-vegetarian dishes

We’ll admit this is the least understood part and there’s still some confusion prevailing. Some Ayurveda experts say none of the non-vegetarian dishes should be eaten with honey. A few others say that you need to avoid combining honey with only some non-vegetarian dishes like fish.

The jury is still out and since detailed understanding through research is not available, we can only advise caution.

Summary

Honey is an unusual natural food with a great taste and huge health and nutritional benefits. Knowing what’s good for your body and what’s not will help you get the most out of honey.

Don’t be afraid to try out various combinations – many foods and desserts agree quite well with honey. Be it nuts, a bowlful of your favorite flakes or fruits, honey is a great partner for all of them.

And don’t forget to let us know how you enjoy your honey!

Most people love honey! The gentle, sweet taste of honey has a very huge number of fans the world over.

Apart from the great taste, honey is also admired and used for its medicinal and health benefits. And don’t forget honey can help people look more beautiful too! In short, the benefits of honey are many.

We know honey bees make honey. But we don’t know how bees make honey in detail.

For instance, we may know nothing about what honey bees do to bring the moisture content to the desired level. We may not know how far honey bees travel to collect nectar from flowers.

There’s so much to learn about the fascinating world of honey bees and honey. Let’s get started!

How do bees make honey?

The answer to the question ‘How do bees make honey step by step’, we’ve broken down the entire process to make it easy to understand.

Step 1:

Female honey bees start looking for suitable flowers.

Only female bees go out to collect nectar from flowers. This nectar is then converted to honey. The action of going out to collect nectar is called foraging.

Step 2:

The bees travel within a 5-mile radius of their hives.

The bees that go out foraging are called worker bees. They stay within a 5-week radius of their hive. They have a specialized mechanism to decide directions and distances.

Step 3:

They land on flowers that produce nectar.

Not all flowers produce nectar, so bees look for the flowers that do. Plants that are pollinated by the wind may have flowers, but these flowers don’t produce nectar.

Step 4:

They begin collecting nectar.

Honey bees have a special straw-like tongue called proboscis. They insert the proboscis down the flower to such the nectar out. The part of the flower that holds the nectar is known as the nectary. The process of drawing in nectar through the proboscis is pretty much like using a straw to drink from a bottle!

Step 5:

They decide if they want to store the nectar or eat it.

Just when the bees start sucking nectar, their body decides if they need energy. If they do, the nectar is sent to their regular stomach and converted to energy for the activities and existence of the bees. This nectar isn’t used to make honey.

Step 6:

The nectar goes into a special honey sac.

The nectar that the bees don’t need for their own energy will not go to their regular stomach. Instead, it is diverted to a special collection chamber called honey stomach or honey sac. This nectar is not for the ‘personal use’ of the bee. Instead, their body will begin the process to convert nectar into honey.

Step 7:

The bees keep collecting nectar from different flowers till the sac is full.

Honey bees will need to visit several flowers to collect enough nectar during every trip. So once they’re done sucking nectar from one flower, they jump on to the next. And the next. And so on.

Step 8:

The process begins in the honey sac.

While the nectar in the honey sac isn’t used up for the bee’s energy requirements, the honey bees don’t let nectar sit idle. Special enzymes inside the bees’ bodies break down the complex sugar of nectar into simpler ones.

Step 9:

The bees will return to their hives.

When the honey bees find their honey sac is full, they will stop drinking the ‘nectar’ and begin their return journey home. You will be surprised to know that the weight of nectar these worker bees carry is nearly the same as the weight of their own bodies!

Step 10:

This nectar is handed over to the bees inside the hive.

Bees that don’t go out of the hive and work and live inside the hive are called house bees. The worker bees ‘hand over’ the nectar they have collected to the house bees. From here, the house bees take over.

Step 11:

The house bees will begin the remaining process.

After transferring the nectar, the worker bees will get ready to go out for the next round of foraging. The house bees now assume control of nectar. They add a special enzyme to nectar. This will break down nectar from complex sugars to simple sugars. This can take upto 30 minutes.

The nectar is now officially honey, but that’s not the end of the story yet – the moisture content is too high.

Step 12:

Next, the house bees spread out the honey over the comb.

Spreading out the ‘incomplete’ honey over the comb has a special purpose. Upto this point, the moisture content of honey is still high.

By spreading out the honey, the bees ensure that surface area of the honey is maximized. This will help more moisture to escape and the honey will turn into a thicker liquid. Some people still prefer calling it syrupy liquid instead of honey, because there’s some work still pending.

Step 13:

There is still more work to be done to remove excess moisture.

The spreading out of the nectar helps lose some extra moisture but not all. The moisture content in the original nectar is around 70 to 80% which the bees need to reduce to 18% or less. So they begin flapping their wings. This action raises the temperature of the hive and gradually the excess water content begins to evaporate.

Step 14:

Now it’s time to store the honey.

Yes, honey is now ready to consume. But the bees don’t eat it right away. Instead, they will store it for future use – especially winter. So they will now pack and store the honey. This honey will be transferred to the small storage units in the hive. These units are called cells.

Step 15:

The cells need to be sealed.

For protecting their honey they now have, the bees seal the cells. These cells, hexagonal in shape, are sealed with wax.

Another interesting aspect of the cell is their angle. They are kept tilted at a small angle from the horizontal. This tilting makes sure no honey drips out of the cell.

Bees will remove this seal whenever they need honey again. It’s like capping and uncapping a jar or a bottle whose contents you wish to protect!

Summary

Hopefully, the above steps explain to you how bees make honey!

As you understand how bees make honey step by step, you can’t help but marvel at the hard work that these little organisms put in. Every step, from foraging to sealing the cells, is an important link in the entire chain of events.

These hardy bees meticulously follow each step with a copybook approach. And that’s their secret to producing the yummy, healthy honey that all of us love!

Humans have known the benefits of raw honey since centuries. From fitness to beauty, a glowing skin to strong immunity, from soothing sore throats to helping heal wounds, raw honey benefits are many and varied.

Naturally, it’s important that you eat only unprocessed, unadulterated raw honey. If the honey you eat is pasteurized, has been heated or contains artificial flavors, it’s almost certain that the honey has been stripped of nearly all its nutritional value.

If you want to enjoy the genuine health benefits of honey, along with its genuine taste, you should buy only from a trusted source.

Here we list the 15 benefits of eating raw honey.

1. Honey contains antioxidants

Honey contains protective, polyphenolic antioxidants, as found by researchers at the University of California in a study.

In the simplest of terms, antioxidants are naturally occurring molecular compounds that fight free radicals responsible for premature ageing and various types of illness.

The polyphenols found in raw honey may be able to keep off heart disease and several other illnesses.

2. Honey is a natural energy booster

Honey contains natural sugar. This natural sugar provides an instant energy spike to your body. This will keep you from feeling tired or exhausted after or during exercise.

The combination of glucose and fructose in honey produce a unique effect. The human body can swiftly absorb glucose and it is carried in the blood throughout the body. This gives an immediate boost to your energy. Fructose, on the other hand, is absorbed by your blood over a longer time. As a result, it provides you energy for a longer time.

3. Honey improves memory

The effects of honey on human memory are positive. More than one study found that consumption of honey improved memory, especially the spatial memory.

The positive effect on memory is also indirect. Honey helps you calm down and prevent stress, which, in turn, improves retention. Finally, it strengthens those areas of your brain (technically called the cholinergic system) that regulate sensory processing, attention, and sleep.

4. Honey helps in weight loss

One of the benefits of honey that is of particular interest for the current generation is the effect honey has on diet intake and weight management.

A study says eating honey can help keep in check your desire to eat. Popularly, honey mixed in lemon and warm water in the morning helps burn fat.

5. Honey heals wounds

The unique composition of honey helps in multiple ways.

The antioxidants in honey help you heal wounds. Using honey in dressing can not only speed up healing but also lead to better healing.

Also, the extremely low moisture content of raw honey and its low pH (approximately 3.5 to 4) are big deterrents to microbial growth. Most microbes cannot live or reproduce in these conditions.

6. Honey soothes your sore throat

The natural antibacterial properties of raw honey can help you in many ways and soothing a sore throat is just one of them.

Just mix two spoonfuls of honey in a glass of warm water, mix it well and drink it.

7. Honey alleviates dandruff issues

As you probably know, dandruff is associated with dry scalp.

The natural sugar in pure honey is a natural humectant. Humectants are substances or ingredients that are great at preserving moisture. Raw honey, because of this property, can prevent loss of moisture from your hair and thus ensure you don’t have an unduly dry scalp.

8. Honey balances the two cholesterol

Most people today know our bodies have two types of cholesterol: LDL and the HDL. The LDL is bad for you while HDL is good for you.

A study found that raw honey lowered the LDL (bad cholesterol) and raised the level of HDL (good cholesterol). The same study also reported a reduction in weight.

9. Honey helps in digestion

While there is still some research pending as to how exactly honey helps digestion, the relationship is believed to be positive.

While there is still some research pending as to how exactly honey helps digestion, the relationship is believed to be positive.

Pure, unadulterated, and unprocessed honey has prebiotic content. Prebiotics are compounds that contribute to the growth as well as functioning of helpful microorganisms in your body. These helpful, friendly microorganisms are commonly known as probiotics. (Source)

10. Honey improves your immunity

A study by Michigan State University found that the honey builds a strong immunity system. Immunity is your body’s ability that stops you from falling ill.

This immunity in raw honey comes from its antioxidants that have been mentioned elsewhere in this article too. Particularly, the sugar nigerooligosaccharides present in honey strengthens your immunity system.

11. Honey has important antibacterial and antifungal properties

Just like harmful bacteria, fungi also can cause various illnesses and health issues in your body. For instance, ailments like allergic and asthamtic problems, itching, athlete’s foot are caused by fungal infection.

Unprocessed, raw honey of certain types possess strong antibacterial and antifungal properties.

12. Honey can lower fats contributing to heart disease

A type of fats called lipids are found in human blood and one of them is triglycerides.

Triglycerides are the calories your body stores for future use. When your body doesn’t burn enough calories these unused triglycerides begin hardening your artery walls, which can lead to heart diseases.

As per a study, raw honey that is not pasteurised or processed can lower triglycerides and thereby may contribute in preventing heart diseases.

13. Honey might help you sleep better

This is one of those home remedies that has been quite popular. What’s more, even some doctors seem to agree.

If you have trouble falling asleep in the night, just add one teaspoon of pure honey in a glass or warm milk and drink it. It is believed that honey releases neurotransmitters that improve your mood and help you sleep better and longer.

14. Honey is good for your skin

Honey, as mentioned earlier, helps retain moisture. As a result, you can apply it on dry patches of skin, say elbows, to restore the normal moisture of your skin. A healthy moisture in skin adds a natural glow to your skin.

Besides, honey is also used as an exfoliator. What’s more, face masks prepared with honey are quite popular too.

15. Honey is good for respiratory infections

Oxford University researchers compared the effect of honey on upper respiratory tract infections (URI) with the effect of common OTC drugs and found that honey achieved better results in intensity and frequency of coughing.

Summary

Apart from the benefits mentioned above, raw and pure honey is known to have many more benefits. That includes bad breath, acidity, stress, gums, sinus, arthritis and so on.

All this is not surprising, considering the various antioxidants, antioxidants and antibacterial ingredients of pure honey as also its special characteristics. From helping sleep to good skin, from fighting dandruff to cough, from improving your immunity to providing instant energy, the benefits of eating pure honey are truly unique.

Before we end, it’s important to remember two things with respects to these benefits.

One, always make sure you contact an expert before you make any major changes in your food habits by including honey. And two, remember that only pure, unprocessed raw honey can give you these benefits. Adulterated or processed honey is often nothing more than sugary solution and can bring you no real benefits.

So be sure to always buy your honey from a trusted source.

Meanwhile, enjoy your delicious honey and stay healthy!

References:

1. ResearchGate: Honey and antioxidants
2. National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA: Honey and Memory
3. Taylor & Francis, UK Honey and weightloss
4. National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA Honey and dandruff
5. National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA Honey and cholesterol
6. Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, USA Honey and immunity
7. Hindawi Journals and Articles, UK Honey and antibacterial properties
8. Evidence Based Medicine, UK Honey and respiratory infections
9. Public Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA Honey and triglycerides
10. Penn Medicine, Pennsylvania Hospital, USA Honey and sore throat
11. Vice Media Group, USA Honey and dandruff