honey is a thick, sweet, yellowish or brownish sticky liquid made from flower nectar by honeybees. The quality of this delicious yellow food is evaluated by its color.
Depending on this factor, honey is graded from golden amber to golden yellow, dark yellow, light brown, dark brown or even red. The price of clear and golden honey is often higher than the price of darker varieties.
The flavor of a particular type of honey varies based on the flower types from which the nectar is harvested. Both raw and pasteurized honey are available.
Since raw honey is removed from the hive and bottled, it contains small amounts of compounds, wax, and pollen.
Consuming local raw honey may cause seasonal allergies due to frequent exposure to pollen in the area. Pasteurizing honey is a kind of processing to remove impurities of honey.
Honey is high in monosaccharides, fructose, and glucose, and contains about 70 to 80 percent sugar which provides its sweetness. Honey also has antiseptic and antibacterial properties.
Discovered cave paintings show that honey was first used by humans about 8,000 years ago; However, there was no evidence of humans keeping and cultivating colonies of honeybees until 2400 BC.
For centuries, honey has been a staple in the medical treatment of many cultures. Over 4,000 years ago, honey was used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine for treating indigestion.
Before being used by the ancient Egyptians, honey was rubbed on the skin to heal wounds. From over 5,000 years ago, honey has been in medicinal substances.
One tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories, 17.3 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fiber, fat, and protein. Replacing refined and processed sugar by honey can lead to many long-term health benefits.
Honey is known for its antioxidant, antimicrobial, and soothing effects. Nutritious honey contains glucose, fructose, and minerals, such as iron, calcium, phosphate, sodium chloride, potassium, and magnesium.
following is a typical nutrient honey profile:
The slight PH level of honey prevents the growth of bacteria and its antioxidant elements clean up free radicals that cause diseases.
Belonging to natural honey group, organic honey is produced without any special additives. The term “organic” refers to the items involved in the processing of products and leads to the production of organic honey without using any chemicals or nutrients.
Honey consumers are so curious about the differences between organic honey and natural honey, their differences in terms of nutritional value, and the conditions of raising honeybees and producing each of these types of honey.
Since high quality honey is a sweet and popular food for most families, brief definitions of organic honey and natural honey are provided below. Comparing the definitions of organic honey and natural honey, the differences are easily found.
In most cases, organic honey is taken directly from the beehive. Producing organic honey, the soil, flowers, and plants provided to bees must have no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or chemical insecticides. Organic honey is free of all pesticides, biotechnology-based products or genetic modifications.
Taking directly from the hive, organic honey must be heated to separate the compounds and kill bacteria or toxins that cause infections. After heating and pasteurization, the honey is still organic since heating does not spoil the quality of the organic honey.
Organic honey has many health benefits. People using organic honey almost tend to buy natural honey and raw honey.
Honey, as a natural substance produced by bees from the nectar of flowers, is called natural honey when collected by beekeepers from the hive and directly put them in containers.
What the farmers do on it after collecting change it to unnatural. However, it is sold as organic honey by minimal changes from the process of collecting honey from the hive to packaging them in the containers.
Note that honey is not stated as organic honey before receiving certificates or licenses of being organic honey.
Unnatural honey is by no means organic honey. Adding preservatives and flavors to honey and using genetically modified bees changes natural honey to unnatural and so non-organic honey.
Producers of this type of honey must label it as non-organic or unnatural honey.
Original honey does not contain any pigments, sugar or flavors. The real flavor of the original honey is clear by tasting it. Try to buy honey from reputable stores to get good quality honey.