|
Health Benefits Of Honey Raw honey is a food noted for its exceptionally high enzyme content. Other enzyme-rich raw foods include bee pollen, raw vegetables and fruits, lacto-fermented dairy products like kefir, and cultured or fermented foods such as miso, kimche, kombucha and sauerkraut. Grains, nuts, legumes, and seeds are rich in enzymes as well as other nutrients, but they also contain enzyme inhibitors like phytic acid. This is why some people choose to soak and sprout these foods in order to deactivate the enzyme inhibitors. It needs to be emphasized that raw foods should not be heated above 110 F so that the enzymes remain viable and available. Buzzbee's honey is strictly raw and unfiltered. In the honey business, unfiltered actually means "minimally filtered". Commercially processed honey is heated to high temperatures until it runs like water through fine filters that take all solids out of the honey. The filters used for raw honey allow it to slowly pass through while leaving the natural occurring pollen, so the maximum enzyme content possible. The process of packing raw honey is more time consuming, but the added benefits, not to mention the taste difference, are well worth it! Honey contains more than 75 different compounds, among them are; enzymes, minerals and trace minerals, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, organic acids, and hydrogen peroxide. Because many people do not eat nearly enough raw food, the enzymes in raw honey can help with digestion. Because of its enzyme content, raw honey may help to ease the work load of the pancreas and digestive tract. And, as we age some people do not produce as the needed natural enzymes they need for proper digestion on their own. Wonderful long-term benefits of this enzyme activity are good for health, digestion efficiency, and energy, which can result in fewer illnesses, and a healthy immune system. In this way, one can see the importance of including raw honey in the diet. To learn more about the health benefits of honey, we highly recommend Joe Traynor's book "Honey, The Gourmet Medicine". Cooking With Honey Honey has many unique flavors and is rich in history. It can be used in diverse ways: from baked goods, to a topping for ice cream, to a glaze for meat, or a sweetener for tea. Baked goods stay moister when made with honey. Honey is hygroscopic in nature, meaning it draws moisture from the air. Your bread, cake or cookies will not dry out as fast as those made without honey. Foods made with honey continue to improve in flavor after baking and will be even better the second day; for this reason honey-baked goods make excellent gifts and are especially suitable for mailing long distance. When measuring honey for cooking, measure in a cup thinly coated with oil. This allows the honey to slide right out of the cup. Better yet, if the recipe calls for oil, measure the oil first in the same cup as the honey. The question often arises as to how to convert recipes from sugar to honey. There is no simple hard and fast rule, but here are a few tips. In quick breads, cakes or cookies the general rule is to substitute 2/3 cup honey for each cup of sugar. Also reduce the amount of liquid by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey used. You also will need to add a little more leavening agent - usually 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for each cup of honey used. In addition, remember to lower the oven temperature by 25 degrees because foods baked with honey tend to brown faster. Honey will also provide a firmer, heavier texture. When only small amounts of sweetener are uses such as in yeast breads or salad dressings, you do not need to adjust the recipe to substitute honey for the other sweetener. In most fruit pies, use 1/4 cup less honey than sugar, but increase the thickening agent by 1/2 (flour, corn starch, eggs). Honey does have more of a sweetening power. In addition it brings out the flavor of the fruit. If all the adding and subtracting of ingredients sounds like too much trouble to use honey, then use the link below, the recipes there already include the honey and take all the guess work out of your cooking. For Honey Recipes visit:http://www.honey.com/nhb/recipes/ Bee Pollen Facts Both people and animals can benefit from eating bee pollen. Bee pollen contains 18 amino acids, and is 35% protein. Bee pollen is richer in proteins than any animal source. It contains more amino acids than beef, eggs or cheese of equal weight. It is a powerhouse source for the entire family of B complex vitamins including B12. Along with vitamins and protein, bee pollen is packed with a combination of minerals and trace elements such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, copper, iron, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, manganese, thiamin, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid, and lactoflavine. The large proportions of free amino acids, especially methionine, a specific medicine for the liver, make bee pollen an excellent choice for aiding in digestion. Bee pollen contains all the essential elements for life far exceeding those present in brewer's yeast and wheat germ. . For centuries the bee pollen in raw unfiltered honey has been known for it's benefits for those that suffer with seasonal allergies. Ingesting small amounts of bee pollen daily (such as in raw unfiltered honey or small amounts of fresh bee pollen) is helpful in building a natural immunity to seasonal allergens and lessening the incidences of asthma, sinus conditions, and bronchitis. Bee pollen will give you added energy and increase your resistance to infection. The following recipe is another one of our favorite ways to use fresh bee pollen: Buzzbee's Amazzzzzzing Raw Chocolate Pudding This is a decadent treat you can make and enjoy in just a few minutes! No one will be able to guess the main ingredient that makes this dessert so rich and creamy... Set aside for topping: Crystallized honey has not turned bad, and it does not affect the taste or quality of the honey. You may find you like it in a more solid form! It spreads on toast or bread without dripping off. It won't run off the spoon as you take it from the jar to your hot drink. To turn it back to a liquid, pourable state, use gentle warming of the jar in hot (not boiling) water with the lid loosened slightly. Honey should be stored at room temperature as refrigeration will greatly speed up the formation of crystals. |