Honey Facts

Raw Honey is an anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal substance. Because pollen is collected on the honey bees’ legs when they extract nectar from the plant, the honey is only as diverse as those plants. The honey found in most stores is typically processed which removes the pollen, along with phytonutrients found in raw honey as it exists in the hive. Raw honey also includes small amounts of complex resins which the honeybees use to seal the hive and make it safe from bacteria and other micro-organisms. When honey is processed for most stores the majority of the benefits are largely eliminated. Eating local honey can fend off allergies. Other than honey being a natural sweetener made by bees for their own nourishment, the process is quite interesting. Honeybees will move flower to flower collecting nectar in their mouths which mixes with special enzymes in the bee’s saliva, a process that actually turns the nectar into honey. The bees then carry their honey back to the hive where they put it into a cell on the hive wall and flutter their wings to reduce the honey’s moisture content making it a thick viscous honey we’re used to. Interestingly, honey can actually come in different ranges of colors and textures which will range based on the type of flower nectar from which it was made. Honey never goes bad- amazingly honey was actually found in the Egyptian pyramids, estimated at several thousand years old and it was not spoiled. Honey is the only food produced by insects that is consumed by humans.