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The older I get the more I realize that eating healthy is really the best way to go. Through the years I’ve filled my house with soda, processed cookies and baked goods, and canned vegetables that are better eaten fresh from the produce section. Too often there were cereals, “maple” syrup and honey being bought, which never seemed right to me.
Being an innkeeper in New Hampshire back in the early 2000’s, I came to quickly appreciate the deliciousness of REAL maple syrup. Real maple syrup isn’t all thick and gooey; it’s thin and pours like water, but it’s 100% maple syrup from the tree. There’s nothing you have to add to it. It’s nature’s own bounty! That other stuff that is hawked as maple syrup is 99% corn syrup. Not good.
The Best Part? . . .
You’ve just found a REAL food, something totally genuine which needs no additives, no fillers, no partially hydrogenated anything! Real, good-for-you food. Once you begin using real maple syrup, you won’t want to go back to the thick gooey stuff; it will seem too fake. And it is!
Also, when we lived in New Hampshire, we had a dairy farm next door. Their fields ran behind our house, and you would soon see the tall grass waving happily at you. Every June and September Peter would get out his tractor and cut the grass, then it would be gathered into large square bales which sat in the fields for a few weeks. The aroma of fresh cut grass filled every room in our inn, it smelled so sweet!
Every few weeks I would drive over to their barn, up the gravel driveway, and go in where the cows were being sheltered. There was a small room there with a small refrigerator and bottles of raw milk. RAW milk. Not pasteurized, not homogenized (whatever that means), — just straight from the cow!
We would offer this milk to our guests, with a little sign stating what it was. As Ann, who was the wife of the farmer Peter stated, “as long as your cows are clean, you’ll always have clean milk. Nothing to worry about.” I miss that raw milk, to this day.
Why does this matter? . . .
So, why am I telling you all of this? I have hundreds of stories from the inn, and perhaps one day soon I’ll put them all in a book, chapter by chapter, to laugh at, cry at, be amused at, and to remember with great affection. I find myself rambling through those rooms nearly every day; it’s a part of me that is still a special time in my life.
So, why am I telling you all this, again? Because there is one food in particular which is SO GOOD for you and you may not even know it. It’s raw honey. Nothing could be sweeter! (Except that fresh cut grass, of course!)
Did you know that Americans, on average, consume 150 pounds of sugar every year! That’s insane, but what with sugar found in processed foods, breads, cakes, chocolates, and on our teaspoons, it’s easy to see how sugar rules our lives. It’s no wonder many people are seriously overweight. Once you crave sweet stuff you can’t stop eating sweet stuff.
Raw honey is the sweetest thing you’ll ever eat. It is honey straight from the beehive. No processing, no pasteurizing, no anything! Just plain, good, raw honey. When you food shop, you’ll run across honey on the shelves, in the same places you find so-called maple syrup. The honey that stores carry is processed honey. It’s already been heated and filtered and all of the true benefits of raw honey are no gone.
Clover honey is NOT raw honey. That is just where the honey was gathered from, clover flowers. You must look long and hard to find the RAW honey in your supermarket. Just like REAL maple syrup, it’s there, only not very prominent.
Manufacturers ruin everything
Just like most everything you buy these days, honey is usually processed, filtered and manufactured before it ever hits the shelves. There are products and foods that are not processed; they cost a little more but they are natural and that’s what you want. Take a look at my latest post on 5 Best Ways to Save Money on Groceries to find out more about shopping the right way. 🙂
Natural, organic, raw honey contains many valuable nutrients and enzymes that are destroyed when the honey is heated to remove crystallization. When you open a jar of pure, raw honey, you WANT to see the crystallization on top of the honey. Heating takes away all of the healthy benefits associated with raw honey; antioxidants and bacteria which are needed have been wiped out.
Raw honey may be a bit pricey but it is SO GOOD FOR YOU! ( Clicking the link will buy you the product and give me a small commission.)
So, why buy raw honey?
Because of the remarkable health benefits found in it, that’s why.
Bees are phenomenal little creatures. The summer I graduated high school I spent a week in Damascus Twp. in northeast Pennsylvania. We were only supposed to stay the weekend and possibly Monday, but my girlfriend’s father was getting a cement basement put in to their “cabin” which was still a 3-room abode with a hand pump for water at the kitchen sink and an outhouse out back. What a scream!
I can’t tell you how I LOVED that place!
Well, anyway, it rained terribly right after the cement was poured and because there were no windows yet, Mr. Quinn and his brother had to spend the next few days sweeping water out of the basement on the new cement. So, while they did that seemingly boring stuff, we did other things.
Up the gravel road and around the bend was Aunt Irene and Uncle Allen. I remember sitting out on their old, open, wooden porch, Aunt Irene, her daughter Martha, Marlene, myself, her sister Denise, and their mom and we were peeling peaches. Well, no sooner did we start then we were joined by a bunch of bees. All come for the free nectar, they were! At first all you wanted to do was swat the bees away.
But, then Aunt Irene said not to; even when they land on your hands and fingers, they don’t want to sting you, they just want the sweet juices from the peaches. So, we kept peeling with bees on our hands. It was a weird thing, but not a one of us was stung! Isn’t that amazing!
I was up in Damascus many times before and after that, but I’ll always remember that mid-summer bliss! And the bees, and how they were a part of us that day.
As I was saying, (I love to tell stories!) bees are truly extraordinary. In many places they have been dying out, in large part due to chemical fertilizers polluting the areas where they pollinate. All they produce is raw honey. They do this in the honeycomb which is what they create in their hives.
Honey bees produce honeycomb, which is a mass of wax cells which contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. Beekeepers will sometimes take the honeycomb, too, when extracting honey, and oftentimes replace it in the hive. I buy my honey from Smiley Honey, which is in northern Florida. They work with local beekeepers to bring everyone the best raw honey you’ve ever tasted.
There are many varieties, such as Holly Honey, Orange Blossom Honey, Citrus Honey, Sage Honey and my favorite Tupelo Honey. Read all of the reviews, (you may even find mine there) and start getting healthy with honey everyday.
Health Benefits of Raw Honey
#1. Antibacterial and antifungal properties are found in raw honey.
Did you know that raw honey contains hydrogen peroxide, a natural antiseptic? Yup! More scientists are coming to realize the real healing powers of raw honey.
#2. A wonderful source of antioxidants.
Looking to get your antioxidants in a hurry? Just take a tablespoon of raw honey every day and you’ll have as many antioxidants as some vegetables and fruit. Antioxidants help protect your body from cell damage caused by free radicals. You can even take that tablespoon of raw honey and combine it with water and take it on the go. It’s a great energy booster.
#3. Help with allergies.
I know about this! If you buy local raw honey and take it everyday, you will effectively kill your allergies. Pollens that you (and I) suffer with are pollens that bees find locally, so you want raw honey that is cultivated in your state. Honey acts like a natural vaccine, according to one theory. That’s good enough for me!
#4. Raw honey is a natural cough reliever.
Who hasn’t tried honey and lemon in the midst of a bad cold? It really does help, because it’s the natural thickness of the honey that coats the throat and offers some relief from coughing. I’ve always taken a tablespoon of honey with a tablespoon of real lemon juice. Add these two ingredients to 1/2 cup of hot water. Or add them to hot tea. Enjoy!
#5. Honey is a burn and wound treatment.
Honey was discovered in the tombs of the Egyptian pharoahs, so you know the antibacterial properties were known even back then. When you apply honey to a wound or a burn you will see a significant improvement as healing takes place.
Raw honey is the MOST natural food you can eat. It contains both propolis and bee pollen which by themselves are natural fighters for you. Raw honey helps to prevent disease and to fight disease. If you are looking for a REAL natural sweetener, you’ve found it in raw honey.
A most remarkable food!
Just another way to
“Homekeeping Inspirations for Knitting Your Best Life!”
