Health Information

Raw honey is the concentrated nectar of flowers gathered by bees (naturally, that’s what they do) that comes straight from the bee hive (through an extracting process in a controlled setting). Raw honey is unheated, pure, unpasteurized, and unprocessed.

Raw honey is the healthiest choice amongst the various forms of honey as it has the most nutritional value and contains amylase, an enzyme concentrated in flower pollen which helps predigest starchy foods like breads.

Raw honey often has a thick yellow look to it, almost like yellow wax, when at cooler room temperatures. If the room is warmer it may turn a more golden color and look like a very thick syrup. Honey is an alkaline-forming food, which means raw honey contains ingredients similar to those found in fruits, which become alkaline in the digestive system.

It doesn’t ferment in the stomach and it can be used to counteract acid indigestion. When mixed with ginger and lemon juices, it also relieves nausea and supplies energy. Most of the honey found in the supermarket is not raw. You can usually tell the difference by looking at it, when it’s not raw it usually looks like a thick amber liquid you can almost see through, like a light colored thin syrup.

This is because it has been processed and pasteurized (heated at 70 degrees Celsius or more, followed by rapid cooling) and filtered so that it looks cleaner and smoother, more a

ppealing on the shelf, and easier to handle and package because it’s not as thick as raw honey.

Pasteurization kills any yeast cell in the honey and prevents fermentation. It also slows down the speed of crystallization in liquid honey and that’s why it looks “cleaner” and smoother. But, when honey is heated and pasteurized its delicate aromas, yeast and enzymes (that are responsible for activating vitamins and minerals in the body system) are partially destroyed.

For this reason raw honey is assumed to be more nutritious than honey that has undergone heat treatment.