Honey Facts & Nutrition
Sweet, aromatic, and delicious, honey has been a staple of so many households for thousands of years. Our ancestors prepared it and consumed it on a daily basis, and they had quite a few good reasons to do so. After all, we know that there’s more to this golden liquid than the sweetness. Actually, it’s quite beneficial to our health and overall wellbeing, which is why we here at Gold Bee decided to base our entire business model on providing you with the best natural honey possible. But why is that, exactly? Why is this golden substance so good for us? Well, let’s dive into this handy little list of honey-related facts and find out.What Does Honey Contain?
For years, experts have been researching honey in order to learn about all of its benefits. And while there are different varieties of honey out there, they all share some common characteristics. Get ready for some big words — we’re about to see what this amazing product is made of.
Water
17.5%
FRUCTOSE
38.5%
GLUCOSE
31%
isaccharides, trisaccharides, and oligosaccharides
In terms of chemistry, honey is what we would call a supersaturated sugar solution. Usually, it only contains 17.1 percent of water. In other words, it’s rich in various carbohydrates. Fructose is the predominant sugar within the substance at roughly 38.5 percent. A close second is glucose at 31 percent. Other carbohydrates like disaccharides, trisaccharides, and oligosaccharides appear in smaller quantities.
The golden liquid also contains some trace amounts of other materials. These include proteins, vitamins, enzymes, and minerals. Moreover, you can also find various antioxidants in honey. A short list of those includes ascorbic acid, catalase, alkaloids, and flavonoids. Furthermore, you can find roughly 18 different amino acids in it as well.
What is Raw Honey?
If you visit Gold Bee’s website, you’ll see that we pride ourselves on our raw honey products. As someone who enjoys this sweet liquid, surely you’ve heard of its raw variant before. If anything, you probably saw more than a few ads by health food sellers about its benefits.
Here’s a quick rundown. Raw honey is the product that literally comes fresh out of the hive. It’s the very first “batch” of the substance that the bees make. However, it’s different from the store-bought stuff in several key aspects. For example, raw products don’t go through pasteurization or filtration. At best, you can strain it to remove some basic impurities like pollen, bits of dead bees, and beeswax. However, none of these three will make raw honey toxic or inedible. In fact, some manufacturers leave the honey as it is. They simply take it out from the hive and store it in jars.
Raw honey has a few advantages over store-bought products. It’s far more potent than they are and it can help with various health issues more quickly. In addition, the store-bought product usually contains artificial sweeteners and other additives. In contrast, the raw solution is organic, pure, and additive-free. Moreover, it’s perfect for vegans and vegetarians since it doesn’t contain any animal ingredients.
Yes, there are bits of dead bees, but they are removed during the straining. These are also some of the reasons why we at Gold Bee are focused entirely on making organic, raw honey. We love being able to combine healthy and beneficial with sweet and alluring.
Granulation or Crystallization
Honey tends to turn from liquid to semi-solid after a while. Interestingly, a large number of people who see this change think that the golden food went bad. However, before you decide on throwing away that large jar of the sweet stuff, you should know not to worry. Your sweet snack didn’t spoil or anything like that. In fact, crystallization is possibly the most natural thing that it can do.
Crystallization also goes by two other names. The first is granulation, while the second one, used by beekeepers, is set honey. As we stated earlier, honey is a sugary solution that contains over 70% carbohydrates. As a result, it can’t stay liquid forever and some of these carbohydrates will harden.
Of the two most common sugars in honey, there’s more fructose than glucose. But glucose will be the one to crystalize since it’s not very soluble in water. Over a period of time, the glucose forms into small chunks that look like crystals. Soon enough, they will begin to spread. Fructose, on the other hand, remains mostly liquid. That’s why some brands crystalize completely, while others just have large crystalized structures within them.
The process of crystallization occurs at different speeds and rates. The results of this process will depend on several factors. First off, the amount of crystallization will depend on the composition of the bright nectar, i.e. which sugars it’s made of. Next, there’s the method of handling the liquid. In other words, crystalizing it will depend on how we preserve it and where. Finally, the temperature plays a major part in this process. The warmer the place where we keep the jar, the less likely it is to crystalize. In fact, if you want to reverse crystallization, try gently heating the honey. You can do it by putting the jar in a hot water dish or a warming cabinet.
Medical Benefits
Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, Mayans, and the Chinese all collected and used the sweet bee product for various purposes. But more often than not, they used it because it had some basic healing properties. Even today, doctors would recommend honey to some of their patients. For instance, honey is an alternative to sugar due to its nutritional value.
The bee-made nectar is known to have positive effects on our digestive system. For example, it can greatly reduce the severity of diarrhea and prevent the upward flow of stomach acid. By doing that, it also helps reduce the risk of several conditions such as GERD, heartburn, acid reflux, and inflammation.
Quite a few studies have researched this substance’s potential ability to kill harmful bacteria. It manages to do that thanks to a protein called defensin-1. However, only specific brands of the golden liquid can target other, equally specific bacteria. We will need further research before we reach a definitive conclusion.
If you happen to cough a lot, we advise taking a few golden spoonfuls during your recovery period. Researchers have looked into the possibility of the viscous nectar alleviating coughs and the common cold. Thus far, the results have been promising, especially with young children and teenagers.
However, you need to be careful with honey. For instance, you mustn’t give it to infants. If a child under a year old tastes even a single spoon, it might succumb to botulism. Botulism is a type of food poisoning that can leave your child paralyzed. The reason behind that is the botulinum endospores that honey sometimes may contain.
There are other interesting facts out there. But here at Gold Bee, our favorite is this one: raw or pasteurized, honey is a healthy product that can greatly help you improve your life.