A Taste of Honey

Not all honey is created equal and it comes in many forms and not all of them are medicinal. But the most important distinction should be between processed honey and raw honey. Honey is a golden fluid produced by the bees from the nectar of flowers and stored in the bee hives. It has been stated that Honey is god’s food and there is no expiry date for raw honey. We have heard of jars of raw honey being found in the olden days from the graveyard of noble men in Egyptian History.

However, with today’s climate change in the weather, pollution in our environment that we live in, the bees are dying in large quantity and honey as healing medicinal food can be considered as a precious expensive food commodity. As each ecosystem is different, honey can vary greatly in taste, color and the nutritional composition.

Today there are many varieties of honey being sold in the stores – raw honey, and processed honey that has preservative to prolong its expiry (as this is what the consumer expects to have an expiry date on each bottle of honey but foregoing its nutrition value due to heat process during pasteurization).

Difference between Pure Honey and Processed Honey

PURE HONEY	PROCESSED HONEY
Honey aroma – distinct smell and taste	No smell, or sour smell
Do not separate into layers	Separate into layers
Has natural impurities – pollen, propolis	No Impurities
Has a soft texture (thin, filament trickle)	Has a tough texture (may form clumps)
Quite thick, trickles in a thin stream	Runny (drips immediately and spread along the surface
No foam	Has foam

HOME TEST Methods

1. Hold a lighted match to the honey, if it is natural raw honey, it will not begin to burn straight away.
2. Mix the honey in water, natural honey will not dissolve.
3. Dip a piece of stale bread into the honey, after 10-15 minutes, it should be firm and not soft.
4. Mix some water into the honey and add 2-3drops of vinegar. If the solution becomes foamy, it is adulterated honey.

RAW HONEY FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Honey apiaries in Western Australia have been mostly owned by families who have invested their time and efforts through generations to harvest this valuable golden liquid in the bushes in Western Australia and it is getting to be very well known for its quality and authentic honey from these areas. They are never harvested in large commercial scale but through each seasonal change of the weather and eco system, it has impacted the production of honey over the years.

As Honey is not produced by any human interference but naturally by the bees that are swarming around the natural habitat of the vast unpolluted bushes in Western Australia pollenating the pollen collected from the flowers that are in season.

My family and I have been drinking Sawyer’s Honey on a daily basis for more than 15 years and it is as always, a blessing with each spoon of honey that is scooped out of the honey tub. Raw honey has so much benefits that a daily intake of a teaspoon of honey can increase your immune levels to keep you in a healthy lifestyle.

Western Australia’s good quality honey has been practically only known to the local Australian market whereby these honeys have been tested and proved to be as good in benefits to the New Zealand Manuka Honey. The local farmer’s market has been selling these good super food quality honey through its own local sales network and it is now becoming a very popular food that consumers will source for, understanding the many healing benefits raw pure honey possesses. In fact, I had written and state that Honey is one of my choice of super food in my past blog content for my choice list of Super Food here.

To name some health benefits of Raw Honey:

• Natural Sweetener
• Antimicrobial and anti-bacteria properties
• Low Glycemic Index (GI)
• Dietary Antioxidant
• Assist in wound healing
• Help to treat indigestion
• Contains many traces of minerals and vitamins to fight infection
• Help to relief cold and sore throat

In today’s market, there are a lot of claims about honey being raw, unprocessed and natural. I had stressed many times in my blog write up, the source of the products must be studied and reviewed about its claim to be as what it is stated.

With my journey to have better health, I will try my utmost effort to source for products that I can access to the farm. Sawyer’s Apiaries was one of them that I had a chance to visit the site in the Australian bushes with the owner some time ago in 2016, which I had shared the visit in my facebook page “Journey to Better Health with Kim Hoi”. I share here again this visit with the owner to the bushes when he was doing his weekly visit to the sites.

We always stress that goodness and benefits of honey is via its anti-microbial benefits, especially for example, when a cancer patient is trying to heal from this disease together with its high antioxidant benefits to combat their healing path.

Most raw honey possess this quality in each drop of honey and simply we just need to learn to acquire the right type of raw honey to purchase. Sawyer’s Apiaries has been collecting this honey and today this honey has been tested and proven that its antimicrobial activities is as good as any raw genuine Manuka Honey but at the price that is much more affordable. I have also enclosed herewith this write up, their respective test results which are so assuring and encouraging for me personally to base on our intuition and trust with their integrity of their supply of these raw honey for my own family to consume from many years ago when these test results were not available.

My family consuming this super yummy honey is very simple and is a daily discipline affair.

For myself – a daily 2 teaspoons of honey mix with 1/2 teaspoon of organic turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder in warm water. I drink this daily in the morning. This mixture is especially beneficial against inflammation, improve digestion and keeping my allergy at bay. During the Covid pandemic this was our family daily prevention drink.

For my grandchildren, they have been drinking it daily since they were 1 year old on its own. A teaspoon mixed with warm water to drink. Help to relief cough and cold. And my grandson does not have any tooth decay and his immune level is good.

There are many simple remedies for healing with just a daily dose of honey as I had stated above.

The name of these honey: – Redgum and Jarrah, that I am retailing through our website are names of the old aged trees that are only found in Western Australia. They possess distinct medicinal and healing properties that is hard to acquire in the commercial market.

Jarrah Honey was the first type of honey that was compared to Manuka for its antimicrobial activity benefits but today Redgum Honey from the same area has also been proven to possess the same antimicrobial benefits making it a more affordable choice of honey to consume daily. I drink them on an alternate basis, meaning that once a tub of redgum honey is drank, I will start to drink the Jarrah honey next. Their nutrition facts are different and I do enjoy drinking them due to their distinct tastes.

I hope that your understanding of honey and its healing benefits will take you to your own journey to drink honey while the bees are dying at an alarming rate due to today’s pollution that this product may not be available anymore in the near future.