Honey in the Raw
This is our family’s second year using a local food delivery service Papa Spuds. We don’t request a delivery every week, and because we grow some of our own vegetables, we make good use of their other offerings like artisan bread, local goat cheese, and occasional sweet treats. The best find by far is the local raw wildflower honey by The Pleasant Bee. They sell their honey through their website, Papa Spuds, and on Saturday morning at the Midtown Farmers Market in Raleigh.
This morning I visited The Pleasant Bee’s webpage, and learned that it is a father-daughter company started in 2008 after she took a bee-keeping class at NCSU. While on campus, I’ve seen the bee classes outside doing demonstrations with the bees, typically with some dude covered head-to-toe in bees and a crowd of students nervously standing abnormally still. My friend Amy also took this class and has since gone absolutely crazy over beekeeping – all for the good – and documents her bee journey on her blog, A Humble Hum.
If you’ve ever tasted local honey, you’ll immediately notice the flavor difference. My personal favorite is sourwood honey, which comes from the Appalachian Mountains where the Sourwood tree grows.
Sometime last year when I was looking to help Joe with his seasonal allergies, I started reading up on the benefits of honey, and was surprised to learn that most of the mass produced honey in the grocery stores is from overseas (different pollen sources) and is pasteurized. I even read that there is virtually no pollen present in some honey, so if treating allergies is the goal, nothing is accomplished. There is a lot of debate on the pasteurization of honey, but since my kids are over a year old, I’m not too concerned about the risks of raw honey.
As for the benefits, there are so many. From Naturalnews.com, raw honey:
- has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties
- promotes body and digestive health
- is a powerful antioxidant
- strengthens the immune system
- eliminates allergies
- is an excellent
remedy for skin wounds and all types of infections- can also stabilize blood pressure
- balance sugar levels
- relieve pain
- calm nerves
- has been used to
treat ulcers- is an expectorant and anti-inflammatory
- has been known to effectively treat respiratory conditions such as
bronchitis and asthma
Are all these claims scientifically proven? I don’t know. I haven’t researched it yet. The exciting thing about living in Raleigh is that we have many friends who are getting into bee-keeping, and there is even a local restaurant, Market Restaurant, that has bee hives that produce the honey for their dishes. In my book, that’s pretty awesome, and I do my best to support the local bees by growing flowers in the garden.
This post was not sponsored. I just wanted to highlight a local company that is fantastic.
