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50.0%ANMag Issue 25 Global Awareness
Honey: Benefits of the Golden Liquid
By Salwa Zahabi, Staff Writer
Beirut, Lebanon − Honey is considered as one of the wonders of nature. It is simply a nectar that is collected by bees from the flowers` blossoms. Then this nectar is moved into the beehive and changed by the worker bees. After that, the worker bees remove the liquid from this nectar. Honey is the “finished product”, which is a heavy syrup with 12 to 20 percent moisture and 80 to 85 percent sugar. The bees serve as tireless creatures for having to visit two million flowers in order for them to produce only one pound of this rich golden liquid, which is a natural alternative to table sugar.
Honey has different colors: white, amber, red, brown, and almost black. It has also different flavors and textures depending on the type of flower nectar from which it was made. The most commonly available honeys are made from clover, alfalfa, heather and acacia flowers. There are other different flowers, like lavender and thyme, from which honey can be made .Eight types of honey are described in Ayurveda on the type of bee which collects it. They are Pouttika, Bhramara, Kshoudra, Makshika, Chatra, Arghya, Oudalaka, and Dala.
Honey has the following sugars: fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, and other disaccharides and trisaccharides. It has also proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids. Volatile aromatic substances, ashes and water are also present in honey. Honey has the following minerals: magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium chloride, sulfur, iron and phosphate. The darker the honey the more minerals it contains. Honey also contains vitamin B1, B2, C, B6, B5 and B3 all of which will change according to the qualities of the nectar and pollen. Besides the above, copper, iodine, and zinc exist in it in small quantities. Several kinds of hormones are also present in it.
Honey tends to have different taste, texture, and color according to the geographical area and the species of plants from which it has been collected. Honey is available throughout the year, but it is the freshest in the summer and the fall.
Because of its various ingredients, honey is a pure sweet natural liquid with countless nutritional and medicinal benefits. Honey serves as an antiseptic and antioxidant factor and as a healing remedy by fighting infection and reducing inflammation. It treats diarrhea, indigestion, stomach ulcers, and asthma. It can be used as a moisturizing mask for your skin tissues. Honey was proven also effective in hair treatments. But still honey cannot be promoted as a substitute for professional medical care.
Honey has a low calorie content. One tablespoon of honey has 64 calories, and one tablespoon of sugar has 46 calories. Although the amount of calories is more in honey, we actually use less of it because honey tends to be sweeter than table sugar. In Addition to that, honey is considered as a healthier choice by most people since honey is a source of multivitamins and minerals. Honey, when it is compared with the same amount of sugar, it gives 40% less calories to the body. Although it gives great energy to the body because it is a carbohydrate, it does not add weight. That is why honey is highly recommended on weight loss diets.
Honey can be used also in cooking. Many people, who use honey in their cooking, usually know the different uses of honey. It is known that there are as many as 3,000 different varieties of honey. Honey has different floral varieties with different appearance and quality; each floral variety contributes to its unique taste and distinct flavor; that is why each kind of food requires a different honey variety. Honey has the following various tastes: fruity and flora, herbal, spice, deep and earthy, and mild and overpowering. The choices and uses of honey are very subjective since every one of us has his own personal taste. Its unique flavor leads people to prefer it over table sugar and other artificial sweeteners.
One of the precautions on honey is that we should not be mixed with any type of hot foods. Nectar of different flowers exists in honey and some of this nectar might be poisonous. Poison has hot qualities. When honey is mixed with any kind of spicy or hot foods, the poisonous properties get enhanced.
Honey should not be regarded as an old-fashioned “un-cool” food to eat. Through its various health benefits that it offers, honey is truly a wonder. It was and still considered the tastiest natural medicine and the oldest natural sweetener. Likewise, honey has been used, in many cultures, as a natural remedy for thousands of years.