Raw Honey: Is it safe to consume?

When people buzz about honey, it’s important to remember that not all honey is created in the same way. Whilst it’s true that it all comes from bees, what happens to it after that is of utmost importance in how it will impact your health.

 

You may have heard people questioning whether raw honey is safe to consume.  Our answer is that raw honey is the only honey that you should be consuming. Honey does not need pasteurising or processing. It is a natural antibiotic containing many micronutrients that are far better preserved if eaten raw.

 

Why Choose Raw Honey?

Raw honey has long been used for medicinal purposes. It doesn’t have additives and isn’t processed by heating or filtering. It’s deemed the healthiest form of honey on the planet, just as the bees created it. With pollen, antioxidants, and naturally occurring enzymes in it, none of the beneficial nutrients or prebiotics have been stripped away.

 

The more raw honey you eat, the more wonderful antioxidants you get, even if you stir just a spoonful into your tea or drizzle it atop wheat toast. The potent antioxidants found in raw honey protect your cells from oxidation caused by free radicals which will lower your risk for diseases. Raw honey also has more polyphenols, a special type of antioxidant that is strong enough to support the body in protection of cancer or heart disease.

 

Historically, people used raw honey to dress wounds and burns due to its antibacterial properties. It can even help digestive issues because it doesn’t ferment while in the stomach. It lasts almost indefinitely due to its natural compounds, providing an inhospitable environment for pathogens. All in all, raw honey is not bad for you. In fact, it’s one of the best things you can eat. However, there is one crucial exception for eating raw honey.

 

Is raw honey dangerous?

Sometimes honey can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum, a type of bacteria. Clostridium botulinum is a very common soil-borne organism that doesn’t cause problems for humans unless it is allowed to grow and produce toxins. As it turns out, the spores of Clostridium botulinum can survive in honey, but they can’t germinate, grow, or produce toxin in the highly acidic and extremely hygroscopic environment of honey. The spores just stay in the spore form.

 

If we were to eat honey containing spores of clostridium botulinum, our digestive system would process this without any issues just like any other vegetable that we consume such as carrots or tomatoes. The spores are very common and are are not a threat to us.

 

However, it is recommended that babies under the age of 1 should not consume honey. This is because their gut isn’t fully developed enough to process the spores, but after a few months, an infants digestive system will have developed enough for the spores to pass safely through.

 

Better Taste and Health Through Raw Honey

For everyone over the age of 12 months, raw honey can be enjoyed freely. It is an excellent way to enhance your diet and boost your immune system. Commercially processed and pasteurised honey should be avoided where possible because you’re not getting all the natural components that make raw honey so nutritious. Plus, those processed versions of honey are often a blend of low-quality honey which makes it almost impossible to discern where it has been produced.

 

At BeeRoots, we take pride in producing top quality raw honey in a cruelty-free and sustainable method. We only harvest the excess honey from our bees so there is never any sugar or syrup mixed in. This means we get a much lower yield, but we’d rather produce exceptionally higher quality honey while keeping our bees stronger and healthier.

 

Our passion for honey and love for nature shine through in the flavours of our raw honey. Taste the difference today!

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