Raw honey is quickly becoming my new thing.
I'll be honest. For the first 22 years of my life, I did not eat honey at all. It was sticky and weird and I didn't care for the flavor at all. I avoided it at all costs.
Recently, though, I've started to branch out with food. And what better way than with something as easy (and as totally not-scary) as honey? When I started reading the health benefits that accompany good quality raw honey, I was sold.
And suddenly I'm addicted.
What's so awesome about raw honey?
- It includes lots of minerals, amino acids, and live enzymes, offering great support for the immune system.
- Local raw honey may help prevent seasonal allergies through exposure to pollen in the months before your allergy season (helping you build up an immunity).
- It has antibacterial properties.
- Raw honey ferments but doesn't spoil. Fermentation may increase the benefits of honey (though it may also change the taste).
- It's versatile, and can be used in a number of ways--from sweetener to skin treatment.
- It may offer healing properties and has been utilized as a migraine treatment, an aid for coughs and sore throats, and a burn remedy. (Take a peek at this list for other possible uses for healing honey!)
It's best to eat your honey unheated (exposure to heat damages a lot of the nutrients), so try adding it to food that's already cooked (or to your yogurt, fruit, toast, etc.) and make sure that your honey wasn't heated up during the processing. Just a teaspoon daily is enough to get the benefits!
Here’s a video of a quick recipe including tasty raw honey. Bonus: you get to hear me drop my creation in the process!
Do you use raw honey? What other foods did you initially dislike that you later acquired a taste for?
Update: Want to try to score some raw honey of you own? Check out Meghan Telpner’s blog, Making Love in the Kitchen, for a giveaway!