What is Raw Honey and How is it Different from Regular Honey

Introduction

Are you planning to buy honey online? We have jotted down several key aspects concerning raw honey that you must be aware of!

Honey, the molten golden semi-liquid natural sweetening agent, has been around the corner for centuries altogether. Since ancient times, it has been leveraged to enhance the color, flavor, and texture of the sweet delicacies, and became a must-have kitchen ingredient. Apart from its culinary usage, honey has been leveraged in contemporary medicine, Ayurvedic school of medicines due to its numerous medicinal properties. Honey’s significance still remains the same today and is not anticipated to fade away anytime soon.

Are you a pro or a novice at culinary skills? Honey is your go-to kitchen ingredient to bedazzle your dining guests. With honey, you can get as creative as you wish, stir up a teaspoon of pure natural honey in your delicacy, sprinkle it as a garnish, or salad dressing, you are all set for your dessert plans at the dinner table!

Honey - Is It The Perfect Substitute for Sugar?

Do you have a similar query too? Then, you will be surprised to learn that honey makes the perfect substitute for sugar. Despite being a natural sweetener, honey does not lead to an extreme surge in the body’s glucose levels, which is often the key cause of hyperglycemia. Individuals who have sworn off sugar in the quest to maintain a healthy diet, and thus a healthy life, can still relish the natural sweetness in their dishes, with just a dash of honey.

Honey is a highly nutritious dietary content and is thus an ultimate choice than sugar any time of day. And, the most surprising part is, honey can be leveraged for weight management as well.

Are All Honey Variants Equally Beneficial?

Here is the catch! Honey entails a plethora of health benefits and culinary usage. However, these can be availed of only when honey is consumed in its purest, raw, and natural form. Commercially available regular honey may not yield all the desired benefits. So, let’s delve deeper into raw honey vs regular honey.

Raw Honey vs Regular Honey - All You Need to Know

As the name suggests, raw honey is ideally sourced from the honeycomb and is filled in bottles after filtering the impurities. The important point to note here is that no mechanical process is employed in sourcing raw honey; it is usually squeezed from the honeycomb structures by hand, and thus might still contain a trace of impurities. Thus, raw honey will ideally have a thicker texture compared to regular honey, which usually goes through commercial filtration processes. While raw wild honey is also known to contain bee propolis and bee pollen, which is used by the bees to hold the hives together, regular honey will have no such impurities. While regular honey may appear aesthetically enticing, clear, and transparent, raw honey has plenty of antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties.

Commercially available honey variants, what you might find at any supermarket rack, undergo several steps of processing that often impact the nutritional and medicinal efficiency of certain ingredients in the honey. There is no doubt that these might look smoother and appealing, commercially marketed honey might not offer you the desired health benefits when compared to raw wild honey. Even though not all commercial honey brands are bad, you will have a hard time recognizing which ones are healthy and which ones are not.

You will find a multitude of organic honey brands online, and offline alike that are claimed to be authentic, sourced naturally, and from organic farms. However, the claims may not live up to their expectations. So, it would be wise to steer clear of advertisements about premium, pure honey at an unbeatable price. Your best bet is to choose only organic wild honey sold in pure, unpasteurized, unheated, and unprocessed form by esteemed brands online. Such raw honey variants have all the enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and nutritional elements preserved robustly, and thus offer you numerous health benefits. Zizira is your one-stop destination for an exclusive range of pure natural products online, which includes a wide range of raw honey variants.

Zizira - Your One-stop Destination for Raw Honey in India

When it comes to food and nutrition, and anything else for that matter, you always want the best for your loved ones. If you are on the quest of purchasing only the best raw honey in India and browsing the eCommerce platforms rigorously, Zizira is your ultimate destination! It is one of the top-notch best raw honey brands in India offering honey in its purest form with no chemical additives or scope for adulteration.

Team Zizira ensures that “honey directly from the honeycomb” reaches your doorstep; with no middlemen in the scenario, you are assured to get only the best raw honey online in an easy, quick, and hassle-free manner. The team at Zizira goes the extra mile to ensure that the food safety guidelines, quality standards, and best practices are adhered to and at no point in time, the quality of raw honey is compromised. A stringent quality testing process is also administered to validate that the raw honey is devoid of any chemical additives, heavy metals, etc. to boost its longevity or alter its consistency, and texture. Do check out the exquisite collection of raw honey and infusion variants at Zizira right away!

Don’t take our word for it; do your research, and employ the necessary validation procedures to soothe your curiosity regarding the authenticity of raw honey brought online.

Here are some of the key aspects to consider to avail of some of the greatest deals on raw and indigenous honey online.

1. Authenticity – Heard a lot about raw and natural honey being claimed to be natural? Well, it’s time not to fall prey to another monotonous brand advertisement that claims to offer only pure, premium, organically-grown honey at the best price. Employ your own research genius and check out the brands online that adhere to FSSAI guidelines stringently, and make an effort to stay true to their claims. These brands ensure that the honey is eco-responsibly sourced, is devoid of pesticides, and chemical additives. Also, they make sure that honey is not processed as raw honey tends to lose its potency during the processing cycle.
2. Features – Online shopping no doubt has its share of pros, but there are certainly some limitations. While planning to buy raw honey online, you won’t be able to check out the colour, texture, and consistency of the honey physically. However, you have the flexibility to check out the product description and nutrition labels, genuine customer reviews that will give you a deeper insight into the honey variant you are planning to buy.
3. Quality – Processing or filtration tends to dampen the potency of certain compounds in the indigenous honey. So, make sure that the honey variant you are planning to purchase is processed or not. While non-processed honey may have a thick, unclear consistency, they come with the benefits of a range of potent antioxidants, antibacterial, antifungal, and a host of other health-aiding properties.
4. Price – Are you someone who goes by the price tag? Bear in mind that a hefty price does not always ensure premium quality. And, at the same time, honey quality can’t be traded off with its price. So, be judicious in your purchase, and pricing decisions.

How to Check the Authenticity of Raw honey?

Ok, so you have done whatever you could do to ensure that you get the best raw honey. However, is there any way you can identify what you get is the best raw honey in India? Yes, there are several ways to run this validation test!

First and foremost, a clear look at the container of honey will tell the tale. If you observe a few honeycomb structures, and traces in the bottle of honey, you will know that you have got the best. On the other hand, if the honey has a glistening, clear, and transparent texture, there is a possibility that the honey has undergone stages of processing to enhance its aesthetics.

The next step is to run a fire test. Expose the honey to fire; if it catches fire then it indicates that the honey is still in its pure, raw form. However, commercially processed honey, which may have accumulated moisture during the filtration process may not pass the fire test.

Next on the queue is the water test. Take a tablespoon of honey and mix it in water. Raw honey, which is known to have a thicker consistency, won’t be completely soluble. However, processed honey will mix quite easily with water as it might already have moisture content.

Benefits of Raw Honey

Still undecided about the raw honey purchase? Let’s walk you through the several health benefits that raw honey entails.

• Rich Source of Antioxidants: In today’s fast-paced, sedentary lifestyle, oxidative stress, and resultant cellular damage is quite common. Antioxidants are your go-to option for preventing this, which can be either taken as medication or dietary supplements. Well, there is another efficient way too! Consider including a few spoons of raw honey in your daily diet as it is proven to have plant-derived chemicals, otherwise known as antioxidants in quite an abundance. Just to be clear, the level of antioxidants in each honey variant may vary based on the source or it would suffice to say that the flower from which the bees collect the nectar has a pivotal role to play here. Other factors that influence the antioxidant content in raw honey are geographical landscape, climatic conditions, rainfall, etc. Antioxidants-rich raw honey has been proven beneficial in protecting the body from oxidative stress-induced cellular damage caused by free radicals, delaying the ageing process and the onset of age-related disorders. Raw honey is considered a rich source of polyphenols, bioactive compounds that play a key role in preventing cardiovascular diseases, and thus is considered beneficial for achieving optimal heart health as well.
• Antifungal, and Antibacterial Properties: Do you remember your grandma asking you to apply a dash of honey on your wounds that you might have got during your childhood? Have you ever wondered the reason behind it? Well, here it is, raw honey is known to contain hydrogen peroxide, an antiseptic, which plays a key role in healing wounds in a quick, and robust manner. The antifungal and antibacterial properties of raw honey also add to the stack of benefits. It is a potent agent to eliminate germs; aid in tissue regeneration; accelerates healing time, and reduces the scope of further infection of the wounded region.
• Optimizes Digestive Functionality: Raw honey is a rather potent nutritional ingredient as it is protein-rich in its purest form. Besides, it is also known to prevent, and manage digestive issues such as diarrhea, though there isn’t much research to back up this claim. It’s also known to be quite impactful in the treatment for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria, though, a common cause of stomach ulcers. Being a potent prebiotic, raw, eco-responsibly sourced honey is proven to nourish the good bacteria in the intestines, which are crucial not only for improving digestion but overall health and well-being.
• Helps in Alleviating Sore Throat Symptoms: Have you been suffering from a sore throat, lately that is also accompanied by intermittent coughing sessions and a constant itch in the throat? Unable to concentrate at work because of this? Worry no more, raw honey is your best bet to get instant relief as it is deemed effective in treating the throat linings, reducing the itchy sensations. Consider taking a teaspoon of honey with lukewarm water, and lemon or tea to counter the aftereffects of sore throat, consistent cough, cold, etc.
• Weight Management: Weight management is possibly one of the most crucial aspects of today’s life where none of us can escape sedentary lifestyle choices. In the scenario of spending endless hours at desk jobs, and opting for either eating out or takeouts, maintaining a healthy weight may seem far-fetched. And, intermittent hunger pangs are another common reason that prevents us from maintaining a healthy weight. Bear in mind that the excessive consumption of carb-rich food, though unintentionally, may lead to unwarranted weight gain, which is quite daunting to reverse. Raw, pure natural honey, when consumed in moderation, consistently, helps suppress hunger pangs, and helps you keep your snacking needs in control.

How to Use Organic Wild Honey?

So, you have caved in and bought raw honey online. Now, you are wondering what are all the ways to utilize it? So, here you go! Pure raw honey in its natural form when sourced through eco-responsible, and organic means, is considered an ultimate substitute for processed sugar as it does not endanger the body’s sugar levels. However, raw honey’s usage does not stop just here. Here are some of the key ways in which raw honey can be leveraged.

• In the Kitchen Baking – Are you an avid fan of baking or just do it to appease your kids’ endless demands for sweet savories? No matter what, honey is a must-have in your kitchen rack. It is considered the perfect substitute for sugar in most baking recipes, not only just to enhance the colour, and consistency but also to enhance the flavour? A dash of honey would suffice as it is much sweeter compared to processed sugar. However, just a word of caution, the recipe might turn out a little different in texture, flowy, distorted, but the taste would be definitely worth it.
• Cooking – Honey roasted vegetables, honey glazed duck, sesame tofu, honey and spice nuts, baked honey chicken, and many more you name it - honey will just be the perfect ingredient to ace these dishes.
• Beverages – Honey makes a perfect ingredient for a select range of beverages. You will be astounded at the effect honey has in making them delicious. From plain milk, coffee, iced coffee, to smoothies, yogurt, tea and so on, honey will enhance their taste immensely, and leave your taste buds craving for more.
• Salad Dressing and Fruit Dip – Vying to create some yummy salad dressings and dips at home? Consider using pure natural honey!
• Sandwiches and Waffles – You can transform the appearance, and taste of your simple sandwiches, pancakes, and waffles with a dash of honey spread.

Personal Care

• Face Mask – Do you have dry skin? Are you looking for home remedies, and ingredients? Honey’s moisturizing abilities will surely lend you a helping hand. It is proven to keep the skin hydrated, nourished, clear, and blemish-free and thus is excellent for your skin in more than one way. Rub natural honey on your face, let it dry and rinse it off with cold water and natural, glowing, and blemish-free skin will be the perfect outcome!
• Lips – Honey does wonders for chapped lips and heals them from the inside in the most effective manner. Now, you know how a sachet of honey can come in handy during the chilly months!
• Hair Treatment – Experiencing thinning, and untimely greying of hair? Also, anticipating receding hairlines on the horizon? Consider using a little honey with water to wash your hair to prevent these issues.
• Waxing – Worried about the chemical waxes commercially available? Worry not, now, you can create natural honey wax at home if you tend to be allergic to commercial body wax.

Parting Thoughts

Now, you have quite a wealth of information regarding raw honey. So, think no further. Check out the exquisite collection of raw honey variants online at Zizira today!

Also Read : -

• 10 Ways to Make Your Life Healthier With Honey!
• Know How to Test For Pure Honey
• 6 Proven Health Benefits of Honey Burst Your Myths About Raw Honey