This is a sponsored post.
Honey? Yes, honey…the honey you put in tea or on toast. Last week I attended the Benefits of Honey event at The Loft in Washington DC sponsored by the National Honey Board. I learned a lot of interesting facts about honey, took many photos, made honey body scrub, tasted food and drinks with honey in them and tasted 4 different types of honey.
I never thought much about honey before, so I had no idea what I was going to learn. But I had a lot of fun talking with the experts.
10 Interesting Facts About Honey
Here are the 10 benefits of honey facts that I found interesting.
Bees are Shipped to California
Every year, bees from all over the country are shipped in their hives all the way to California to pollinate the almonds. There isn’t enough in California to sustain the bees year round, so they ship them there when needed. I asked how the bees know where their hive is and bees knows their hive. Kind of like bee GPS. Even when you move the hive to California for a few weeks and let them loose to pollinate, they will come back to the same hive.
Ingredients
There is only one ingredient in honey….HONEY! However, there are many different types. I tried four at the event; alfalfa, buckwheat, tupelo and orange blossom.
Honey in Body Lotion
You can mix a bit of honey with your lotion because it will help hold the moisture in your skin.
Energy Booster
Honey is a great all-natural energy boost. Many athletes use it as a quick energy boost. It has 17 gram of carbs with only 64 calories per tablespoon. A few great ways to benefit from the natural boost of energy is to add honey to your water bottle, add to smoothies or mix it with peanut butter and dip your fruits or veggies in it.
Nature’s Relief for Coughs
Honey has been used for a long time to soothe coughs. It can be given to kids ages one or older to help soothe their cough for a better night sleep.
Adds a Golden/Amber Color
Honey will add a golden or amber color when added to foods. It’s perfect for glazing or browning your food. Any time you add it for browning, lower the temperature of the oven 25 degrees so your food won’t over brown.
A Sweet Substitution
Want to substitute honey for other sweeteners when you cook or bake? Just substitute honey for half the sweetener and when baking, cut any added liquid by 1/4 cup, add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and reduce oven by 25 degrees. This is one way I have not used honey, but I’m going to start.
An Anti-Microbial
Honey will extend the shelf life of products because it is a natural anti-microbial and resists spoilage. You should store honey in an airtight container. If it starts to crystallize, you do not need to throw it out. Just warm it up gently and the crystals will dissolve. If you are putting it on toast, just add the crystals and the warmth of the bread will dissolve the crystals for you.
Different Flavors
I always thought honey was just honey. I didn’t realize there were different flavors. The nectar used to create the honey determines the flavor. There are over 300 different flavors of honey. I got to taste four flavors and each one was quite different.
Queens, Drones and Workers
In each colony, there is one queen, several drones and many workers. The Queen is the only female who is sexually developed and always the largest bee in the colony. I did get to see a Queen in the hive they had there and she was quite obviously larger than the rest. The drones are the male bees that only mate with the queen. The workers are the rest of the smaller bees and the ones that make the honey. A colony can have 50,000 to 60,000 workers. That’s one heck of a colony!!
More Benefits of Honey Photos
Here are so me more photos I took during the evening.
Making the scrub with honey, olive oil, grapefruit juice and sea salt.
Here are all the ingredients in the honey body scrub; grapefruit juice, olive oil, honey and sea salt. Because of the natural ingredients, this needs to be stored in the fridge.
This was the drink I tried which had vodka and honey. It was almost like lemonade with a bit of honey and vodka. It is the Golden Celebration Cocktail.
No honey event is complete without the honey bear.
For more information about honey:
Disclosure: I received compensation from The Motherhood for attending the Benefits of Honey event. All opinions are my own.
Honey is good for many health related remedies. I just cured my kids terrible cough with honey. Honey is better than over the counter cough syrups that’s for sure. It is antibacterial and it’s also great for relieving night time cough. Manuka honey has the most medicinal properties than any other honey. It costs considerably more though. A little jar of Manuka honey that I bought from Trader Joe’s cost $10 but it was worth it. However, any reputable raw honey is good that has the medicinal properties preserved. However, some years ago there were several international brands of honey sold in the U.S. stores that contained very little amount of pollen if any. I would buy honey only from reputable sources.