Honey is obtained from the nectar of flowers of melliferous plants, which
enters the crop of worker bees; while under the influence of saliva part
cane sugar turns into grape sugar – the main component
part of honey; this honey is regurgitated by bees and folded into a special
cells in honeycombs, which are sealed with wax caps, after
when some of the water evaporates and when the bee releases a little
formic acid from its poisonous sac (to prevent
fermentation of honey).
Honey is a product of longevity. One of the population censuses
and subsequent research by sociologists established: among long-term
inhabitants (over 100 years old) are dominated by beekeepers or their family members.
As if everyone knows about honey. But not everyone knows that Alexander’s body
Macedonian, who died during his campaigns in the Middle East,
was transported for burial in the capital of Macedonia immersed
in honey as a preservative.
But not everyone knows that different types of honey are useful in different ways and
suitable for treatment. You can learn about this from old handwritten
texts that describe the characteristics of many varieties of honey and
recommendations on the use of honey for the treatment of various diseases,
as well as from ancient medical books.
Good honey has a delicate aromatic scent. Scent of honey
characteristic of this variety and is due to the content of introduced
with nectar of various substances (120 names), among which they meet
esters, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, carboxyl compounds.
Honey produced by bees from sugar syrup without added nectar,
has no smell. Aromatic substances are volatile, so the smell
honey weakens over time. The color and smell of honey is entirely dependent
from the corresponding qualities of the flower nectar from which it is prepared
bees.
The most valuable are light varieties of honey (acacia, lime
and etc.). The exception is buckwheat. At the same time the dark
varieties are richer in minerals of value
for the body.
Rules for consumers looking to purchase high quality
natural honey:
- Honey must be purchased in stores where
veterinary control over its quality, if available from the seller
documents confirming its quality. - Honey offered in the network marketing system
with home delivery is usually of unknown origin.
In such cases, falsification is very likely. - Freshly squeezed honey does not drip from the spoon when it rotates, and when
dripping down falls like a slide. - In October, all natural honey, as a rule, should be crystallized.
The only exception is white acacia honey with white acacia,
which has a weak crystallization. - When checking the organoleptic method (observation), it is necessary
know that honey should have a uniform consistency, have
appropriate flavor and aroma bouquet. - It is preferable to buy honey from a producer rather than a reseller.
- The most preferred for purchase is honey produced
in your area of residence, or within a radius of about 500 km. - when buying prepackaged honey, honey has the advantage
manual packing.
Useful properties of honey
Honey is of vegetable origin, saturated with vitamins (A,
V1,
V2,
V6,
FROM,
RR,
К,
E,
pantothenic acid, folic acid) and contains more than 300 trace elements
(manganese, silicon, aluminum, boron, chromium, copper, lithium, nickel,
lead, tin, zinc, osmium and others), which significantly accelerate
metabolic reactions in the body.
The micronutrient combination is very close to the micronutrient content
in human blood. Honey is a collection of simple
sugars (glucose, fructose), a small dose of toxins (pollen)
and water.
Honey contains 60 times more vitamin A than beef.
Honey also contains organic acids (malic, tartaric, citric,
milk and sorrel), biogenic stimulants (which are positive
affect the body, activating its vital functions).
Honey is absorbed by the human body 100%, which is impossible
say about other products. Honey is not only energetic
carbohydrate product, but also a therapeutic and prophylactic agent,
strengthening and rejuvenating the body.
Honey enhances immunity, has a bactericidal effect, has
anti-inflammatory and expectorant effect, has anesthetic
and restorative property, has a pronounced anti-allergic
action.
In folk medicine for colds, it has long been used
honey. Honey reduces harsh, irritating coughs, relieves pain
with arthritis. Honey has a calming effect on the stomach.
Honey also helps old people to stay healthy.
Linden honey
He can rightfully be called the champion among all varieties of honey for
its healing properties. Has a pleasant linden scent, pale yellow
color. Quickly crystallizes in small crystals, crystallized
honey of greasy white color. Has a sharp specific taste.
Differs in high nutritional and medicinal properties.
Possesses antibacterial properties. Provides an expectorant
anti-inflammatory and slightly laxative effect.
In folk medicine, it is used in the treatment of sore throats, rhinitis,
laryngitis, brongitis, tracheitis, bronchial asthma as cardio
– tonic for inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract,
renal and biliary diseases. It has antiseptic properties.
It works well for purulent wounds and burns. This honey can
use in the treatment of any diseases, if at hand
there is no corresponding type of honey used in the treatment of
or any other disease.
Acacia honey
Acacia honey is characterized by a delicate aroma and pleasant taste.
Fresh honey has a light transparent color. Crystallizes very slowly
acquiring a milky white color; honey can be stored for a long time
the form of syrup. Of all the honeys, it is the most liquid.
It is used as a general tonic, as well as for insomnia,
gastrointestinal, biliary and renal diseases.
Sunflower honey
This is the main variety of beekeeping products in the southern regions of Ukraine.
Has a characteristic pleasant taste and weak aroma. Liquid
light golden color. Crystallizes very quickly, crystals
large, crystallized yellow honey.
It has good nutritional and medicinal (bactericidal) properties.
Buckwheat honey
Buckwheat honey is obtained mainly in the forest-steppe and woodlands
areas. It has a high content of proteins, minerals,
very pleasant strong specific aroma and taste. Color light
– brown with a reddish tint. Excellent nutritional and medicinal
product. Compared to other varieties, it has more protein
substances and minerals such as iron.
Useful for anemia, for diseases of the digestive system,
with liver disease, to prevent atherosclerosis and how
cardio tonic.
Raspberry honey
This honey is collected by bees in forest clearings overgrown with raspberries.
At this time, in the forest glades, forbs also bloom violently, therefore
Raspberry honey should rather be classified as polyfloral honey. But raspberries
in terms of the productivity of nectar, it significantly surpasses the rest of the modonos,
and the bees prefer to take nectar from it.
Raspberry honey has a light color, very pleasant aroma, wonderful
taste. Raspberry honeycomb has delicate taste
and melts in your mouth. Honey harvesting from raspberries begins in June – during the period
mass flowering. This honey is made from the nectar of forest flowers.
and garden raspberries. When raspberries are in bloom, the bees fly by
other flowers of melliferous plants, not paying attention to them.
This is because the raspberry flower is tipped down. Bee,
extracting nectar, it is, as it were, under a natural canopy or
umbrella and can work even in the rain.
Raspberry honey is used for colds, as well as
the same as a general tonic for vitamin deficiency, diseases
the kidneys.
Barberry honey
Has a golden yellow color, pleasant aroma and delicate sweet
taste. Bees vigorously process the nectar of the flowers of the berry bush
common barberry.
It was known about the medicinal properties of barberry and honey based on it.
since ancient times. It is used as a hemostatic
means.
Burdock honey
It has a pungent pleasant smell, is very viscous, fragrant and tasty.
It has a light yellow color with a dark olive tint. This
honey bees are collected from small dark pink flowers of hairy burdock
and burdock.
It is used in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and in
dermatological practice.
Budyak honey (honey from thistle)
Refers to first-class honey. It is either colorless or
greenish, or golden (light amber), has a pleasant
aroma and taste. When crystallized, budyak honey becomes
fine-grained. Bees collect it from beautiful crimson flowers
weed with thorny stems and grayish leaves – budyaka
or thistle.
It is used for insomnia and the treatment of skin diseases.
Basil honey
Cornflower honey bees collect from blue or field cornflower.
This honey is greenish-yellow in color, has a pleasant taste.
with a slightly bitter aftertaste. It smells like almonds.
It has not only excellent taste, but also medicinal
properties.
It is used in the treatment of chronic skin diseases and eye diseases.
Heather honey
Has a dark, dark yellow and red-brown color, weak aroma,
pleasant or tart bitter taste, quickly solidifies, creating
great difficulties in pumping it out of the combs. Unsuitable for
wintering of bees.
Recommended for people suffering from lack of appetite.
Mustard honey
In a liquid state, golden yellow, then, solidifying,
takes on a creamy shade. Crystallizes in fine grains.
Has a pleasant aroma and taste. It has good nutritional and
medicinal properties.
Recommended for diseases of the respiratory system.
Pea honey
Pea honey is collected by bees from fine-leaved pea flowers,
most often in the steppes. It is transparent, has a pleasant aroma
and taste.
It is used in the treatment of the digestive system.
Melilot honey
Possesses high taste. It can be different in color:
light amber to white with a greenish tint. It has
specific taste, sometimes slightly bitter, and specific
aroma reminiscent of vanilla. Crystallizes to form
solid coarse mass
It is used as a general tonic.
Blackberry honey
Blackberry honey, bees make beautiful bush flowers from nectar
blackberries. Blackberry honey is clear as water and has a pleasant
taste.
It is used in the treatment of colds and diseases
the kidneys.
Hyssop honey
Bees make it from the nectar of the dark blue medicinal flowers
and a melliferous semi-shrub plant – hyssop, which grows
in the wild in eastern Ukraine, in the Crimea. Hyssop is specially bred
in apiaries, like a valuable honey plant. By its organoleptic properties
Hyssop honey belongs to the first grade.
It is used for insomnia and other diseases.
Chestnut honey
Dark in color with a faint aroma of chestnut flowers and a bitterish
smack. When crystallized, it first takes on an oily appearance,
after which the crystals themselves appear. Possesses valuable antimicrobial
properties. Bees make honey from the nectar of bell-shaped white and pink
flowers of a decorative horse chestnut tree. This honey is transparent
(colorless), liquid, but crystallizes easily and quickly, sometimes
bitter. According to its properties, it belongs to the category of noscort honey.
It is used in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, and
also in the treatment of kidney disease.
Swallow honey
It has a delicate aroma and excellent taste. This light with yellow
tint honey bees make from fragrant nectar, very valuable
a honey plant – a swallow (vatochnik). In hot weather
scaffold honey is so thickened in combs that it is difficult to pump out
even when heated.
It is used for insomnia.
Pumpkin honey
Bees make it from the nectar of pumpkin flowers. This honey is golden
– yellow in color, with pleasant taste. Crystallizes quickly.
It is used for diseases of the digestive system.
Alfalfa honey
Bees collect it from lilac or purple alfalfa flowers.
sowing. Freshly cut honey has different shades – from white
to amber, quickly crystallizes, acquiring a white color and consistency
heavy cream. This honey has a pleasant aroma and specific
taste. contains 36 – 37% glucose, 40% levolese.
It is used in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and how
fortifying agents.
Angelica honey
Bees collect it from angelica flowers. Dyagilny
honey has a pleasant aroma and taste.
It is used in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, and
also to improve the activity of the central nervous system.
Melissa honey
Melissa honey bees are made from the nectar of light purple or
even flowers of lemon balm, or lemon mint Honey has excellent
taste.
It is used for diseases of the cardiovascular system or
neuroses.
Clover honey
Colorless, almost transparent, with high palatability,
one of the best light varieties of honey. When crystallized, it turns
into a solid, fine-crystalline white mass. Contains 34 – 35%
glucose and 40 – 41% levulose. Characterized by naturally low
diastatic number (less than 10 Gothe units).
It is used in the treatment of vitamin deficiency, as well as stomach diseases.
ATTENTION NURSING MOMS! Eating clover
honey with a lack of breast milk in lactating women can
provide a certain service, since the plants that serve
raw material for this honeycomb, have a lactic-producing effect.
Mint honey
Bees make it from the nectar of the flowers of a perennial herb.
– peppermint, therefore
honey has such a pleasant aroma. Peppermint is widely cultivated
and gives abundant harvests of quality honey. Mint honey amber
color, contains a large amount of vitamin C. Critallized
small grains of light yellow color.
It is used as a choleretic, sedative, analgesic and antiseptic
remedy, as well as for diseases of the digestive system.
Dandelion honey
Has a golden yellow color. It is very thick, viscous quickly
crystallizing honey with a strong odor and a pungent taste. Bees
make it from nectar well-known and widespread
weed – dandelion.
It is used for anemia, loss of appetite, in the treatment of diseases
liver.
Orange honey
One of the highest quality honey varieties. It tastes good
and its delicious scent is reminiscent of citrus flowers.
Bees make orange honey from citrus flower nectar
– tangerines, lemons, oranges.
It is used when there is a lack of vitamins in the body.
Motherwort honey
The bees collect it from the pale purple flowers of motherwort,
or the hearty grass that grows in wastelands. Honey has light
– golden, straw color, has a light aroma and good
specific taste. Motherwort flowers contain a lot of high-sugar
nectar, so plants are a valuable honey plant.
It is used in the treatment of diseases of the nervous system and cardio
– the vascular system.
Rowan honey
apple honey has a reddish color, strong aroma and good
taste qualities. Bees make this honey from blooming nectars
mountain ash.
It is used in the treatment of kidney disease. Rowan honey, boiled
together with rowan berries, they are used internally for hemorrhoids.
Bruised honey
The bees collect it from the pink and bright blue flowers of the bruise or
blush, – a very valuable southern plant – honey plant. This honey
light amber color is considered first-class, has a spicy
aroma and very good taste. slowly crystallizes and
It has a thick texture.
It is used for insomnia and respiratory diseases.
Blueberry honey
Blueberry honey is light and has a reddish tint. Exclusively
fragrant and pleasant to the taste. Bees prepare honey from the nectar of flowers
the well-known low blueberry subshrub.
This honey is used in the treatment of kidney diseases.
Sage honey
Light amber color, has a delicate pleasant aroma and
pleasant taste. Bees make this honey from bluish purple nectar
perennial shrub flowers – chemist’s sage, widely
bred in Ukraine, in the Kuban, etc.
It is used as an anti-inflammatory agent.
Carrot honey
Produced from the nectar of fragrant, white umbrella-shaped flowers
inflorescences of a biennial cultivated carrot plant. The honey is dark
– yellow color, pleasant aroma.
It is used in the treatment of eye diseases.
There are also other varieties of monofloral honeys. How many types of honey plants –
so many honey. And yet purely monofloral
honeys practically do not exist and we can only talk about the predominance of
some component.
May honey
This honey collected by bees from early spring flowering honey plants
in April – May. These are hazel (hazelnut), alder, willow – delirium,
mother-and-stepmother, violet, Norway maple, bird cherry, dandelion,
sage, garden trees and bushes, etc.
May honey is one of the most valuable types of honey. May
honey has a golden color, wonderful fragrant aroma. Possesses
wonderful taste and medicinal properties. Recommended
apply for a wide variety of diseases.
Meadow honey
It is obtained from meadow flowers: dandelion, shepherd’s purse,
thyme, thyme,
white clover, mouse pea, meadow bruise thistle, wild
mallow, St. John’s wort, hogweed, sweet clover, meadow cornflower, sage,
chicory, motherwort, tartar and many other plants, others
honey plants growing in meadows.
If this honey is dominated by dandelion nectar, then it is more
yellow color. Meadow honey tastes good, has an aroma reminiscent of
a bouquet of blooming meadow herbs.
Meadow honey is characterized by high nutritional and medicinal
properties. Differs in antibacterial action. Applicable
in the treatment of various diseases, especially kidney diseases,
has an emollient, anti-inflammatory and analgesic
action.
Forest honey
Bees produce it from forest melliferous plants: wild fruit trees
– dog-rose, hawthorn, Tatar maple (blackberry), viburnum,
willow, linden and other plants – raspberries, blackberries, lingonberries, fireweed
(ivan-tea), heather, oregano, strawberry lungwort. Has many
shades: from light yellow to dark brown. He always
darker than field. By taste, honey is collected from
forest forbs, is not inferior to meadow and field, but with
the presence of a large amount of honeydew or nectar from buckthorn
and heather its palatability decreases.
Forest honey from spring honey plants (mountain ash, willow, fruit, acacia,
raspberries, blueberries) are in great demand. This honey has absorbed
into himself the healing qualities of forest herbs and therefore acquired
the glory of a cure for all diseases. It is used in the treatment of various
diseases, and especially with kidney disease.
Field honey
This honey is obtained from coriander, sainfoin, lavender, rape,
sow thistle, buddyak, pikulnik, gill, phacelia and domesticated plants
– sunflower, rapeseed, buckwheat, alfalfa, mustard. Has a sedative
action on the nervous system, recommended for headaches,
insomnia, palpitations and pain in the solar plexus.
Mountain honey
By tradition, mountain honey is considered more valuable among polyfloral honey.
Collected in alpine meadows at an altitude of over 1000 meters. Looks like
smell like “ forest honey ”, has absorbed healing
quality of many alpine plants and gained fame as a panacea
from many diseases.
It is mainly used for diseases of the respiratory system.
Monofloral honeys, as a rule, have the smell of plants from which
they are collected and distinguished by exquisite, delicate, piquant aromas.
Various honeys are often mixed to obtain such exquisite stocks.
The aroma of honey can be weak, strong, subtle, delicate, with a pleasant
and unpleasant color. When slightly heated, the aroma of honey increases.
Physical properties of honey – aroma, taste, consistency depend
from the set of melliferous plants and the maturity of honey.
The quality of colored honey depends on the composition of plants, composition
soils, climatic conditions (often in previous years), rocks
bees.
Bees collect and carry to the hive not only nectar, but also any
other sugar solutions: fruit juices, sugar syrup, clover
Special types of natural honey
Tobacco honey
Honey, dark brown in color, with a bitter taste and aroma,
similar to the smell of tobacco. Crystallizes slowly. Get honey
in the usual way – from the nectar of ordinary flowers. It is known to have
weak antimicrobial action. However, nutritional and medicinal
the properties of tobacco honey have been studied completely insufficiently by specialists,
and for this reason this honey should be used for treatment and nutrition
Not recommended.
Stone honey
Stone honey is a rare and distinctive type of honey. It is collected
wild bees laying down in crevices of stone cliffs. Stone
honey of fawn color, pleasant aroma and good taste. Honeycomb with
honey almost does not contain the east and in their appearance they represent
is a single crystallized substance, similar to a lollipop.
Due to its high glucose content, honey is not very hygroscopic. IN
unlike ordinary bee honey, stone honey is not sticky,
therefore does not require special packaging. It keeps well without
changes in their qualities over the course of several years. By place of origin
(on a regional basis) it is called Abkhaz honey.
A variety of stone honey is also found in Uzbekistan,
where it is collected by bees from dzhugara – a special type of millet. He is very
thick and difficult to pump out, and after pumping it quickly crystallizes
into a very dense, hard, greasy mass. White honey
with a strong aroma and pungent taste.
Powdered honey
Powdered honey is very rare. It is not hygroscopic
and contains a large amount of glucose and melicytosis. From such honey plants
bees collect such honey, it has not yet been clarified. And it was he
has a powdery consistency.
Poisonous honey
It is also called “drunk honey”. It is produced by bees
from the nectar of azalea flowers, mountain laurel, andromeda, rhododendron
Pontic, hellebore and some other plants, as well as flowers
marsh shrubs – heather and wild rosemary. In its purest form, this
honey is poisonous. Such honey is identified by studying its origin and biological
samples. 50-100 g of this honey causes headaches, vomiting,
diarrhea, pallor or blue discoloration of the face, palpitations, weakness, itching,
sometimes convulsions. The toxicity of honey is explained by the content of an alkaloid,
andromedotoxin in rhododendron nectar, which has saturated,
intoxicating aroma.
In Japan, bees collect poisonous honey from the hotsutsai plant.
Laurel trees found in Mediterranean climates contain
andromedotoxin, so the honey obtained from them is also poisonous.
Bees collect poisonous honey in the Caucasus, the Far East and in some
other areas. However, it has not yet been precisely established from what
plants in each case, honey collection is carried out. For the bees themselves, this
me e non-toxic.
Signs of poisoning with such honey appear after 20 minutes (up to
2 hours) after ingestion. Weak and emaciated people
this happens very rapidly: there is an increase in temperature,
vomiting, itching, numbness, dizziness, loss of consciousness,
the pulse becomes weak, threadlike (up to disappearance or
slowing down to 50, even 30 beats per minute). The victim’s face
acquires a transparent – bluish tint, pupils dilate,
difficulty breathing, cold sweat appears on the skin, hands hurt
and legs. This state lasts 4 – 5 hours.
Express honey
A number of domestic and foreign researchers at home and abroad
proposed to make a special medicinal honey called express.
To make it, bees are given 50 – 55% sugar for processing
syrup to which medicinal substances, juices, vitamins are added.
The meaning of making such honey is its inventors and propagandists
see that drugs are well preserved in it,
losing an unpleasant taste. Yet he has not found widespread acceptance.
The consumer’s attitude to such honey ranges from natural
desire to test its medicinal properties to the point of complete rejection,
bordering on disgust. In any case, it’s hard to call such honey
natural.
