一般健康

Honey Varietals for Family

(英语版本）

Honey Varietals for Family

Honey is a wonderful creation for healing the body inside out. It is moisturising, exfoliating, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. Have you ever wondered which type of bee products you should buy? Are you confused if you should buy honey or Manuka honey? Read through this simple guide, you will know which to go for!

	Royal Jelly	Honey	Manuka Honey	Brazilian Green Propolis
What’s this?	A milky-white, nutritious, thick substance that is produced by the worker bees with water, nectar, and flower sperm.	The sweet liquid the honeybees make in their hives.	New Zealand bees that pollinate the Manuka bush.	A resin-like substance produced by the bees to help seal cracks in the hives.
Nutrients	Rich in protein, amino acids, lipids, natural hormones, minerals, folic acid, fatty acids and Vitamin B.	It is mainly made from natural sugar (fructose and glucose), water, vitamins, pollen and protein.	Natural sugar (fructose and glucose), proteins, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, hydrogen peroxide, dihydroxyacetone, methylglyoxal.	Contains vitamin P, enzyme, phytoncide, organic acid, caffeic acid and cinnamic acid.
Interesting facts	This is solely what the Queen Bee consumes throughout her life.	Bees collect the nectar from the flowers and take it back to their hives for the other bees to store in the cells of the honeycomb. Over the days to follow, the transformation happens into honey.	Made from the nectar of the manuka tree in New Zealand. It is known as the most healing power of all honeys.	Brazilian Green Propolis is considered as the world's best and most effective propolis as Brazil has the proper climate and environment for bees to produce propolis throughout the year.
	it has been known to extend the life span of a queen more than 20 times longer than that of a normal bee.	Raw honey is 100 percent unprocessed, meaning it’s pure, natural, unpasteurised and unadulterated.	The nutritional content is up to 4 times that of normal flower honeys, being called the Unique Manuka Factor.	Vitamin P strengthens blood vessel wall and enhances its elasticity, prevents cardiovascular diseases.
	It’s a honey bee secretion that’s used in the nutrition of larvae and adult queens.	Honey never spoils.	Methylglyoxal (MGO+) is thought to give manuka honey some of its antibacterial power. The higher the concentration of MG, the stronger the antibiotic effect.	Propolis contains enzymes like trypsin, cathepsin, amylase and lipase.
	Never heat royal jelly! It will destroy all enzymatic properties and some of the proteins that is beneficial for human consumption.	Honey speeds the healing process and combats infections.	Hydrogen peroxide is a component of Manuka honey. It gives most Manuka honey its antibiotic quality.	Phytoncide helps curb mood swing, relieves stress and purifies the internal system.
Common Uses & Its Goods	Anti-ageing, hormone balancing, boosts immune system, anti-inflammation, promotes metabolism.	Aids indigestion, relieves sore throat, boosts energy, and treats persistent infections.	Effective at treating stomach ulcers, gastritis, and other digestive problems. Positive results when used to treat stomach ulcers caused by helicobacter pylori bacteria.	Strictly as a traditional medicine to strengthen immunity, improve skin condition, inhibit malignant tumour, improve gastro-intestinal digestive system.

Genuine Honey vs Artificial Honey

There are a lot of ways to test if the honey you bought is genuine. Among all, we have summarised into 5 interesting methods that you can pick from to test!

1. Thumb Test to Test Purity of Honey

Here’s the procedure to do a thumb test:

Put a small drop of the honey you bought on your thumb (either one)
Check to see if it spills or spreads around
If it does, it is not pure (Pure honey will stay intact on your thumb!)

2. The Water Test to Spot Fake Honey

Here’s how to do the water test:

Fill a glass with water
Add one tablespoon of honey into the glass
Adulterated or artificial honey will dissolve in water and you will see it around the glass
Pure honey on the other hand will settle right at the bottom of your glass

3. The Flame Test to Know Pure Honey

Did you know that organic honey is flammable? Here’s a test to know 100% pure organic honey.

Take a dry matchstick
Dip its tip right into the honey
Strike the stick on the matchbox as if to light it
If it ignites, the honey is pure
The flame will also keep burning off the honey
However, if it is with impurities, it will not light because fake honey contains moisture as one of the impurities

4. The Bubble Test

Add honey into water and shake.
Bubbles occur because of the enzymes in it.
Bubbles will disappear gradually when the content of enzymes decreases.
If certain portion of pure honey is added into adulterated honey, there will be bubble as well.
Hence, not really a 100% reliable way to test!

5. The Ant Test

Ants don’t eat pure honey! It’s commonly known that ants love sweet stuff, of course ants would eat natural honey that contains 70% and above of sugar! As the water content of mature honey is relatively low (below 20%), making the texture sticky, ants do not usually go for pure honey as they would have to risk their lives just to eat the honey.

However, when the bottle of honey is opened and absorbs the water content in the air, dilution occurs over the time. This would attract ants as the stickiness has reduced and they can once again eat the sweet stuff. Hence, this method of determining the authenticity of honey can’t be accurately determined by the behaviour of ants.

Want simpler methods? Here are some friendly reminders when you are about to buy any honey products:

Always read the label. If it contains added glucose or high fructose corn syrup, it is not real honey.
Taste your honey. If you can taste things like flowers or herbs it’s real honey. Fake honey is just sweet, with a smidgen of “honey-like” flavour.
If your honey does not crystallise over time, it is likely ultra-filtered since pure honey will crystallize when you keep in your fridge or over time.