Honey is great alternative for sweetening tea or coffee, a smoothie or English Muffins, but did you know there are health benefits in your honey? Especially when it comes to raw honey.
Raw honey has many healthy qualities and can be used in several other ways then just sweetening your drinks and goodies. In fact, there are many uses for raw honey!
Why Raw Honey?
Raw honey is honey fresh from the comb. It’s not pasteurized and therefore is still full of healthy enzymes. It is said that store-bought pasteurized honey is no better than white sugar. The heat from pasteurization kills the beneficial enzymes rendering them useless to the body.
After I first became a label reader, I remember taking my grandmother shopping. She asked me to grab her honey, you know the kind, in the cute little bear shaped container. It actually said “Honey flavored product” on the back of it. It wasn’t even real honey! I was shocked.
This was pivotal for me, I mean you can’t even pick up honey anymore and just get honey. I couldn’t find her a better alternative at that store so she was stuck with her “honey product.”
I started using raw honey about two years ago and could not believe the taste difference as compared to store-bought. Where I shop they sell a variety of raw honeys each with a slightly different taste. Our favorite is wild flower honey with clover honey being a close second.
My Top 10 Uses for Raw Honey and Health Benefits
As I researched honey I was surprised to find so many benefits beyond sweetening. Here are 10 things I found beneficial to my family.
1. Wound treatment
Because of its antibacterial properties honey has been used for centuries to treat wounds and help prevent infection.
2. Soothing a Sore Throat
Honey is an excellent natural alternative to cough medicine as it can reduce cough and sooth that sore throat.
3. Preventing Allergies
Taking a few teaspoons of local, raw honey per day before and during allergy season can prevent your allergy symptoms. This works on the basis of “like cures like” and the reason that your honey should be local. Local honey has a higher likelihood to contain triggers for your allergy symptoms.
I have had the “best” allergy season this past spring, taking OTC meds only once as compared to years past when I took them as often as daily. I’ve also had little flair up of my Oral Allergy Syndrome this season as well.
4. Sunburn
If you get sunburn, you can apply a thin layer of honey to help the skin heal.
5. Acne
Applied as a spot treatment at night, honey will improve your skin’s appearance in little time.
6. Fight Indigestion
Take a teaspoon or two to help fight indigestion.
7. Mineral Benefits
Raw honey contains several minerals that the body needs including Potassium, Magnesium, Zinc and Iron.
8. Vitamins
Honey naturally contains vitamins B2, B3, B5, B6 and vitamin C.
9 Constipation
When mixed with apple cider vinegar raw honey can help relieve constipation naturally.
10. Antiseptic
Raw honey is antiseptic which means it prevents the growth of disease-causing microorganisms. Used topically, unlike other antiseptics it won’t damage your skin.
**This post has been entered in Frugal Days and Sustainable Ways.**
I LOVE that I’m able to find raw honey locally…. my favorite breakfast is ezekiel toast with butter, honey, and cinnamon, and I love that it has so many health benefits!
Sounds like my newest favorite breakfast: Ezekiel bread toasted with peanut or almond butter, honey and cinnamon!
We use it for allergies. It’s the bomb-diggity!
“Bomb-diggity!” Love that!! LOL
Omg I say that all the time!!! But I never hear anyone else say it!
Does it have to be raw clover honey or just local raw?
Hi Melissa,
Just local raw! The variety doesn’t matter (some say buckwheat is the best because it’s the darkest and most full of beneficial substances).
[…] read more, join me over at Modern Alternative Mama where I’m a contributing […]
Love honey! we use it daily! yummm…
I love honey I use it for allergies mixed with a little raw organic apple cider vinegar. I have recently made an allergy, flu, and other bacterial/viral medication with it that really works. My husband recently got sick and I have been taking it and didn’t get his cold which used to never happen. I would always get sick! http://ablossominglife.blogspot.com/2012/06/natural-remedy-for-allergies-flu-asthma.html
[…] 10 Benefits & Uses for Raw Honey | Modern Alternative Mama. […]
I haven’t been able to find a source for local honey, so I’ve mostly just skimmed all the advice about it being useful for allergies, but your mention of your oral allergy symptoms caught my attention because this is the first year I’ve suffered from them, and it’s making me CRAZY — all day, every day, itchy mouth. I may just try the raw honey I have for a week or so — local or not — to see if it helps!
It can be really hard for people to find raw honey as the word raw is interpreted by beekeepers differently. If you want the rawest honey look and ask for unheated, unpasteurized, and unfiltered, raw honey. There are many local beekeepers that will take the extra time and effort to keep it raw.
I’m so lucky raw honey is available around my home area. It is delicious and with the benefits I have read on this page it is extra good for me also. Which reminds me to buy another bottle at our Farmer’s Market. Thanks for the 10 great tips.
Excellent for stings. Scrape the stinger out and apply a thin coat of raw honey. Kills the pain almost instantly.
Try washing your face with raw honey! Put about 1 tablespoon in your palm, add about 1 to 2 teaspoons of baking soda then scrub your face.
I have never needed lotion on my face since I started doing this.
Wow really!? I’ll have to give that a try. Thanks for the tip.
If Raw honey is full of enzymes because they have not been exposed to high heat – does that mean you can not use it in bake goods. Does baking destroy the enzymes?
You *can* use it for baking, but yes, it will destroy the enzymes. Some research has shown it is harmful to consume heated honey, so I try not to do this.
I have the same question. I’ve bought raw honey in the past because I’ve heard how much better it is for you, but then I realized that most of the ways I use it (hot tea, baked good ingredient, etc;) were _hot_ applications…which means that I’m killing off the enzymes, even if I went to the expense to get them to my house. Does it make sense to buy cheaper pasturized honey for tea, but use raw/local honey for toast and such? Or is there still some benefit to using the raw even in heated applications?
The major benefit is that it is pure honey. Grocery store honey may be adulterated or ultra-filtered which is not so good. If you find less expensive good honey that isn’t raw that is fine — some farms offer both.
I LOVE HONEY
My daughter, who hates toothpaste, uses Manuka honey to brush her teeth and it has been working great.
For honey to be effective against allergies, it MUST be local to you! Honey produced in another area will help if you go to that area, but if there’s something to which you’re allergic that isn’t in the other area, it won’t help.
Not to be crude, but raw honey applied topically to the nether regions in the event of a yeast infection or other infection of the mucous membranes is more effective than ANY miconazole-type treatment.
We use raw honey in place of Neosporin-type antibiotics on our bandaids… from cut to healed in DAYS!
are you saying honey will cure a vaginal yeast infection?
It may help. Probiotics can also help.
Unrefined coconut oil has actually been shown to cure yeast infections. Use both internally and externally. I’ll try to find the link and put it up for you. Also, coconut oil is a wonderful lubricant for intercourse.
[…] Day 4, as I was further experimenting with my newfound love of cashew milk and knowing some of the benefits of consuming a moderate amount of raw, local honey, I started playing with variations on my favorite hot beverages (chai, lattes, etc.), and stumbled […]
[…] just being a condiment or topping. Join me over at Modern Alternative Mama today as I share 10 benefits and uses of raw honey. Tweet Filed Under: {Mostly} Real Food Tagged With: […]
[…] Our work and patience and faith pay off, and not just in the immense satisfaction of seeing things spring up and bloom and produce fruit. We get to enjoy the fruit of the land! Fruit and nuts and vegetables and herbs and grains and, dare I say, eggs and meat and milk and honey! […]
[…] Alternative Mama offers a well-outlined article on the benefits of real local honey and the miraculous uses for it. Also, it is just plain tasty. I […]
[…] https://modernalternativemama.com/blog/2012/07/03/10-benefits-uses-for-raw-honey/# […]
[…] talked about the health benefits of honey before, but today…I want to talk about how awesome it tastes. And how to enjoy it. Are […]
[…] A high protein snack right before you shut down for the night can prevent hunger pains from waking you in the wee hours. Try a glass of raw milk, some of this delicious beef jerky, or for blood sugar regulation, try a spoonful of raw honey. […]
I recently purchased some raw unfiltered honey locally and after looking up to find out how to use it I found many posts warning about consuming it. Has anyone done research on that? I know that there are always comments about consuming raw organic milk as well but I have done that and have never had problems. Also, it’s pretty solid – any tips on how to use it? I don’t mean to sound dumb. Just wondering how people prefer to spread or measure or spoon it with little mess and not wasting a drop of it!
[…] honey is another good source of minerals to replenish your body, along with some vitamins. It can also aide in digestion. It isn’t just […]
Can we give raw unfiltered honey to 4 year old for his allergies?
Yes Monica! Raw honey is usually only contraindicated in children under the age of 1.
Hi Monica,
Sure! Perfectly safe. I hope it helps!
[…] Honey – The recipe below gives a measurement but sweeten to taste and remember what I said about the oranges. Honey has wonderful health benefits. […]
[…] this yummy, natural remedy on hand at all times you will reap the benefits in no time. Here’s 10 great ways to use honey. I’ve made a honey, cayenne, apple cider vinegar concoction to use as a cough suppressant […]
[…] If you’ve got local honey you’ve got gold! The benefits of honey are numerous. Just make sure it’s not a “honey flavored sweetener.” (Yes, there is such a […]
[…] birthday we introduced eggs, nut butters and nut milks and raw local honey (also a great way to prevent seasonal allergies). Palmer was weaned just before her second birthday at which point Palmer […]
We keep bees here in southeastern NC. My dad has for years. My grandfather did. We’ve used honey since we were kids. Butter, honey, and hot biscuits are a way of life for us! I haven’t seen anyone mention peanut butter and honey sandwiches on wheat yet. It’s awesome, as is honey on fried chicken, and drizzled on corn flakes,
I don’t know where you get the idea that just because you get honey hot in coffee or tea, it loses it’s nutritional value or becomes dangerous. That’s not true.
Pasteurization is a process by which the product is sterilized, and all the bacteria are removed, even beneficial ones. Why do you think they add the vitamin D back into milk? Honey losing it’s value or benefit by becoming hot is not true. And the only damage you get from hot honey is a blister on your lip if you let it get too hot. It DOES NOT change chemically, and become poisonous. If it did, most of us where I live would be dead.
Here’s a good hint for you though if your natural honey turns white and solid in the bottom of the jar. It’s not going bad. It goes to sugar if it sits for long periods. Fill a dutch oven full of hot water from your sink. Sit your jar of honey in it with the lid on or off, makes no difference. As the honey warms up that crystalline sugar in the bottom will get soft. When the water cools down, stir the honey and do it again. It may take a couple or three times to get it back to that nice golden or black golden color, but NEVER throw it out when it turns to sugar. Try it.
By the way, honey will sit on a shelf for years as long as it is sealed tightly. Honey should never sit long enough to go bad anyway. That’s liquid gold man. Leaman
LOVE peanut butter and honey! Top that off with sliced banana, and it is almost decadent! The only bread I use lately is Ezekiel. It is great toasted for the peanut butter, honey and banana toast. It makes a really good, healthful breakfast or snack. Ezekiel bread is organic sprouted bread (no flour), and I now only use organic peanut butter. Smucker’s makes a very good one, and not too expensive, but not available in all supermarkets or regions, unfortunately.
[…] honey. Read those labels look for 100% Pure raw honey for best taste and to receive the most benefits. If you are lucky enough to know a bee keeper then consider buying from them. In any case get to […]
[…] Day 4, as I was further experimenting with my newfound love of cashew milk and knowing some of the benefits of consuming a moderate amount of raw, local honey, I started playing with variations on my favorite hot beverages (chai, lattes, etc.), and stumbled […]
[…] has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, and you can’t beat the expiration date (never).Click here for more amazing ideas to make with your […]
From 2010-2015 whenever I drank hot green tea I always added a teaspoon of local pure clover honey. During that time my seasonal allergies were nonexistent. I never had to take allergy medications, nasal decongestants nor allergy eye drops. Prior to that time I suffered terribly from seasonal allergies every year & could not live without all the medications I mentioned. I couldn’t figure out why my allergies went away. But I sure was glad they did. Starting last year I stopped using honey altogether. I started using rock sugar for my hot tea that is specially made for teas sold @ Teavana stores. Last year my seasonal allergies came back. This year my seasonal allergies are so bad. I’ve been taking all kinds of allergy meds since Feb which is unusual for me, since my seasonal allergies don’t kick in till July, when ragweed season starts. Last week I told my husband that I finally realized what made my allergies go away for those 5 years: it was the local pure clover honey I kept adding to my tea! Few days ago I bought a jar of local pure raw organic honey at the health food section of my grocery store. I’ve been adding 2 teaspoons of this honey & 2 teaspoons of Bragg’s apple cider vinegar in 8 ounce of filtered water & drinking it once a day. I will again be adding this honey to my hot tea. I’m hoping it will make my allergies go away once again & not have to take all those medications.
I’ve been looking into an alternative Pure Cain sugar for my coffee. Would Pure Clover Honey do the trick or is their something else out there better? I hear honey from southern New Zealand is best, but I’m not sure about trusting the reviews on the Internet; very complected.
[…] honey is used in this recipe as a sweetener but it is also extremely good for your health! Lemons are incredibly beneficial to your health as well but I used them here for the sake of […]