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Honey is quite possibly the most amazing thing any insect has ever set out to do in the history of this planet, and I am prepared to argue with anyone who disagrees. I am allergic to a bee's sting, but the honey he creates more than makes up for any hard feelings I'd ever have. There is nothing I love more first thing in the morning than enjoying my cup of tea, sitting quietly, collecting my thoughts and evaluating my plan for the day in the precious few minutes before the house is buzzing with activity and excitement that each new day brings. What is actually an hour feels like only scant minutes, but there is just something about holding a warm mug in my hand that helps comfort me. My absolute favorite tea is Trader Joe's (we love TJ's) Pomegranate White Tea - which claims it is a antioxidant powerhouse - but it is so bitter! I do not sweeten most of my food, but for this I absolutely must. I don't use sugar or any other sugar substitutes but I loooooooooooooooove honey! I used to buy the kind in that cute bear - bears love honey you know, especially Pooh - and drizzle it in my tea. I felt so good about starting the day out so right - but then discovered that not all honey is created the same, and that cute little bear was starting to look more like a little devil.

What is so Great about Honey

Honey, in its completely natural state, has so many health benefits: it contains many vitamins and minerals - including B6 and Calcium, it builds your immune system against illness, it has a good Glycemic Index: its sugars are gradually absorbed aiding in better digestion and lower blood-sugar levels, it can help with allergies, and it contains antioxidants that get rid of free radicals, reducing our chances for cancer. Honey is the perfect thing: it tastes absolutely wonderful AND it is good for you. It wins the award for "Best Sweetener on the Planet!" Better yet, it is derived from the earth, completely natural and God even promised Moses he'd lead the Israelites to a land flowing with honey - so how can what's in that cute little bear not be good for us? Well, not all honey is treated with the same care that my friend the bee puts into it once it leaves the hive, and not all hives are found in the wild and allow the bees to have the freedom to do what only they know to do best.

How Honey is Made

I think pretty much everyone remembers learning about bees from our field trips in Kindergarten, but let's take a little trip down memory lane: they go from flower to flower, collecting nectar (and also pollinating flowers) and they carry it back to the hive. They transport the nectar in a stomach I like to call the "honey pouch." While inside their pouch, the nectars of different flowers mix together with enzymes in the pouch to begin the making of delicious honey. Once in the hive, those wonderful bees then evaporate the liquid so that only a gooey, golden, sticky substance is left and then they put a wax cap over the filled cell. The honey will then be collected from the "super" by a beekeeper when it is then put into an extractor: a machine that spins until the honey spins out onto the sides, drips down and into a container full of untainted, unprocessed honey. Here is where they can easily skim off the parts you don't want to see in your jar: parts of the comb, propolis and "beesknees." The rest that can't be skimmed drops to the bottom of the collection tank, so the honey is strained to make sure that all debris is removed - and this is the point where my honey is put into bottles because this, this is Heaven right here and you don't have to do anything else, no other steps, between this and a magnificent piece of Baklava or a comforting cup of tea.

But Why is That Bear so Bad?

Most honey you see sitting on your supermarket shelves have been put through extra steps, and the result is they have become nothing more than another processed food: now, the production of honey is still from bees - we haven't found a way to do that ourselves - but it is in a very controlled, unnatural and often inhumane environment. It starts from the breeding, containment and then shipping of queen bees to honey producers where the honey is mass produced (I think most of us has seen what a mass production facility looks like by now), the bees collect the nectar from who-knows-what quality of plants, then the honey gets collected (you can research on your own about how they collect it - this is a food article, not ethics) and heated at extreme temperatures to make it easier to strain the honey and get rid of debris. It is heated and pressure-filtered to the point where it loses all of its nutrients and pollen and only the sugar is left - and it is only as good as sugar, and that's not good for you at all. That is why when the honey sits on your shelf for a long time it looks just like sugar crystals. So, while the honey is still made naturally - that is, by bees - that is really the only natural thing about it. Everything else was completely controlled by someone looking to maximize production while minimizing costs and foregoing quality. Not all honey companies are doing this, but I am willing to bet my house that all of the big, recognizable names are. When I found out about how honey was mass-produced, how the bees were exploited and how the honey I had been using wasn't what the marketers had led me to believe it was I was furious. I researched where I could find raw honey - the honey that had all of this good stuff that the imposters were touting their honey had. I found raw honey, had one taste and fell in love.

Where to Find Raw Honey

The absolute best place to find untainted, raw honey is to find a local keeper. Local is important because the honey will contain the pollen that you are exposed to, and because it supports your neighbors. The reason why the pollen is so important is that it helps people with allergies; having raw honey with pollen collected from your area is like taking a small pollen/allergy vaccine. Another place to look is a locally owned grocery store, they may carry some honey from nearby providers. We have 3 beekeepers within 50 miles of our house, and my absolute favorite honey I get is from a family who also has their own apple orchard, small vegetable garden, flower nursery and pumpkin patch. The honey I bring home isn't the clear, gooey liquid we're used to seeing but it looks a lot like what you see in the picture on this page. Instead of pouring it out, I have to spoon it out of the jar and let the heat from my tea or toast melt it as it spreads. When you try raw honey, you can really taste the difference! It has so much more flavor and tastes wholesome compared to my old plastic bear bottle, almost like the difference between fresh squeezed orange juice and Sunny Delight. It is more expensive but you need a lot less of it for flavor so the cost really balances itself - plus you are giving your body what it needs: antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, energy, and allergy boosters. I think that $6 for a 16 oz. glass jar of honey is so worth it.

UPDATED: I had no idea this was going on when I wrote this article last week, but I came across this and needed to share it:

Here is a link to a CBS special on what could be happening to the honeybees:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRBJf57aNp4&feature=related