The flavor and color of honey depend on which flowers the bees have been using as a nectar source. Nectar sources vary with the blooming cycle, location, and weather, and some local beekeepers collect particular types of honey in coordination with the blooming of certain flowers that they prefer. Many beekeepers think that the best honey-making nectar comes from alfalfa, tupelo, buckwheat, clover, cotton, and orange. Beekeepers typically allow the bees to keep honey that they make from other flowers, and many hobby beekeepers don't try to label their honey based on the floral crop - they are simply happy to have a crop of naturally harvested honey.
Honey of mixed floral origins is generally labeled "wildflower" honey. Natural food stores, growers, and farmers' markets typically sell honeys made from plants that grow locally, and stores in New York and elsewhere sell unusual honeys imported from Morocco, labeled carob seed, lavender, and jujube (a bitter, apple-like fruit.)
There are also different types of honey depending on how much it is processed. There is cut comb honey (cut straight from the honeycomb and bottled with the honeycomb wax), certified organic, chunk, strained or filtered, ultrafiltered, heat-treated, ultrasonicated, churned or whipped (also called honey fondant or spun honey), crystallized, and set honey. Raw honey is produced without heating, and some people consider this the tastiest type of honey available. Crystallized or whipped honey is the most preferred form of honey in many places in Europe, while Americans tend to prefer liquid honey.
Honey never spoils (if it is stored properly) and contains a surprisingly high level of antioxidants, non-nutritive agents that can slow destructive chemical reactions in food and animal tissues. A recent survey of a variety of monofloral honeys determined that, in general, the darker the honey, the higher the value of its antioxidant content. Buckwheat honey, one of the darkest types tested by May Berenbaum along with Steve Frankel and Gene Robinson, had the highest antioxidant content, greater than sunflower, tupelo, soybean, and clover varieties.
Honey is also a good source of carbohydrates to fuel aerobic exercise. According to Richard Kreider and colleagues, honey is easily digestible and its fuel is released very steadily after it is eaten, suggesting that it is an excellent way to promote sports performance and recovery. Skeptics, however, warn that honey is simply touted as a fad diet for athletes.
Bassan Zeina and colleagues state that honey is effective against a tropical, infectious parasite called Leishmania. In multiple studies, Mutya Subrahmanyam and colleagues indicate that mild burns healed faster when treated with honey and covered with gauze than similar burns that were treated with antibiotic creams and other dressings.
Many reports about medical uses of honey are anecdotal rather than being based on scientific or experimental studies; for example, in Sierra Leone, a drop of honey is put in each ear of a newborn baby to prevent infection. There is some evidence that honey may be a useful way to combat periodontal disease and gingivitis, but contrary evidence indicates that the highly acidic nature of honey makes the sugar content potentially damaging to the human mouth and teeth.
A study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in 2007 by Ian Paul and colleagues suggests that honey may be beneficial to children suffering with persistent coughs. One hundred and five symptomatic children aged two to eighteen years of age participated in the study: thirty minutes before bedtime, they were given either a dose of buckwheat honey, honey-flavored cough medicine, or no treatment. Honey was rated by the parents of the children as having provided the most symptomatic relief of the nighttime coughing and sleep diffi- culty. Clearly, more research is needed to establish the degree of honey's health benefits.
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