Focusing On Food

The pure goodness of honey brings us a natural source of energy combined with vitamins, proteins & minerals.  Honey has many unique properties that provide health and nutritional benefits as well as having a wonderful taste.  You may want to use as a first aid remedy, a conditioner for your hair, in your cooking or simply as a "pick me up".

History

Honey was probably oldest sweetener known to man.  Spanish paintings dated 7,000BC show its existence. Egyptian used it for preserving mummies.

The honeybee is native to Europe and Africa and has been domesticated for use throughout the world. The production of honey was greatly enhanced after the Christianity was established as the demand for wax for church candles increased.

Production and Processing

The production of honey by the honeybee involves the removal of nectar from the floral source into the honey sac, which is taken to the beehive where this nectar is taken by the worker bees which mix the nectar with the enzyme invertase and reduce the water content.  This process is called ripening.  When the nectar is ripe, the water content is 18 to 20 percent.  The honey is stored in the comb and capped with wax.

Once the honey comb has been taken from the tree where it nests, it goes through a process, in order to remove wax particles and foreign matter known as straining.  It is then filtered through to remove pollen and other particles before being put into drums.

Nutrition of Honey

Apart from pristine purity, honey is a source of energy combined with protein, vitamins, enzymes etc Due to combination of all these contents one spoonful of honey is recommended for everybody, growing up children, elderly and woman throughout all phases of their life.

By adding other natural products such as herbs, spices, fruit, nuts etc Farrell Foods have enhanced honey to a functional food.  All these spreads can be substituted for jams and marmalades and can be added to cereal.  Honey is a health way to start a day.

Antioxidant Properties

Antioxidant factors have been identified in honey which is said to prevent the cells being damaged by external agents.  The darker honey in general has a higher water content and stronger antioxidant potential.  Watch out when you buy Acacia honey next time.

Medicinal & First Aid Use

Honey was used in ancient times as a remedy for burns, cataracts, ulcers, and wound dressings.  Honey provides a protective barrier creates a moist wound-healing environment in the form of a solution that does not stick to wound tissues.  Honey has been known to reduce inflammation.

In addition to its properties to prevent wound infection, some recent studies have reported promotion of clean, healthy granulation tissue as new skin growth occurs.  Honey is still used as a first-aid dressing material, especially in Asian and African villages, where infection can set in before conventional medical treatment is administered.  In addition to giving immediate anti-inflammatory relief, honey provides some antibacterial action and a barrier to further infection of the wound.  Honey is know to cure cough.  Honey has also been used to heal burns as the sugar in honey absorbs water and thus helps to trap some of the moisture so that bacteria and other germs cant grow easily.

Honey for Beauty

Honey is the oldest natural cosmetics known to mankind.  For centuries, it has been used on its own or added to other ingredients to make creams, cleansers and tonics to keep the skin and hair soft and beautiful.  In Hindu mythology the most beautiful woman born on this planet earth was Shakuntla , who was fed on honey, used honey for bath & on hair.  Egyptians and Romans have known to use honey and milk in bath.  Now a days lots of companies use honey in shampoos, conditioners and creams. However its just as easy to make your own natural beauty treatment at fraction of the cost.  Here are few tips to try.

Recipes:-

Facial Cleansers

Mix two table spoon of Honey with half spoon of almond oil and quarter spoon of lemon juice.  Rub gently into skin for 5 minutes and then rinse off with warm water.

Facial Mask

Mix two table spoon of Farrell’s Spirulina honey with one teaspoon of Hazelnut spread and a dash of fine corn flour . Apply and allow mixture to be absorbed for 15 minutes.  Rinse off with warm water.

Facial Toner

Take one tablespoon of Apricot Honey spread and smooth over face.  Leave for 15 minutes then rinse off with warm water.

Hair Conditioner

Mix 125ml of Clear Honey with 50ml of Almond Oil.  Rub small amount of mixture into scalp until mixture is used up. .Leave for 20 minutes and then shampoo as normal .

Honey For Cooking

Honey has been used in cooking for centuries.  Out of 1000 Greek recipes, over 500 have honey as the main ingredient.  Honey mixes well with fruit, nuts, herbs and spices.  Honey retains moisture, its because of this it is widely used in baking.  The fructose in honey improves the browning quality and when mixed with herbs and spices will give natural colour to Tandoori Chicken without the need of using artificial colours.  Honey is a great natural preservative.  Rediscover use of Honey with Farrell’s ready to cook Honey based Spicy sauce.  Farrell believes they are the first one to create Cranberry Chilli condiment sauce and effectively combined well researched products such as honey, herbs, nuts, fruits etc to create unique spreads, marinade and condiment sauces.

Honey for Goodness !!.June 2001