If you're looking for a healthy and all-natural sweetener, the raw honey is an excellent choice. It contains the right amount of antioxidants and nutrients to help keep your mind and body at its peak. But where can you find the best raw honey?
Read on as I talk about what you need to know and my top five choices on the best raw honey.
More...
No products found.
What is Raw Honey?
What is the difference between raw honey and regular honey?
Honey is thick and golden liquid harvested from beehives. Bees produce this liquid from getting nectar from flowering plants, then saving it inside their beehive for consumption.
But a lot of honey go through various processes that include chemicals ridding the nutrients originally found in honey and harming your system in the long run. That's why manufacturers started to offer raw honey, which is unstrained honey and underwent NO type of heat processing.
You would know if honey has been pasteurized or went through heat processing if its temperature surpassed 35 degrees Celsius, or 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Raw honey is the most original types of honey you can get out of beehives. What makes "regular" honey and raw honey different is its processing (raw honey goes through minimal and NO heat processing) and the way it looks.
While you usually purchase the best raw honey from a bee farm, you can also find sellers offering the product in your local store or online. You just have to know how to differentiate what's legitimate raw honey and what is only claimed to be raw.
Uses for Raw Honey
You can use the best raw honey for other purposes besides consumption. Though used as a sweetener, you can use raw honey for:
Consuming Alone
When consumed alone, you don’t only sweeten your drink, but you also get a ton of health benefits, such as fresher breath and an improved immune system. A tablespoon of natural and the best raw honey will enable you to improve your organs’ functions and keep your body stabilized.
Cooking or Baking
Raw honey makes your dishes sweeter in an all-natural way. You can drizzle it on salads or use it as a substitute for sugar for baking.You can also create peanut butter or caramel sauce from using raw honey. Not only is it healthier than processed sugars, but you still get the sweet and amazing taste.
Pure honey is not only delicious but also good for health
Apply to Skin or Hair
Raw honey has properties that fight off free radicals. That means you can create your raw honey mask for your skin or use it as a conditioner for your hair to get the ultimate shine! Wash your hair and skin with raw honey for best results.
Raw honey can also moisturize your lips and remove dark circles under your eyes. Applying a bit of raw honey around dry or dark areas will help strengthen its cells, making it vitalized and fresh.
Cream for Skin Conditions
Raw honey helps your skin look clearer and is also ideal for treating damaged skin from minor burns or diaper rashes. It can also fight against insect bites and another form of wounds or infections around your body.
Simply rub a bit of raw honey (slightly diluted with lemon juice) to your burns, or add it to your baby’s rash cream for useful results.
Cough Syrup
Raw honey’s anti-inflammatory properties make it an excellent way to soothe sore throats and coughs. Mix honey with water, ginger and lemon juice and boil it together to make a tasty and natural remedy to coughs for children and adults alike.
And take note that these are just SOME of the many uses raw honey can do for you!
Benefits of Using Raw Honey
What does raw honey have that other types of sugar or regular honey doesn't? Here are some of the benefits you can reap when using the best raw honey.
Bee Pollen
Like mentioned, raw honey has more bee pollen than regular honey, which can prevent or shoo away infections or bacteria. It gives allergy relief and improves your immune system. Plus, it contains an adequate amount of protein as well, so it isn't ALL carbs.
Energy
Since honey has NATURAL sugars and protein, it's known as a source of energy, known to help give you a kick start in the morning.
Antioxidants
Raw honey encourages antioxidants in your body, which block off the free radicals that give you wrinkles or older looking skin and other forms of diseases. Through its antioxidants, it won't only help your skin, but you can use it to prevent heart disease and certain cancers!
It's the reason why you find a lot of beauty products containing raw honey. The raw honey helps in moisturizing and reducing wrinkles naturally because of these antioxidants.
Sleep
Raw honey, filled with sugar, increases your insulin levels. As a result, it would release tryptophan in the brain, converting it into serotonin and then melatonin. The melatonin in your body will help improve your sleep and lessen your risk of diabetes or arthritis.
You may like to see the benefits of raw honey in this great infographic!
How to Purchase the Best Raw Honey
Now that you know what raw honey can do for you, the next question is: How can you buy the best raw honey and how can you vouch for its legitimacy? Here are some tips you can follow:
Buy Local
I recommend you to buy from your local farmer's market, as raw honey from local farms is most likely unpasteurized or heated. A local beekeeper may also sell raw honey coming straight from the hive.
Pure honey can be purchased quickly from local beekeeping farms
Purchase From Reputable Shops
If you can't find local farmers or beekeepers who buy raw honey, then go for reputable and certified health stores and online shops. You can take a quick search for popular brands that sell pure raw honey, then begin looking for stores that sell these brand names.
Check the Honey
When purchasing raw honey, don't expect it to look exactly like regular honey that came from various processes. Raw honey looks entirely different from honey that went through pasteurization and heat processes. It doesn't have the transparent colors of honey you're used to and is either opaque or milky. Sometimes it colors is yellow or brownish! It would also have some loose particles from bee pollen.
Check the Label
You will know that honey is genuinely raw when it says on the label. While there's no uniform regulation as to how raw honey can be, it's still best to go for labels that state what they sell are raw and unpasteurized or untreated.
No products found.
Top Five Best Raw Honey Bottles
Based on my research, testing, and overall customer reviews, here are my top five choices on the best raw honey products
Y.S. Eco Bee Farms Raw Honey comes straight from the farm and is a wholesome natural type of honey without any pesticides or herbicides. Farmers maintained their bees and beehives without any form of chemicals.
It comes in a simple packaging, but it's what's inside that matters. Though it comes in a plastic jar, it does not compromise the raw honey's taste.
When you eat the honey, you'll love how sweet it is without the heaviness. It has the perfect balance of solid and liquid feel, with rich flavors. It's ideal for drinks, as it easily allows the honey to melt and combine. But it also has a firm texture when added to your food, sticking on toast or other dishes.
At a very affordable price for a whopping 22 ounces of honey, this is one product I would recommend for just about any household.
- Tastes delicious
- Excellent consistency
- Easily melts into warm drinks
- Affordable price
- NO chemicals
- Comes in plastic jar
- Lid is difficult to open
Wedderspoon comes at a slightly high price, but it's got the excellent taste and consistency to make up for it. The raw honey comes from New Zealand, sourced, packed and labeled in its farms, so you know it's genuine and unadulterated honey.
Manuka honey is another type of honey known as a superfood used for home remedies or beauty regimes. Coming straight from the beehive with no pasteurization processes or GMO ingredients, it's all-natural without any side effects or icky taste.
I love its taste. It's a bit intense and sweet, but that means I can lessen the serving and calories. It's one of the sweetest honey you'll ever taste, but you need to watch out for sugars, especially if you are diabetic or prone to acne attacks from the sugar content.
- Sweetest honey ever
- Manuka honey equals more nutrition than other types of honey
- Genuinely raw and all-natural honey from New Zealand
- Packaged carefully and great design
- Ideal for natural remedies or home beauty regimes
- Slightly more expensive than other types of raw honey
- High in sweetness and sugar content
Nature Nate's is another ideal raw and unfiltered honey brand made by American bees. It's USDA certified organic, undergoing little processing for better quality and taste.
There are NO signs of adulteration, nor does it contain chemicals or pesticides. I like the fact that Nature Nate's make sure that they test the pollen count and the honey itself before releasing it for the public's consumption.
When you taste it, it has the RIGHT amount of sweetness and consistency. Plus, it's squeeze bottle makes it easier to get honey out and onto your drink or dish. No need to use a spoon to scoop it out and make a mess.
With an affordable price and natural properties, it's a great buy for families!
- Comes in a squeeze bottle
- Right consistency and balanced flavor
- All natural with no chemicals
- Genuinely pure and unfiltered honey
- Affordable price
- Squeeze bottle’s cover isn’t very durable
Manuka Health is another brand of raw and pure Manuka honey, so you are assured better nutritional benefits and quality. It comes from New Zealand, straight from the hives and into the packaging. Manuka Health offers high grade and premium honey, from bee farms that are pristine and without any pesticide or chemicals used to raise them.
It's a bit expensive, though. But don't let it discourage you from trying it. While I was a bit hesitant, I realized that from its taste and nutrients alone, it could improve my health in the long run.
It's suitable for those who need a delicious sweetener that will also maintain their overall health.
- Great taste and consistency
- Can cure skin conditions and reduce inflammation
- Genuinely pure and raw Manuka honey from New Zealand
- Gets rid of stomachaches
- Expensive price
- Might not work in some areas, such as adult acne
Ambrosia Pure Raw Honey may just have the best package out of all the honey brands I have reviewed. At a price range between $25 to $30, you get four bottles of Madhava Ambrosia Honey, which is well-worth its price.
The honey comes from Colorado and is only gently filtered to remove any particles. While it's a sweetener, it only has a mild and distinct flavor that has NO cholesterol or trans-fat. It's also gluten-free, ideal for those on a diet or has allergies to gluten.
It doesn't have the richest of flavors, but at an affordable price, I say it's best for those who want raw honey on a budget.
- Affordable price
- Nicely flavored
- Squeeze bottle for easier flow and pour
- Taste isn’t very delicious
- Flimsy lid
- Honey is a bit too thick
In Conclusion
Raw honey comes with a lot of uses and advantages that make it a great investment. Out of all the types of raw honey reviewed, I believe that the winner would have to go to Y.S. Eco Bee Farms Raw Honey.
Not only is it raw and unpasteurized, but it's organic and WITHOUT the harmful chemicals found in any beehive or honey-making process. Y.S. Raw Honey includes the GML-Free Certification, so you have assured legitimacy with the bottles of honey you purchase.
A serving of Y.S. Raw Honey will leave you surprised, as it has the quality flavors you want AND need in honey. It's sweet and delicious, without the chemical aftertaste. You feel the honey's richness and balance, as it isn't heavy but not too liquefied as well. And for its price, I believe that it's one of the most affordable raw honey bottles you can invest in WITHOUT compromising on quality.
I hope that this article on the best raw honey helped you know what you need to invest in for you to reap its many health benefits. So purchase a bottle of raw honey today and see what it will be able to do for you!
You may want to know more about how to use honey for preserving aloe vera; please refer to it here. Also, if you are interested in the best green tea brand in the market, you can refer to this article.
I hope you enjoyed the article. If you have any other questions or reviews on the best raw honey, then comment down below. I would love to hear what you have to think.
If you like the infographic, feel free to use it on your site using the code below
I have been trying to get through to Ambrosia honey now owned by Medhava sweeteners company with no luck or returned calls so I can ask them about the purity of their honey! I believe that their quality has gone down! I have purchased and eaten honey from all over the USA and the world! I have discovered as time goes by a huge increase in businesses selling honey that are mixing and diluting their honey with lower grades of honey and or corn syrup and other sweeteners. Some companies are also selling so called honey imported from China that noone should ever trust! I feel that a federal law should be passed to force honey sellers of all levels to have to certify the purity and to expose exactly where their honey is coming from! To date I feel that the wildflower honey from Honeyville in Durango Colorado is the best REAL honey on the market! Another good place to check out is Sun Splash honey Of New Smyrna Beach Florida. Their Black Mangrove honey is amazing! Remember Honey Is Not Just Honey Anymore! Be Careful What You Purchase!
This article should be dated so people know if they are reading something fairly contemporary, or something 15 years old. Otherwise, a good piece. Thank you.