The major difference between raw honey and commercial honey is the method of preparation where the former if filtered while, the latter is pasteurised.
Honey is a naturally made viscous sweetener from bees. It is a very versatile substance since it is widely known as an effective ingredient in several products like: moisturiser, bath soap, hair and scalp recipes, dental and mouth treatment. According to reallyrawhoney.com, honey in general is an effective treatment of various diseases like anemia, ulcers, dyspepsia, and more. The level of effectiveness varies according to the method of preparation namely the:
Filtration Method
Filtration is a process of removing impurities and other particles from a substance using a tool or equipment especially made for filtration instead of heating.
Pasteurisation Method
To kill bacteria present in honey, a process called pasteurisation is done. This involves heating of honey at a very high temperature to effectively kill botulinum toxin, which causes food poisoning. Another reason for heating honey is to prevent granulation that usually happens when honey is allowed to sit over a period of time.
Raw honey is pure and coarse while, commercial honey has been heated and processed. To have a clearer view about the difference between raw and commercial honey, the two classifications of honey are defined as follows:
A concentrated nectar, which is pure and unprocessed. It is the most nutritious classification of honey and is effective in treating indigestion, nausea, anemia, malnutrition, ulcers, burns, cancer and gallbladder diseases. It has high levels of antioxidant and is also found to have expectorant, anti-allergic, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties. Raw honey appears to be thicker in texture and contains particles like bee wings, pollens, honeycomb bits and enzymes.
Commercial Honey
This is a commercial type of honey found in the supermarket that has been filtered and heated. Since the process of heating destroys not just the bacteria, but some vitamins and minerals as well; the nutrients it contain is much less compared to the raw honey. Although the nutritional value differs, it serves the same purpose as the raw honey. The texture is much consistent, transparent and liquid. Most of the commercially prepared honey comes in customized containers for a more appealing look.
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When the bee keeper removes the honey from the honey combs he has to process the raw honey immediately to prevent it from crystallizing. Once the row honey comes into contact with the oxygen in the air it reacts and begins to crystallize immediately. This does not happen in the honey comb as the wax caps over each cell in the comb keeps the honey away from the air.
Apart from processing the raw honey to prevent crystallization, the bee keeper has to kill some very potent bacterium in the honey to prevent poisoning. This is the bacteria that cause the symptoms of botulism in humans. These symptoms are better known as ‘food poisoning’ and are removed by heating the raw honey for some time at temperatures between 150 to 170 degrees centigrade.
Honey is naturally sweater than processed sugar and is stored in its natural color. Sugar made from sugarcane is bleached to remove the natural brown color of sugar. This is why table sugar is white and crystallized.
Honey is a whitish substance that is very gooey in nature in its raw form. It is only the pasteurizing process that causes it to get that yellowish color. When the honey is processed on a hot fire it begins to caramelize, very much the same way sugar does. Honey has a very long shelf life and cam be kept for years after processing. People buy honey for it’s medicinal value as it has many vitamins and an extremely high amount of antioxidants and digestive enzymes. The healthy properties of honey cannot be enumerated in this short article.
Honey is fast taking its rightful place in society by replacing many substances that aggravate diabetes. For instance corn syrup is being replaced by honey as corn syrup is a known cause of diabetes. Corn syrup is a product of man through many automated and mechanical processes where as honey is only processed to remove bacteria from its constituents. Any sweet produced by man is a sure cause of diabetes. Natural sugars are not.
Honey has a lot of medicinal values too. For instance it is used as a topical application to treat conditions like MRSA, this is a type skin infection. Honey is also known to be very good for the treatment of laryngitis. A bit of honey mixed with a bit of lemon will sooth your throat as it does contagious conjunctivitis.
Beekeepers across the world like to stick to the organic way of processing honey because they do not believe in using harmful chemicals to purify their produce. These chemicals if used will destroy the many benefits of honey in its natural form. This is something the large manufacturers of honey cannot guarantee, many of them do use harmful chemicals to process the honey they sell. This is the reason people stick to local farmers for their supply of honey.
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