Author: Namratha Gopal
Honey is a widely used food ingredient! It is great for health as well due to its medicinal properties. When it comes to hair care and skincare, in almost all the DIY recipes, honey is being! It has deep moisturizing and nourishing properties. Many of us are literally in dilemma about what is raw honey and how do they differ from processed honey. So this article is all about that. You can easily find out their difference and mainly you understand the importance of them by the end of article. So without much delay let’s jump to a debate on Raw Honey vs Processed Honey –
Raw Honey vs Processed Honey (Regular honey)
How are they bottled? Raw honey comes directly from the beehive (honeycomb) with debris been filtered/strained. Regular honey or the processed honey as the name calls undergoes processing before being bottled.
Appearance: Raw honey appears cloudy and opaque due to the honeycomb debris whereas the processed honey appears clear and smooth.
Pasteurization process: Raw honey does not undergo the pasteurization process whereas the processed honey undergoes it. Pasteurization is a process that improves honey’s shelf life, appearance and kills the yeast cells that would affect the taste of honey.
Effect of antioxidants: As raw honey does not undergo pasteurization, it contains about 4.3 times more antioxidants and minerals than the processed honey.
Further processing: Some commercial honeys do undergo ultra filtration along with pasteurization which further makes it more transparent and smooth. Hence they remove beneficial nutrients like pollen, enzymes and antioxidants whereas raw honey does not undergo any kind of processing.
READ MORE: DIY HONEY FACIAL OIL FOR BRIGHT AND HYDRATED SKIN >>>
To what extent they are healthy? : Raw honey contains pollen and are more nutritious and does not contain any added sugar or artificial sweeteners unlike processed honey. Processed/regular honey on the other hands contain sugar or artificial sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup.
Raw honey v/s organic honey : We all might have heard about raw honey and organic honey and think they both might be are same. Right? So let me clear out that. Raw honey does not undergo pasteurisation and is unprocessed. Organic honey simply comes from the bee farm that meets the organic livestock standards of United States Department of agriculture (USDA).
Risks pertaining to consumptions with honey :
We may fall into the confusion again that consuming raw honey is safe as they are pure enough which doesn’t undergo any processing. Kindly note that raw honey may contain spores of bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. This bacterium is harmful especially for the infants as it can cause botulism poisoning which results in paralysis.
How to find out raw honey and processed honey?
Here’s an FSSAI test-
Take a small transparent glass of water and add in some small amount of honey to it. Raw honey doesn’t dissolve until and unless you stir with the spoon. On the other hand, processed honey easily dissolves in the water which is a clear indication of sugar solution.
Conclusion
So I hope you all got the in-depth understanding of types of honey and how they differ. Let me draw a quick map of the two so that it becomes easy for you to grasp and come to the conclusion.
- Raw and processed/regular honey are procured differently.
- Raw honey is strained before being bottled. This way it retains the beneficial nutrients and antioxidants that it contains.
- But regular honey undergoes a series of processing which removes the beneficial nutrients and reduces the level of antioxidants.
- Make sure to test them and I have mentioned how to do so above.
