Raw Honey Nutrition Facts 

Honey is one of nature’s purest foods and is far more than just a natural sweetener. It’s a “functional food,” which means it’s a natural food with health benefits. Raw honey nutrition is impressive. Raw honey contains 22 amino acids, 27 minerals and 5,000 enzymes. Minerals include iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and selenium. Vitamins found in honey include vitamin B6, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and niacin. In addition, the nutraceuticals contained in honey help neutralize damaging free radical activity.

One tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories, yet it has a healthy glycemic load around 10 for one tablespoon, which is a little less than a banana. Raw honey does not cause a sugar spike and elevated insulin release like white sugar.

Although honey is an affordable food, bees spend thousands of hours collecting pollen from around 2 million flowers to make one pound of pure honey. Honey is typically about 18 percent water, but the lower the water content, the better the quality of honey. Best of all, honey does not need special storage or refrigeration — use it by the spoonful straight from the jar.

Raw Honey History and Interesting Facts

• Throughout history and in folk medicine, honey has been an important food. God used honey to motivate the Israelite people when He told them to, “Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 33:3)
• Raw honey has been used as medicine since ancient times.
• For centuries, honey was considered sacred due to its wonderfully sweet properties as well as its rarity. It was used in religious ceremonies and to embalm the deceased.
• Apiculture, or the practice of beekeeping to produce honey, dates to at least 700 B.C.
• Honey was used by runners in the Olympic Games in ancient Greece as an energy source.
• The health benefits of honey depend on the quality of a specific honey.
• Raw honey contains small amounts of the same resins found in propolis as well as bee pollen.
• When raw honey is overly processed and heated, the health benefits are largely eliminated.
• You may have heard of the honey mushroom or honey fungus. This type of mushroom has a sweeter taste, hence the name, but does not contain raw honey.