What I’ll attempt to do here is to twofold. First I will offer a short review of a company/service that I have used for more than a year and the second thing is to share the health benefits and uses of honey in our every day life.
NOTES OF CAUTION: Honey is like any other food or supplement and you should always take it and use it in moderation. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT GIVE HONEY to a child under the age of 1 year.
SMILEY HONEY REVIEW
Smiley Honey is a specialty honey store located in Wewahitchka, FL and they sell 12 different varieties of high quality, raw and unfiltered honey including some exotic flavors from other countries. They sell from their store located in Florida, but I assume most of their sales are through their online sales. Their pricing is comparable to local honey sales (sometimes slightly more and sometimes slightly less…but overall, about the same pricing).
Smiley Honey offers 12 different varieties of raw and unfiltered honey. Most are from the United States, but they offer a few different varieties from other Countries like Romania, Italy and Spain. They also offer a product called Tupelo Honey (Florida) that is a light and according to Smiley Honey, “It has a bright and unique floral burst that dissolves easily on the tongue, and has a very pleasing finish.” It is my 3rd favorite variety of the 9 I’ve tried so far (out of 12). My second favorite flavor is the Sourwood Honey from Appalachia and is slightly thicker than the Tupelo Honey and has a hint of caramel and anise. Many people claim this is the best tasting honey in the world. But my NEW FAVORITE honey is the Acacia Honey from Romania. It is the clearest and lightest of all the honey products offered. It is very sweet with a wonderful fruity/vanilla hint of flavor with a with no after taste. I love the stuff!!! But to be honest all of their honey products are good and I can vouch for 9 of the 12 so far.
When you order online, you can pay for your order with credit card or PayPal. The product is shipped quickly and comes VERY WELL packaged with packing materials (corrugated cardboard) that can be recycled or used again for your own shipping of items.
I’ve not had anything but great experiences with Smiley Honey. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TWO THINGS, that you buy LOCAL and BUY from SMILEY HONEY…you’ll be glad you did!! (NOTE: I have no affiliation with the Smiley Honey company).
Here is a direct link to their website: SMILEY HONEY
SPECIAL NOTE: I’ll repeat this again at the end of my review, but I want to STRESS that I am in no way suggesting that you should not buy LOCAL HONEY, in fact I wholeheartedly believe that LOCAL HONEY is a MUST BUY, but so is buying online.
First and foremost it is about the BEES!!! Without the bees, our environment and ecology would be in big trouble and the environment dependent upon these bees AND BEEKEEPERS! Bees are our friend. Secondly, beekeepers are business people too, and they help take care of and protect the bees as well as keeping them healthy, but they also make a living or supplement their income through beekeeping (and some do it as a hobby). Lastly, LOCAL HONEY comes from bees that are local to your area and eating local honey will assist in issues with allergies.
So you’re probably asking why buy online when I keep telling you how important LOCAL HONEY is to your health and economy. Well for one thing, you get many different varieties to choose from, and some of these varieties can be very tasty (as in the review above). Also some of these other varieties and flavors may offer benefits that your local honey doesn’t offer…and finally, spread the wealth a little and support both the local and long distance vendors. Just like your local honey dealer, an online dealer also needs sales to be able to offer these exotic flavors to the public. I buy BOTH local and online honey products.
OK…with that said, here are some health benefits and uses for honey and other bee products. Note, some health benefits are real and some are anecdotal.
Health Benefits
- Reduce Cancer and Heart Disease – Honey contains flavonoids, antioxidants which “MAY” help reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease.
- Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-fungal – All honey is antibacterial, because the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide.
- Reduce cough and throat irritation – Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey.
- Probiotic – Some varieties of honey possess large amounts of friendly bacteria. This includes up to 6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria. This may explain many of the “mysterious therapeutic properties of honey.”
Other benefits of eating raw unfiltered honey include:
Cough Suppressant, Energy Booster, Memory Booster, Wound Healing, Can Sooth Acid Reflux, and many more anecdotal and real health benefits.
Beeswax and Honeycomb Other Uses
There are also many uses for honey besides eating. Here are a few more uses of honey to enhance your everyday life.
Moisturizer, use on cuts and scrapes, hangover help, exfoliant, make a cocktail (Honey Gin Cocktail), shampoo, fruit preservative, use in your bath water, cook with it, use it on BBQ.
And finally, bees also produce another other byproduct called Beeswax. Some great uses of Beeswax are:
- Use it on tools to rustproof them
- Cheese waxing if you make your own cheese (use as a natural covering).
- Waxing thread
- Coat your nails and screws
- Wood lubricant
- Envelope Seal
- Waterproof boots and shoes
- Furniture polish
- Candles
- Lip balm
SPECIAL NOTE: I want to STRESS that I am in no way suggesting that you should not buy LOCAL HONEY, in fact I wholeheartedly believe that you should buy LOCAL HONEY, but I also think you should consider online vendors for a variety of flavors and properties they provide.
I Gotta Tell Ya 