Honey, known as "liquid gold", has the ability to fight inflammation, enhance immunity, and repair. Honey therapy has a place in pure natural diet therapy. Can I eat honey if it crystallizes? How to properly heat honey?
Dawn Coombs, an American herbalist and perpetual beekeeper, points out that when she was a novice in beekeeping, she tried to convince others to use honey instead of sugar for baking, and she wrote many blog posts on how to use honey dish, explaining how to adjust to avoid over-coloring or drying.
Dawn Coombs said the warning that honey should not be heated was not first heard until researching Ayurvedic medicinal honey formulations, and when delving deeper into the advice, many other systems of traditional medicine were found also agree.
Ayurvedic medicine believes that (ama) ─ will adhere to the mucous membranes and become similar to the glue in the body. The Ayurvedic master Charaka wrote more than 500 years ago: "Inappropriate ingestion of honey leads to poisoning, which is the most troublesome thing." In this medical system, .
It was so disturbing to go against thousands of years of wisdom that Dawn Combs sought a scientific explanation. She found that heating does alter the naturally occurring enzymes in honey, which can also be destroyed by improper storage and overexposure.
When honey is heated, the chemical composition will change. Heating a solution whose main component is fructose (such as honey) will produce 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-hydroxymethylfurfural).thylfurfural, HMF), and reduce its peroxide content and activity, which means that the antibacterial properties are damaged or destroyed, unfortunately these peroxides contribute to the benefits of honey. But what exactly is hydroxymethyl furfural?
Dawn Coombs stated that hydroxymethyl furfural is a compound formed by heating and/or dehydrating certain sugars. Interestingly, heated honey and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contain this ingredient, while fresh honey contains no or only trace amounts of hydroxymethyl furfural.
This fact allows the World Health Organization to monitor the quality of honey in the food supply chain through the Codex Alimentarius Commission. According to this standard, if the hydroxymethyl furfural content is less than 40 mg per kilogram (40 ppm) in temperate regions and less than 80 mg per kilogram (80 ppm) in tropical regions, it can be recognized as "raw honey".
Above this threshold, honey is considered heated, improperly stored, or stored too long before being sold. As soon as the honey is heated, the hydroxymethyl furfural value rises immediately. Generally, the temperature for sterilizing honey needs to reach 72°C.
A study published in the journal International Federation of Beekeepers Associations found that heating different types of honey at different temperatures for 24 hours produced the following results:
According to current research, . Experiments with mice have raised the alarm that the doses required for hydroxymethylfurfural to produce toxic and carcinogenic effects are likely to be far lower than expected.
Dawn Coombs said preliminary research examining human tissue also supports this conclusion, validating the argument of folklore and traditional medicine that heating honey is toxic, which should be enough to encourage the use of honey as a raw ingredient. And look for other sugar baking substitutes.
Just thinking about how much time and effort it takes bees to fill up the counters where honey is displayed in the supermarket, we should use it more sparingly. Again, honey should be considered a health supplement, not a sweetener. .
Yang Zhenchang, executive director of the Taiwan Society of Toxicology and director of the Department of Clinical Toxicology and Occupational Medicine at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, pointed out that when honey is heated above 40°C, the Mena reaction will produce hydroxymethyl furfural. , the higher the heating temperature, the higher the concentration, which is usually used as one of the indicators to evaluate the quality of honey;
Yang Zhenchang emphasized that the current evidence shows that not only honey can produce hydroxymethyl furfural when heated, but also foods rich in fructose.
Honey turns solid and grainy during storage, a process called "crystallization". In North America, beekeepers say that only raw honey crystallizes—and so on, if the honey in the cupboard crystallizes, you know you've got a good deal.
There is also a myth out there that raw honey is solid and believed to be in this state when taken straight from the honeycomb - but honey is actually a golden liquid when taken from the hive.
In India, the idea is quite the opposite. Beekeepers believe that if the honey crystallizes, it has been heated, because raw honey will always remain a clear liquid. But tupelo honey from the southern United States and kiawe honey from Hawaii do not crystallize at all. Is it confusing?
Dawn Coombs explained that honey with more glucose will crystallize faster; honey with more fructose will remain liquid. The ratio of glucose to fructose depends on the species of bee and the native plant source of nectar. therefore,.
What if the honey cannot be heated and becomes solid? Dawn Combs suggests trying these tips at home when you have a jar of crystallized honey handy.
❶ Fill the pot with water to the position below the opening of the honey pot, and take out the honey pot first. ❷ Heat the water with a gas stove (do not boil!). ❸Remove the pot from the heat. ❹ Put the honey jar in warm water until the water cools. ❺ Repeat the above steps until the honey slowly turns back to a liquid state.
While baking, place the honey jar on the kitchen counter to allow the heat of the oven to warm the room while melting the honey.
We often say that crystallized honey has "lost its luster." In summer, put honey on the windowsill and let the crystallized honey liquefy to restore its luster.
❶ Never microwave! ❷ Do not overheat the honey jar. ❸Do not heat honey in plastic containers. ❹Do not heat honey into a pot, otherwise it will be "cooked".
◎ This article is excerpted from / "Honey Healing Lab: Herbalist's Herbal Honey Self-Healing: 90+ exclusive herbal honey formulas to boost the immune system, relieve depression and anxiety, fight inflammation and improve symptoms of daily life discomfort. The Natural Home Health Guide by Dawn Coombs ◎ Image source/Changsheng Cultural and Creative·Dazhi Image/Shutterstock ◎ Consultant / Dr. Yang Zhenchang
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