Getting honey from Mike Graney of Eat Local Honey

Those big white buckets are brimming with Raw Honey and the bag next to it is packed with bee pollen.

I’m a total Raw Honey and Bee product fan.  In addition to being luscious and sweet, honey is a Superfood.

Raw honey is known to:

• strengthen the immune system
• aid in digestion
• increase energy

It’s also known for it’s:

• beneficial enzymes
• amino acids
• antioxidants and more.

Eating a teaspoon of local raw honey is said to lessen your reaction to local allergens.

At our house we use Raw Honey to alleviate sore throats, coughs, general cold and flu malaise. (For more natural remedies for dealing with colds and such click here.)

As with any other sweetener, it’s important to use honey in moderation. It’s high on the glycemic index, which means it raises your blood sugar quickly.

Because I use honey both medicinally and as a sweetener when baking I am always on the lookout for great honey.

As you might imagine, I was excited to find Mike Graney, who is a beekeeper in the Boston area. Actually, I found Mike’s honey first through my beloved BostonOrganics.com (organic produce delivered to my home – who can ask for more?). But I was curious if Mike’s honey – technically Mike’s bees honey – was really raw. So I called him, we met, chatted, and I came home with 5 lbs of his Pourable Honey for baking, 5 lbs of his Rough Honey (which I had never heard of) for non-heated use and 5 lbs of Bee Pollen. That’s a lot of bee work!

Here is part of our chat:

Nina: Is your honey raw?

Mike: My pourable honey is not heated above 115 degrees… [Nina: for raw foodists that is considered raw] …but, I believe, like many honey purists, that truly raw honey is still in the comb. If its been taken out of nature’s package, it’s no longer raw (I don’t care what temperature it was held at or how little it was strained). Extracting by any means constitutes processing.

Rough Honey - the top layer is the bee pollen, propolis, wax and other healthy hive bits.

Me: Tell me about your non-pourable honey, that you call Rough Honey?

Mike: Out of demand for RAW honey, honey that was LESS processed – unheated and unstrained (I don’t make enough comb honey to sell) – I came up with the Rough Honey to offer to people who like the idea of a less refined product with bits of crushed wax in a creamier honey that is mostly crystalized.

It essentially comes out of the extractor and into a jar. It is NOT VERY GOOD for cooking, tea, or recipes, due to the trace wax, which leaves a film on a hot cup of tea. That said, I have enjoyed many, many cups of tea with that film on top. It doesnt spoil the tea, it just looks different from the usual.

Nina: How else do you use Rough Honey?

Mike: Think of it as “medicinal honey.” Rough Honey should be eaten straight, and the wax bits are chewed, wax does not completely melt in the mouth. Either swallow it or spit it out. In the same way fatty meat is more flavorful than lean meat, the added flavors from the wax give the honey a great depth of flavor. [Nina: I’ve been eating the Rough Honey for a few weeks, and haven’t noticed – or tasted – the wax]

Nina: What are the health benefits to Rough Honey?

Mike: Honey has been associated with health food for a long time, but I make no claims to honey’s health benefits…I just listen to the people who say it has great effects on them.

An old story from Britain is that in the days when tenant farmers would pay rent to the landowners in say, hogs, sacks of oats, or honey depending on the situation, the nobility would claim the clear, clean honey for their payment, leaving the farmers to eat the broken wax still sweet from the honey bound in it. Legend has it that when the peasantry began out-living the nobility, their “rough” honey was suspected to help them live long healthy lives.

Thanks Mike!

If you are looking for EatLocalHoney honey, you can find it through BostonOrganics.com or Pemberton Farms or contact Mike at EatLocalHoney.com. If you’re not from the Boston area, find your local bee keeper, it’s worth it!

Here’s one of my favorite ways to use Raw Honey: Honeyed Walnuts.

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Nina Manolson, MA, CHC, LMT is the Smokin’ Hot Mom Mentor and Family Wellness Expert. She’s the founder of SmokinHotMom.com and HealthyYummyKids.com. She helps busy moms look and feel their best, and helps them feed their kids well in a world that doesn’t. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her healthy recipes and wellness tips click here.

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Nina Manolson, MA, NBC-HWC, is a Body-Peace™ Coach.

She is a board certified Health Coach, Psychology of Eating Coach and Certified Body-Trust Provider, believes that every woman deserves to feel good in her own body.

She helps women create a healthy and positive relationship with their food and body so they can truly feel at peace in their body! She’s the founder of NinaManolson.com and The Nourished Woman Nation.

She specializes in working with women over 40 who have tried many other diets and approaches but are still struggling with their relationship to body and food.She’s the creator of the BODY-LOVE MAP and the recipient of the prestigious Health Leadership Award from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.To take a powerful step on the Body-Peace™ Path, download your Practicing Body-Peace Journal right HERE.

If you’d like help with navigating an authentic and respectful relationship with your body. Let’s talk.