For many of us a warm drink of honey and lemon has been a cure for the symptoms of either an annoying ticklish cough, a sore throat or even a full-blown cold. The soothing effect of honey on the throat is one of life’s longest-known “medicinal treatments” that go back for millennia, but sadly has become less effective over time. Why?
Because honey used years ago was raw honey which still retained all its natural goodness. It is far from the same product you buy off the shelf in your local supermarket which has been purified, sterilized, pasteurized and frequently adulterated with corn syrup to the point where all the goodness has been removed and all you are left with is something that may look visually appealing, but is just another form of sugar which we consume solely for its sweet taste.
The raw honey that we supply has had as little done to it as is humanly possible, other than a basic filtration to remove natural debris, such as bits of twigs, flowers, plants and other natural products the beehives are surrounded by. As a result, all the goodness remains and more than anything else, the taste is truly unmistakable. Our raw honey should come with a warning on the jar as once you have tasted it, you won’t want to try any other honey again!
Beyond the health benefits of the honey, there is another product created by the bees, which is propolis, and it has enormous antibacterial properties. Bees develop propolis to repair any holes in the hive in order to keep out harmful diseases and bacteria, which makes sense when you think that there can be anything between 20,000 and 50,000 bees in any single hive.
We are aware of two sets of trials which were performed using propolis. One on children showed that the use of propolis reduced the number of colds suffered by children during a normal “cold season”, while the study involving adults revealed that cold symptoms, and especially an associated sore throat, subsided two-and-a-half times quicker when propolis was taken.
Our “cough syrup” may be great for soothing the throat, but it is even better at ensuring you don’t catch a cold in the first place!