Raw Honey Vs Regular Honey: Which one to choose and why?
Raw Honey Vs Regular Honey - Which One Brings More Healthful Vibes?
Raw honey vs regular honey - it’s difficult to choose between the two! While your green tea doesn’t mind which of these types of honey you choose to sweeten it, you should! After all, you don’t want to miss out on the potent benefits of honey right?
If you don’t already know, honey is a superfood full of nutrients of all kinds like antioxidants and phytonutrients. It is not just antibacterial but anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and anti-microbial too.
According to Healthline, it’s good for your heart and to heal wounds. Plus, it's an incredible alternative for sugar for diabetic patients. You can use it to cleanse your body, rejuvenate yourself, and amp up your beauty. Some say it’s great for fertility issues, cancer, and obesity too.
The best part is you can use it to enhance the flavour of hot drinks like green tea or even shakes and healthy smoothies without hampering your diet. You can also use it as a salad dressing or add it to your fruit mixed yoghurt snack. It tastes great on bread with peanut butter too.
Unfortunately, all this goodness may go to waste if you don’t choose the right kind of honey for daily use. You may have heard about pure honey, organic honey, raw honey vs regular honey. Just so you know pure honey is not the same and not as good as raw honey. But we are not here to discuss their differences in this article.
Today we bring you a full-fledged table with the key differences between the two most popular types of honey.
The Battle - Raw Honey Vs Regular Honey
|
Raw Honey |
Regular Honey |
|
|
What Is It? |
Raw honey is basically honey as it is in the beehive. |
Regular honey is processed raw honey. |
|
How Is It Handled? |
Raw honey gets extracted directly from the beehive. Then it gets strained through a nylon cloth or mesh to clean out the impurities that may be harmful to your health. |
When raw honey is pasteurised and filtered - we get regular honey. Pasteurisation is the process by which the microorganisms like yeast found in raw honey are destroyed using high heat. |
|
Shelf Life |
The shelf life of raw honey is okay but not as good as regular honey because beekeepers only extract it from the beehive and strain without processing it. |
Due to pasteurisation, the shelf life of regular honey is much better than that of raw honey. |
|
Amount of Nutrients |
Raw honey has more vitamins and minerals like ascorbic acid, pantothenic acid, copper, magnesium, iron, and zinc. |
Regular honey has fewer vitamins and minerals than raw honey. |
| Healthy Enzymes |
Raw honey has more healthy enzymes that help digest complex carbohydrates which can be harmful to our bodies otherwise. |
Regular honey has fewer enzymes than raw honey. |
| Amino Acids Content (Proteins) |
Raw honey has more amino acids which help the body create proteins and also in the breakdown of food. |
Regular honey does not have enough enzymes, unlike raw honey. |
| Antioxidants |
Raw honey has more antioxidants that help increase your immunity and detoxify your body. |
Regular honey has very few antioxidants when compared to raw honey. |
| Bee Pollen Content |
Raw honey has more bee pollen than regular honey. Bee pollen is a mixture of the bees saliva and nectar and has ample vitamins, antioxidants and minerals. It has anti-inflammatory properties too that help in healing the body. |
Regular honey does not contain bee pollen because that gets removed during the process of pasteurisation and filtration. |
| Bee Propolis |
Raw honey has incredible amounts of bee propolis. Propolis is a mixture created from parts of plants like flower buds that the honeybees took nectar from. The propolis has special healing properties. |
After the process of pasteurisation and filtration of honey, the bee propolis doesn’t survive. That’s why regular honey does not have enough amounts of bee propolis. |
|
Why The Difference In The Amount Of Nutrients? |
Because raw honey is not processed or pasteurised. It’s 100% natural. |
Because regular honey undergoes pasteurisation and filtration. This process damages the honey’s natural nutrients after extraction from the beehive. |
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Sugar Type |
Raw honey has natural sugars that help you stay energised for long. |
Regular honey may have artificial sweeteners or added sugars because pasteurisation i.e., intense heating destroys some amount of natural sugars. |
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Help Before Workouts |
Working out in the gym or even less extensive activities like walking or yoga requires you to have enough energy. Energy is also the source of motivation to work out. Raw honey has natural sugars that provide that energy by slowly seeping into your bloodstream. Thus, delaying fatigue and increasing your performance during the workout. |
Regular honey may have added sugars, which means it is almost equal to a candy bar. Unlike natural sugars present in raw honey, the added sugars seep into your bloodstream very quickly leading to jitters and fatigue, which may further decrease your performance during the workout instead of increasing it. |
|
Health Benefits |
As mentioned above, raw honey has more antioxidants, amino acids, enzymes, vitamins and minerals with anti-inflammatory properties. All these make it great for healing wounds, immunity, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart health, and even diabetes when compared to regular honey. |
As mentioned above, pasteurisation destroys most of the nutrients of all kinds in regular honey. So, it may do more harm to your body than any good. Plus, regular honey may have added sugars too, which are bad for immunity and diabetes. |
|
Colour and Texture |
Raw honey is cloudy or creamy to look at. They are not always golden-coloured. In fact, the colours vary from being ‘almost colourless’ to ‘dark brown’. The colour depends on factors like the age of the honey, the process of crystallisation, and mainly on the kind of flowers that the bee took nectar and pollen from. |
Regular honey is usually clear in appearance. That’s because, during the process of filtration, the honeycomb debris gets removed. Also, it does not have as many variations in colour as raw honey, because the pollen - which affects the colour of the honey - gets destroyed in the process of pasteurisation and filtration. |
|
Flavour |
We can best describe the taste of raw honey as ‘sweet enough’. But don’t forget, the flavour of any honey depends on the flowers the honeybees found their food from. |
Regular honey - without its added sugars - is not as sweet as raw honey. The reason - as you might know by now, is because the intense heat of pasteurisation destroys natural sugars. |
Conclusion
Now you know which honey to choose for your green teas and salads. If more shelf life is your priority, the winner of this raw honey vs regular honey battle for you is regular honey.
But raw honey benefits much more than regular honey. It not only has more nutrients but has better taste too. And the core reason behind all its goodness is because raw honey is directly taken from the beehives and does not have to go through pasteurisation and intense filtration like regular honey.
If raw honey is your ultimate choice we have the perfect pick for you. Healthy and Hygiene’s Raw Honey is 100% natural and comes directly from beekeepers who take extreme care of their bees. Don’t forget, it has all the properties mentioned above and brings immense health benefits for you to cherish.
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