A rare variety of healing treats - cedar honey - is obtained by mixing a natural bee product and edible resin secreted by coniferous trees. In the people, this resin is called resin, among people involved in science, it is referred to as turpentine.
Due to its unique properties, tart notes appear in the taste of familiar sweetness. What qualities does a valuable drug have - a duet of flower honey with cedar resin?
Basis - flower honey
It is known that cedars are the most magnificent trees of the taiga. Although flowers sometimes appear on their branches, the bees do not collect nectar from them. Cedar branches are located very high from the ground, and their inflorescences, resembling spikelets and cones, have a very weak aroma and almost no pollen. The number of cedar flowers is so small that it is not practical to produce a sweet product on an industrial scale.
Bees prefer to collect nectar from various melliferous plants, shrubs and herbs blooming in taiga forests. Cedar pine forest is rich in bird cherry and acacia, viburnum, mountain ash, willow, heather, buckthorn and many other shrubs. Hundreds of varieties of medicinal herbs bloom in the cedar forest: ivan-tea and clover, oregano and sweet clover, fireweed and chickweed, orchis, meadowsweet, angelica, buten, hogweed, Rhodiola rosea, deaf nettle and many other representatives of honey plants. Nectar from these plants is the basis for an exquisite bee product.
Cooking recipes
Connoisseurs recommend getting cedar honey by mixing in a one-to-one ratio: gum (for ingestion) and acacia, raspberry or linden sweet bee dessert, collected in late spring. Thus, beekeepers get a real elixir of life, which has tremendous healing power. A unique medicine in combination with cedar resin can also be obtained by mixing it with any other natural honey.
Structure
Depending on the number of varieties of melliferous sources, the man-made variety of goodies is monofleur and polyfleur. Monofleur cedar honey of natural production is a mixture with gum resin of a product obtained by bees from one plant, while polyfleur honey contains flower honey in combination with the same cedar resin, taken from a whole set of honey plants. If any one plant prevails in this healing cocktail, then the composition and properties will correspond to the soloing source.
The quality and therapeutic effect of cedar honey is influenced by: the terrain and weather conditions, the characteristics of the flower base, the amount and characteristics of resin. The base product contains water (not more than 19%); carbohydrates (mainly in the form of fructose and glucose, in small quantities in the form of disaccharides - maltose, melicitose and others); minerals - less than 1% and water-soluble vitamins, amino acids, proteins and enzymes, dextrins (about 3%). Natural flower honey is rich in 300-400 biologically active compounds and substances, some of which are macro- and microelements (potassium, iodine, manganese, iron, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, cobalt, aluminum and other metals; the other part - enzymes, dextrins, proteins, amino acids and antioxidants; the third part - vitamins of group B, folic and ascorbic acids, carotene, vitamins E, PP and K.
Zhivitsa, which is part of cedar honey, enriches its composition with mono- and diterpenes, sexwerpenes, succinic acid, resin esters and alcohols, fatty acids (stearic and palmitic, lauric and oleic, palmitooleic), as well as resin acids - levopimaric and sapine dehydroabistin, lambertian and others. The content of major cold-fighting vitamins C and D in natural turpentine is about 70 percent.
Beneficial features
Due to the combination of the healing qualities of the two components, honey with cedar resin has antiseptic and antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties.
It cleanses the body of harmful chemical compounds, improves blood circulation, strengthens the heart and blood vessels, speeds up metabolism, stimulates the digestive tract. In addition, an outstanding dessert enhances immunity, heals wounds, cuts and other skin lesions, gives strength and energy, strengthens memory. Due to the antioxidant effect that this valuable treat has on a person, the body’s cells are freed from free radicals that cause their aging.
Indications
In what cases can cedar honey be useful for complex treatment? The beneficial properties of this unique product help to cope with respiratory infections; with inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity, including dental problems; respiratory diseases; cardiovascular ailments; with violations in the work of the digestive tract; with lesions of the musculoskeletal system; with weakness, irritability, and insomnia; with the accumulation of toxins in the body; with liver and kidney dysfunction; with endocrine disruptions; with the restoration of female and male health; with the healing of places of bites, wounds and cuts resulting from injuries.
The astounding cosmetic effect of cedar honey is also known: skin cleansing and its noticeable rejuvenation are observed after procedures with a mixture whose ingredient is this outstanding tool. It is considered a natural medicine, so you can use it in treatment only with courses.
How to use
Before using cedar honey with resin, it is necessary to test the body for an allergic reaction: rub two to three drops of the product into the skin at the bend of the elbow. If after 5-8 hours at the treatment site there are no signs of irritation - redness, itching, and others - then cedar honey can be taken in the recommended dose.
Beekeepers and phytotherapists believe that a natural medicine at the very beginning is better to try in the amount of half a teaspoon. Then increase the dose to one to two teaspoons per day. The maximum amount of this outstanding dessert can be consumed in rare cases, up to two tablespoons. It must be remembered that cedar dainty is more a drug from a thousand ailments than just a tasty completion of a meal.
Cedar honey: useful properties, contraindications
Any flower honey, on the basis of which a mixture is prepared with cedar resin - gum, is a product of the collection of pollen grains from a large number of different honey plants. Any source of them can provoke an allergic reaction, therefore, despite the enormous benefits brought by cedar honey, it is necessary to do an allergy test. The risk group also includes children under 12 years of age, and pregnant women, to whom the therapeutic mixture is contraindicated. In addition, people with diabetes need to get approval from their endocrinologist before using a unique medicine. You should also be careful with the delicacy of all losing weight, dieting, because cedar honey is a high-calorie product. Regardless of whether the glycemic index is taken into account when reducing weight or the amount of calories is calculated, when using honey it will be advisable to adjust your diet. Do not avoid a preliminary consultation with the doctor before the course use of cedar honey for people suffering from kidney failure and patients of a gastroenterologist.
Features of natural cedar honey: how to distinguish it from a fake
It is difficult to buy a rather rare and expensive honey variety - cedar - in its natural form. Finding a reliable seller is often the main task to get quality cedar honey. “Elixir of Health” - a series of natural products in which the name of the described treat is present. However, they get it due to honey infusion with cedar needles (and not in combination with resin). Other manufacturers add pine nuts to honey and sell dessert as cedar honey. Nuts, unlike resin, are less fragrant and do not leave a pleasant tart aftertaste. Regardless of the date of production, the contents of the jar will always be viscous and thick. Prepared according to other recipes, honey with cedar raw materials (nuts and needles) is not a fake, but does not provide such an effective treatment as in a mixture with healing resin. We are talking about counterfeiting only when the buyer discovers artificial honey in a glass container .
If there is no opportunity to buy a delicious honey variety directly from the seller, then it is necessary to check the conformity of the name and composition, the time and place of production, the availability of a certificate for the goods. The crystallization process is closely related to the type of plant from which the nectar was collected: resin with acacia is sugared after 12 months, and with clover - after one. At the same time, an outstanding product brightens to a white tint.
User reviews and beekeeper tips
Many connoisseurs of various types of honey note a pleasant, pronounced taste of cedar varieties mixed with resin. A slight acidity of resin and a little astringency set off the sweetness of the flower base.
The fragrant finish of coniferous notes, judging by the reviews, remains for a long time in the mouth after consuming cedar medicine. The dessert, combining the healing properties of natural nectar and resinous liquid (gum), praise everyone: they got a sore throat - they took a “cocktail” with cedar honey inside, they caught a runny nose — they lubricated the nasal passages, bruised their hands — they applied a compress with a mixture of cedar goodies, they wanted to rejuvenate the skin - applied a nourishing mask with assorted gum and honey. The piquant taste of the resin lasts almost unlimited time at a temperature of plus 25 degrees in a dark place, if you keep the glass or ceramic container closed, as beekeepers advise in reviews.