Beekeeping products are tasty and healthy, but only if they are natural. Buying any honey on the market, we take risks, but there is no other way: only the “wrong” comes to the stores (as Winnie the Pooh said). No, of course, it is bee, but warmed up during sterilization and saturated with all kinds of preservatives - and therefore not very useful. And sometimes in the market, along with jars of the usual golden yellow, you can also find a beekeeping product of an unusual, unnatural greenish color. Green honey even causes distrust on the part of buyers and confuses them. What is it? Let's get it right.
Green honey with propolis
And maybe this is a low-quality product, some kind of fake or marriage? And if not, then why is honey green? It's simple: propolis (also a beekeeping product) is added to a natural floral product, which gives this shade of the mixture. Since the dawn of time, mankind has known the benefits of these two ingredients. Even in ancient Egypt, they noticed: when honey is combined with propolis, their characteristics are more effective, as they are optimally complemented by each other.
The mixture in the right proportion
When combined, a consistency of a greenish tint with an authentic smell, aroma, smack of bittersweet is obtained - yellow-green honey. This product can actually be prepared on its own (how to do this, we will tell you later), but you can buy it on the market. Just take it from trusted sellers, and if possible, check on your own, since it is green honey that is often faked. Verification instructions are given below.
How not to buy a fake?
- Real honey does not drip, it pours a trickle and develops a slide. Moreover, the last drop, as it were, springs, pulling toward the source. Green honey should be wound onto a spoon with thick layers (there are even special spoons for such a test). Interruption of the trickle, and even more so its spraying, speaks at least about the immaturity of honey. But more often - about its dilution.
- Another consistency check is rubbing a drop of honey with green propolis between the fingers. It should be gentle, without lumpy inclusions, easily rubbed and quickly absorbed into the skin.
- Another test is turning the can. Natural green honey gives only one large air bubble, fakes produce many small ones.
- Be sure to sniff at the eye jar. Natural honey has a pronounced, but delicate floral aroma, fragrant and without extraneous notes. If there is no smell, you are dealing with a sugar product. If it smells of caramel, then honey with propolis was definitely heated to unacceptable temperatures (it is known that the beekeeping product begins to lose its qualities already at +45 degrees Celsius), which means that it has already lost its value.
Water Check
"Water" is convenient to check with a blotter. Unfortunately, it has long sunk into oblivion, so you have to take toilet paper or paper napkin - they also have excellent absorbent qualities. We drip honey on the surface and observe the consequences. If it is natural, then it will lie like a tubercle - for spreading, the surface is too rough. If the beekeeper or seller blasphemously added water, the drop will begin to soak into the paper.
Why is honey green?
By the way, the product has practically nothing to do with another greenish honey - the so-called honeydew.
A fall product collected by bees from conifers (based on a pad of animal origin or honey dew) is famous for its quality, being considered, for example, in Europe as one of the best varieties. Due to the content of enzymes and minerals, volatile and organic acids, honeydew honey has unique properties. In our case, the usual floral natural honey of light varieties is taken, and propolis is introduced into it. We get a greenish product.
DIY recipe
We need only honey and propolis in a ratio of 20 to 1. That is, for example, for 200 grams of honey you need to take 10 grams of propolis. We grind propolis on a grater, melt in a bowl with hot water (do not heat over 45 degrees, otherwise the product will turn into a useless sweetness). Separately, in the same way, melt the honey and pour it into a vessel with propolis (it is not recommended to do the opposite). Stir the resulting mixture until smooth. Pour into jars, cover with lids and let cool, and then remove for long-term storage. As a result of these simple movements, we get green honey, which has antimicrobial and restorative properties.
How to use?
For additional treatment, honey with propolis is used for heavily healing wounds or ulcers, frostbite and burns, eye diseases - externally. It is diluted with warm purified water (1: 3), and the prepared solution is pipetted into the wound. And with inflammation of the maxillary sinuses, a solution in a ratio of 1 to 3 with water is washed in the nasopharynx. Apply with cracks in the rectum, with hemorrhoids. Green honey has spread when consumed internally. In principle, you should always remember that this drug is a medicinal product, and there are many and often it is not recommended (no more than 1 teaspoon three times a day on an empty stomach). The beekeeping product is indicated for use in diseases of the oral mucosa, ulcerative stomatitis and acute inflammation of the oral cavity, inflammation of the gums, teeth (in the amount of half a small spoon, dissolving under the tongue until dissolved), and caries.
Green honey is quite successfully used in the treatment of tonsillitis, various sore throats, flu, SARS. And also with a chronic kind of bronchitis, bronchial asthma and tuberculosis (as an addition to the main mandatory procedures), with pneumonia, migraines, hypertension, stomach or intestinal ulcers, chronic inflammation of the urinary tract. This beekeeping product is good in combination with garlic and hot pepper, which further enhance the action of the substances contained in the components. By the way, and just for preventive purposes, you can eat - a spoon before eating.