In The Spotlight: Blueberry Honey

One of the most versatile foods that we have access to is honey, the natural sweetener that any kid loves to lick off their fingers even has some amazing health benefits. And combined with delicious and nutritious blueberries, honey can be even sweeter!

Here at The Blueberry Barn, we sell 3 different kinds of yummy blueberry honey. Your average honey bear is filled to the brim—or ears!—with gooey honey that’s been flavored naturally with blueberries.

The honey bears are made by Fisher Honey Co., a family-owned company located in Lewistown, Pennsylvania that has been making delicious honey for over 69 years.

And one of our more unique products is our whipped blueberry honey.

Thicker and creamier than plain honey, this pink gooey goodness tops off biscuits, bagels, toast, pancakes, and can add some pizzazz to a peanut butter sandwich!

The whipped honey is made with real blueberries that add a beautiful pink color and amazing flavor to the honey.

Another sweet honey treat to tickle your taste buds is our blueberry nut honey butter. Made with real blueberries and crunchy pecans, this honey butter comes in both a twelve ounce and four ounce jar.

The perfect little four ounce jar of honey butter makes a great gift that, once empty, can be used as a salt or pepper shaker! You can melt the butter and pour it over ice cream, a pound cake, or pancakes.

You can even top off a baked sweet potato with this smooth honey.

If you suffer from allergies, it has been said that eating local honey from you area will help your body gradually become immune to those allergies. So we also offer local honey to Bacon County.

Now, about those health benefits I mentioned…

Why is Honey Good for You?

Not only are blueberries rich in antioxidants and other wonderful vitamins and minerals, but honey has some superpowers of its own!

Honey is known for being that sticky sweet liquid made by honeybees, but there is so much more to it than meets the eye!

It all starts with bees collecting sugar from the sweet nectar of flowers in their environment.

The process following this isn’t all that appealing. When inside the beehive, the bees eat, digest, then spit out the nectar over and over again, producing honey. The liquid is stored inside the honeycombs, ready for the bees to eat whenever they so desire. 

Since bees make more honey than they need to survive, beekeepers "rob" the hives so that people can enjoy that delicious, healthy honey too.

In the terms of nutrition, 1 tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories and 17 grams of sugar, which includes fructose, glucose, maltose, and sucrose. Honey is especially healthy when it’s used rather than refined sugar, which is 100% empty calories.

Although, honey is still considered an “added” sugar, and is processed by the body similarly to how it processes other kinds of sugar. Fortunately, honey takes longer to digest than plain table sugar, and so it provides more sustaining energy.

It has nearly no fiber, fat or protein. But it does contains trace amounts—under 1% of the RDI—of quite a bit of certain vitamins and minerals, though you would have to eat multiple pounds to fulfill your daily requirements.

Have a cold? Then try a spoonful of honey, an old sore throat remedy. And you can add it to a cup of hot tea with a splash of lemon lemon whenever you catch a cold.

Honey works as a cough suppressant as well. Research suggests that honey is just as efficacious as dextromethorphan, which is a common ingredient in over-the-counter cough medications. Just take a couple teaspoons of plain ole honey straight from the jar and experience its healing powers!

Honey is oftentimes used to treat digestive issues like diarrhea, but there is not very much research to prove that it works. It has, although, been proven to help treat Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria, which is one of the common causes of stomach ulcers.

It is also a potent prebiotic, which means that it nourishes the good bacteria that live in the intestines, bacteria that is crucial for digestion and your overall health.

Topical honey treatment has been used since ancient Egypt to heal wounds and burns and is still common today. A review of 26 studies on honey and wound care found honey quite effective at healing partial-thickness burns and wounds that became infected after surgery.

What's more, it can help treat other skin conditions, including psoriasis and herpes lesions. Honey is an effective treatment for diabetic foot ulcers as well, which are serious complications that often lead to amputation.

One study reported a 43.3% success rate with a wound treatment of honey. Another study showed that topical honey healed a whopping 97% of patients’ diabetic ulcers.

Researchers say that the healing power of honey comes from its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, as well as its ability to nurture surrounding tissue.

Honey also has a bundle of plant chemicals in it that act as antioxidants, which includes organic acids and phenolic compounds like flavanoids. The darker kinds of honey, like raw and Manuka honey, have higher levels of antioxidants, but these compounds can be found in all honey.

There are even some varieties of honey that contain just as many antioxidants as fruits and vegetables do. Antioxidants are nature’s cell damage-busters that protect you from the havoc free radicals wreak inside your body. Free radicals further the process of aging and can even boost the development of chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease as well.

Research proves that the antioxidant compounds in honey referred to as polyphenols play a role in preventing heart disease. Honey, being a rich source of phenols and other antioxidant compounds, has been said to reduced the risk of heart disease.

These antioxidants may help the arteries in your heart dilate, which increases the blood flow to your heart. They are said to also help prevent the formation of blood clots, which lead to heart attacks and strokes. Two studies have even shown that buckwheat honey can increase the antioxidant value of your blood. Moreover, one certain study in rats showed that honey protects the heart from oxidative stress.

One important risk factor for heart disease is blood pressure, and honey might just help lower it. Because it contains the antioxidant compounds mentioned above, studies in both rats and humans have been done to show that honey can reduce blood pressure.

Research has also shown that raw honey can do away with that icky unwanted bacteria and fungus. It naturally possesses hydrogen peroxide, which is a well-known antiseptic. Its effectiveness as an antibacterial or antifungal is different depending on the honey, but it is certainly more than just a folk remedy for such infections.

Some types of honey are used in medical settings to treat wounds, as they’ve been found to be effective germ killers and help regenerate tissue as well. Research shows that honey can assist healing time and reduce infection. Just remember that the honey used in hospitals and doctors’ offices are medical grade, which means that it has been inspected and is sterile.

It wouldn’t be a good idea to treat cuts with honey that you buy from the store.

Phytonutrients are compounds that are found in plants. Their job is to keep the plants from harm and ward off enemies. For instance, some keep insects away, while others shield the plant from ultraviolet radiation. The phytonutrients in honey is what is responsible for its antioxidant properties, and its antibacterial and antifungal power.

They are thought as well to be the reason that raw honey has shown benefits that boost the immune system and fight against cancer. Unfortunately, the heavy processing that most honeys go through destroys these valuable nutrients.

Although the evidence on honey and diabetes is mixed, some studies out there have shown that it can reduce several common risk factors for heart disease in those with type 2 diabetes. For instance, it may lower bad LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and inflammation, even as it raises the good HDL cholesterol. One study performed with 55 patients compared honey to table sugar. The study showed that honey caused a 5.8% reduction in LDL and a 3.3% increase in HDL cholesterol.

However, other studies have found that it may also be responsible for increasing blood sugar levels, just not as much as regular sugar.

Though honey can be slightly better than refined sugar for people with diabetes, it still should be consumed with some caution. Keep in mind, as well, that certain types of honey are adulterated with plain syrup. Though honey adulteration has been made illegal in most countries, it still remains a general problem.

I hope you enjoyed learning all about the benefits of honey! And if you thought that just honey can do some great things, then just think about blueberry honey that not only taste good but can do some amazing things for your body!

So, why don’t you come on by The Blueberry Barn and grab a honey bear, some whipped honey or a jar of that awesome blueberry honey nut butter!