September is National Honey Month and this transition of seasons is the perfect time to highlight and enjoy the delectable flavors of honey. Traveling through the changing colors on the trees in your RV can be a beautiful experience, and honey sure does make it that much sweeter!
Honey is mostly sugar compounds with plenty of nutrients as well. Iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium are just a few extremely beneficial minerals in honey that assist in boosting your immune system and improving your overall health. We’ve rounded up our top 4 favorite ways to celebrate National Honey Month, so check them out and find your favorites!
Honey in Cooking is Perfection
Southern Living has a beautiful collection of honey recipes to tantalize your sweet tooth and elevate ordinary dishes into extraordinary ones. Feel free to try every recipe, or count on our top three drool-worthy eats: the sweet and hearty Honey Glazed Carrots that are easy to make over a camp fire, some home style classic Honeyed Barbecue Ribs, and a crowd pleasing Honey Pineapple Upside Down Cake to end the evening right! Some of the nutrients in honey are lost in cooking, however honey proves to be one of the best natural sweeteners to cook with to help cut back on processed foods and make healthy options easy as pie!
A Lesson in Honey
Learning more about this naturally derived sweetener can teach you a lot about the environment and the world we live in. Unfortunately, bees are slowly declining in their original numbers due to environmental changes and shifts in the atmosphere. The pollen and nectar on flowers are collected by bees and grown into honey inside bee hives. Flowers also benefit from bees visiting them. Without the bees, flowers will simply degrade down until they wilt. This causes a major slow down in oxygenation on the planet and can have devastating consequences.
One pound of honey is harvested from over 200 million flowers! So plant some flowers (or at least stop to smell them) and allow bees to pollinate and make more honey.
Honey is Heart Healthy, and Just Plain Healthy
By consuming honey, you may be directly improving your overall health in the process. This comprehensive study analyzed dozens of experiments that focused on specific health benefits from consuming honey. Besides having over 181 natural substances that the human body can absorb, the minerals within honey are a beneficial addition to a healthy lifestyle.
Honey was shown to directly improve cardiovascular health, a major issue among the American population. Lastly, physiological gastrointestinal issues were shown to improve with honey as well. Say goodbye to tummy trouble and eat some sweet honey!
Honey Can Heal
Did you know that by placing honey on a cut or wound can speed healing? In a laboratory experiment, honey was shown to kill many bacteria pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella. This same process can be extremely helpful for surface wounds or painful burns on the skin while traveling. Take a look at the shade of your honey to determine how helpful it is: darker means more antioxidant power.
Did you know that honey was first harvested for consumption over four thousand years ago? Ancient Egyptians and Greeks knew that honey was something special. Today, there are over 300 different varieties of honey in the United States. That’s a lot of sweetness to try! Find your favorite variety on your travels and enjoy National Honey Month!