Honey is one of nature's most perfect foods. Did you know that this 100% natural sweetener not only tastes delightful, it contains healthy trace enzymes, minerals, vitamins and amino acids? To give you a better appreciation for this natural superfood though, here are more fun facts and good information about honey from the National Honey Board:
- There are more than 300 unique kinds of honey in the United States.
- To make one pound of honey, around 60,000 bees must travel up to 55,000 miles and visit 2,000,000 flowers.
- One honey bee will make about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
For most of us, the only choice of honey we have is from the grocery. However, if you do get the chance to choose, either through travel or online, how to choose honey that's right for you? It truly is a matter of taste and preference. While honey color and flavor can vary widely depending upon the flowers visited by the bees, lighter colored honey tends to have a milder flavor.
How best to store honey? Store it at room temperature in a tightly sealed container. If stored properly, honey will have a shelf life of 2 years.
Here's a delicious recipe from the National Honey Board website for you to enjoy:
Pumpkin Honey Bread (Recipe provided courtesy of the National Honey Board)
Ingredients
- 1 cup - honey
Image courtesy of National Honey Board - 1/2 cup - butter or margarine, softened
- 1 can (16 oz.) - solid-pack pumpkin
- 4 - eggs
- 4 cups - flour
- 4 teaspoons - baking powder
- 2 teaspoons - ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons - ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon - baking soda
- 1 teaspoon - salt
- 1 teaspoon - ground nutmeg
Directions
In large bowl, cream honey with butter until light and fluffy. Stir in pumpkin. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated. Sift together remaining ingredients. Stir into pumpkin mixture. Divide batter equally between two well-greased 9 x5 x 3-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let loaves cool in pans for 10 minutes; invert pans to remove loaves and allow to finish cooling on racks.Interested in learning more about the benefits of honey, honeybees and getting more recipes? Visit the National Honey Board website, at Honey.com! Did you find this post useful? Please share it through our Facebook and Twitter links below. Want to discover more easy tips and tricks for healthy, sustainable living and have them delivered right to your in box weekly? Follow our blog by signing up for our RSS feed.
