If you love honey, you’re in for a real treat with honeycomb. It’s loaded with all the flavor and benefits of raw honey and then some.
Honeycomb is made up of hexagonal wax cells made by bees, and each cell is full of raw honey. You can eat honeycomb, wax and all! After enjoying the burst of sweetness, some folks prefer to chew the wax like gum and discard it, but there’s no harm in swallowing it, either. In fact, the wax has some benefits of its own (more on that below).
Eating honeycomb might seem foreign to some, but it’s been a part of the human diet for millennia. Honey has been found at an archaeological site in the country of Georgia dating back 5,500 years, and evidence of honey collection was spotted in an 8,000-year-old cave painting in Spain. Experts believe that our ancestors used honey as medicine and a source of nutrition.
Let’s dig into the wonders of this ancient snack. Here are ten benefits of eating raw honeycomb.
1) Raw Honeycomb Contains Essential Vitamins & Minerals
If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to sugar, look no further. Honeycomb is full of essential minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc. It also contains vitamins C, B6, B12, A, E, and D. You won’t find that in white sugar and other processed sweeteners.
2) Nutrients are Sealed In Each Honeycomb Cell
After bees fill a cell in their hive with nectar and let it cure, they cap it with a thin layer of beeswax to protect it. When liquid honey is harvested, the cap is removed and the honey is extracted. In most cases, the honey is then heated or processed in some way, stripping it of nutrition and beneficial substances like pollen, propolis, and royal jelly. With honeycomb, you get the honey still capped in the cell, full of all that bee-made goodness.
3) Honeycomb Supports Heart Health
Raw honey is a rich source of phenols and other antioxidant compounds that protect your body’s cells from damage, lower blood pressure and improve circulation. Several studies have proven that raw honey can lower “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and raise “good” cholesterol (HDL).(1) On top of raw honey’s benefits, you can even chew the beeswax to extract long-chain fatty acids and alcohols, which may also lower cholesterol levels.
4) Honeycomb Won’t Spike Your Blood Sugar
The glycemic index (GI) is a measuring tool that tells you how much certain foods will increase your blood sugar levels. The lower the GI, the less it will raise your blood sugar. Whereas table sugar, corn syrup, and other processed sweeteners have a GI of up to 110, honeycomb’s GI is only 33-55. This makes honeycomb a low-GI food suitable for people living with diabetes and the best sweetener for overall health.
5) Raw Honeycomb Has Liver Protecting Properties
Studies have found that raw honey protects the liver from damage from toxins, bile obstruction, and fatty liver disease.(2) How exactly raw honey does a liver good is unknown, but scientists hypothesize that all those antioxidants are behind it.
6) Raw Honey Eases Cold & Allergy Symptoms
Raw honey is a natural cold remedy and a go-to for those with seasonal allergies. Part of the reason it brings relief is its anti-inflammatory properties, which calm inflammation in the lungs and respiratory tract. Honey has also proven to be as effective as an over-the-counter cough suppressant.(3)
When it comes to scratchy throats, the secret to raw honey’s soothing powers lies in its humectant properties. Humectants are substances that attract and retain moisture. When you eat honey, it quite literally coats your throat and prevents it from drying out.
7) Raw Honeycomb Supports Immune Health
Believe it or not, consuming this sweet snack gives your immune system a boost. You can thank the antioxidant, antifungal, and antibacterial properties of honeycomb for this. Together, they reduce inflammation, prevent infection, and tag-team in all sorts of ways to prevent disease.
Need a healthy snack? Here are 4 Delicious Ways to Boost Your Immunity With Raw Honeycomb.
8) Honeycomb Is Good for Gut Health
There’s a lot of talk about probiotics and gut health, but prebiotics are equally important. Prebiotics are compounds that feed your gut microbiome, improving the uptake of nutrients and helping you digest food. Raw honey happens to be a powerful prebiotic.
Vitamin A and B vitamins are also important for gut health, which you’ll find in honeycomb, along with trace amounts of fiber.
9) Raw Honeycomb Promotes Better Sleep
Here’s a great reason to melt a piece of honeycomb in your cup of chamomile: Many people report better sleep after eating raw honey. This is likely due to a chemical reaction from the sugar, which leads to a spike in the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. And since honeycomb has a low glycemic index, it won’t cause a sugar high that prevents you from sleeping.
10) Honeycomb is Unadulterated
Honey is one of the most fraudulent foods in the world. Heating and blending are two common ways liquid honey is adulterated (aka tampered with), both of which reduce nutritional value and natural properties. Raw honey and organic honey are no exceptions. The only way to bypass the fraud is to choose honeycomb, cut straight from the hive.
Pass the Honey’s honeycomb is sourced from beekeepers using regenerative practices that benefit bees and the environment. We simply cut the comb, package it in snack-sized portions, and ship it to your door. All profits support pollinator research and habitat restoration so we can all enjoy this unadulterated superfood for years to come.