You guys all know how much I love honey. It’s a great all-natural sweetener that I use in so many of my recipes, plus it makes for a nourishing superfood that supports whole body wellness. As someone who tries to avoid refined and highly processed sugar as often as I can, raw honey tends to be my sweetener of choice. I honestly don’t have a lot of sugar in general, but the flavor of raw, unfiltered honey is beyond to me! I prefer going with manuka honey most of the time for its flavor and nourishing properties. Fun fact: the manuka flower is indigenous to New Zealand and it only blooms for 2-6 weeks the entire year.
The brand I always keep stocked in our house is Wedderspoon Manuka. Every jar undergoes independent laboratory testing to make sure it meets or exceeds their high standards and I’ve trusted them for years and years buying their products. Specifically, their Monofloral Manuka Honey— I use this one the most. The difference between monofloral and multifloral manuka honey is that monofloral comes from bees that almost only pollinate the Manuka flower, and multifloral comes from bees who pollinate a variety of flowers. This essentially means that monofloral honey is more potent in its benefits– but both are delicious, chalk full of nutrients and naturally gluten-free!
They gave me a discount code to give you on their site: RACHAEL to save $$
I feel like we use their squeeze bottle most often, whether it’s topping off my paleo waffles in the morning, adding to my matcha latte, or drizzling over the top of any dessert. I also always bring their travel packs with me when traveling for a nice little immunity boost. This is something I would recommend for anyone.
My Go-To Uses for Manuka Honey:
Natural sweetener
- As I mentioned above, I typically use and recommend honey as a sweetener to recipes (keep in mind it does lose its benefits when it’s heated to about 98 degrees F). If I’m craving a sweet drink, I drizzle just a little bit in my black tea or matcha!
Hydrating skin
- Manuka honey is known to help destroy harmful bacteria, soften the skin and because of its high sugar concentration it can help keep skin hydrated. You’ll get the most benefits using raw, unfiltered honey but of course, manuka is splurge-worthy. You can use it as a cleanser, a mask or even a spot treatment! Click here for four different DIY honey masks.
Healing burns and wounds
- There’s so much info out about how honey works wonders for burns. When I was doing my dietetic internship years ago, I remember the nurses using honey in the burn unit at the hospital I worked at. Anyways, earlier this year I burned my hand on my curling iron (typical) and so many of you guys recommended putting manuka honey on it. I did it for 7-9 days on and off and noticed a huge difference– it never scabbed and there’s hardly a scar at all. It’s now my go-to for any sort of burns I get… especially in the kitchen. 10/10 recommend!
Treating cough and sore throat
- Honey is a common ingredient used to soothe sore throats and manuka honey is no different. Wedderspoon uses a raw creaming process in order to maintain the honey’s natural-occurring wellness properties. They have the most amazing honey drops that are *always* stocked in our pantry and what I literally run to if I ever feel under the weather or have a sore throat. I give them out to everyone in my family and they love them! There’s also suckers on their site too for kids ๐
Pre and Post-Workout
- Great Source of Natural Energy: It’s an excellent source of quick carbohydrates that are rapidly digested and absorbed by the body. Plus, because it’s a natural form or sugar, it provides a more of a sustained boost of an energy opposed to just a short burst. So yes, honey makes a great pre-workout! It’s what we used to give the football players before big games/practices during my dietetic internship.
- Supports Recovery: Post-workout recovery is obviously very important for your muscles and body in general. Giving your body carbohydrates post-workout can help decrease delayed-muscle onset soreness and help your muscles stay nourished longer. It’s crucial to refuel with adequate protein, carbohydrates and REST for your body to recover properly.
Check out their site here and get stocked up for the holidays ๐
Leave a Reply