5 Common Uses of Honey
If you have a bottle of honey that you bought and left in your pantry to crystallize, then you may be wondering what the uses of honey are. While you probably know that it can be used to sweeten your tea, honey has so much more potential than that. Here are five uses for honey — from the obvious to the unusual.
Beverage Sweetener
Most people use honey as a sweetener for their beverages, most often tea. However, it can also be used in coffee and other beverages as well. If you have been using refined sugar to sweeten your beverages, then you may want to consider switching to honey, as it has greater health benefits due to the antioxidants and micronutrients that it contains. Keep a bottle near your coffee or tea supplies so it will always be within reach. Keep in mind that sweetening hot beverages usually works better than cold beverages because the heat from the liquid melts the honey and makes it easier to mix into the drink.
Baking and Cooking Ingredient
Honey is a common ingredient in baking, both as an ingredient in batter and as a topping on various desserts. If you bake frequently — or even infrequently — you will likely find yourself reaching for honey for certain recipes. While honey is more often used in desserts, it also has its place in cooking as well. It adds a note of sweetness to marinades, salad dressings and more. Whether you want honey to be the star ingredient or you are just looking for a touch of sweetness, you will be able to find a recipe that incorporates it (and if you have never tried cooking with honey before, you are really missing out!).
Cough Remedy
If you are feeling under the weather with a cough or a sore throat, then honey is an excellent natural remedy to try. Try boiling some water and then flavoring it with plenty of honey, as well as some lemon juice. Honey is also a great addition to caffeine-free herbal tea when you are feeling under the weather and trying to stay hydrated. This honey will soothe your throat and cough, while the hot water will help open up your sinuses. Even if you are not feeling sick, a hot beverage with some honey in it will help you unwind and de-stress.
Canning Syrup
Canned fruits are usually packed in a sugar syrup to help them maintain their color, shape and texture during long months on the shelf. While white sugar is the most common choice for this syrup, you can also use honey to create the canning syrup, or mix sugar and honey together. The sugar content of the syrup ranges from 10 percent up to 50 percent depending on the honey-to-water ratio and what fruits you plan to can. Keep in mind that using honey instead of white sugar will change the color and taste of the syrup, but the resulting preserves will be equally delicious (and healthier, too).
Skin Treatment
While honey has many benefits when consumed, it can also benefit the skin when applied topically. In fact, before the development of modern medicine, honey was used as a wound treatment due to its antibacterial properties. Nowadays, most people use it as a DIY skin treatment, either as a face wash or a rinse-off mask. Use the honey by itself for a face wash or a hydrating mask, or mix in some sugar crystals to turn it into an exfoliating treatment. Make sure to always patch test the honey first before applying it all over your face.
We hope this list has inspired you to start incorporating honey into your diet more often. If you have a bottle currently sitting in your pantry, then this list will help you use it up. If you are in need of some new honey, then check out Brightland’s latest product launch, a raw, unfiltered honey that tastes as delicious as it looks — and that is full of health benefits as well.
