The wonder of honey

How wonderful is honey? Well, let me tell you if you don’t already know!

Apart from bee-ing (sorry couldn’t help it!) the beautiful, amber sticky stuff we drizzle and spread on various food, it’s also a great healer.

It’s high in antioxidants which makes it better for you than regular, refined sugar. It can help with cholesterol and is fantastic at promoting burn and wound healing, it’s wonderful for coughs – especially for children.

I automatically think of Winnie the Pooh and boy he did love honey! If it’s good enough for the bear stuffed with fluff then it’s good enough for me.

A mug of just boiled water with 2 teaspoons of honey is a fantastic remedy for your throat. A study has shown that honey for children eases nighttime coughs far better than leading cough medicines.

Honey, free from contaminants, has been proven to treat infections that regular antibiotics don’t respond to – so it truly is a superfood.

I will leave you to decide how you ingest honey.

Here is one of my favourite honey-based recipes…

Wholemeal honey cake

This recipe is a lovely, warm, comforting cake that is always a winner in my house.

Ingredients 

• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 150g ground almonds
• 150g self-raising wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp powdered cinnamon
• Pinch fine sea salt
• 40g flaked almonds
• 100g honey

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
2. Grease a 23cm (9″) diameter springform cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the egg, a little at a time.
5. Beat in the ground almonds.
6. Sieve together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, add a pinch of salt, then fold this in too. I don’t sieve the flour as it removes the bran. The bran is good, high in fibre, protein, B vitamins and various minerals (including iron) – so make sure it all goes in!
7. Put the mixture in the tin, scatter the 40g flaked almonds over the top. Place on a baking tray, then bake for about 1 hour, until a knife or skewer comes out clean. 
8. Warm the honey in a saucepan.  If you only have set honey, heating it will make it runny, and if you’re using runny honey, it’ll make it runnier, so it’ll seep through the sponge better. While the cake’s hot, drizzle over the honey.
9. Serve warm with double cream or custard or eat over the next few days with a cup of tea!