Cypriot honey: beneficial properties and application
Despite the fact that the honey production technology is always the same, the healing qualities of this product are usually evaluated depending on what it is made of, that is, which honey plant is used by bees to collect nectar and pollen. In this review, we will focus on cypress honey. Perhaps someone hears this name for the first time, while some experts are inclined to include this variety in the top five most useful.
Descriptions and characteristics of Cypriot honey
Fireweed is a herbaceous plant, a close relative of Ivan Tea. In some sources, fireweed is even called a variety of Ivan tea (Ivan tea is narrow-leaved), but most modern classifications consider fireweed as an independent genus with the Latin name Chamerion.
Important! The higher the point of growth of the fireweed is above sea level and the north it is, the greater the amount of nectar produced by its flowers.
If we talk about the territory of the Russian Federation, the greatest amount of honey of honey is collected in the Amur River basin, as well as in other regions of the Far East, the Urals and Siberia. Moreover, if the average honey collection can be considered 600 kg per hectare, then the maximum “yield” can reach up to a ton, and one bee family can produce up to 6 kg of useful product per day. It is not surprising, therefore, that the famous weight honey from Altai is often made using fireweed nectar.
Monoflera honey, collected during the flowering of the fireweed, has a transparent watery structure and a greenish color with a slight yellowness. The aroma of the product is delicate, floral, and the taste is extremely delicate. Due to the lack of bitterness and rich honey cloying, such honey is sometimes called children's honey, especially since it smells a bit like the kissel so beloved by kids. On the other hand, not everyone likes this “weightlessness”, therefore, cypriot honey is often blended by mixing in different proportions with other types.
Did you know? White color, in addition to narrow-leaved Ivan tea, is also given by alfalfa, raspberries, melilot, linden, white acacia and clover, sainfoin, ak-kurai, cotton, and also ... a camel thorn.
Calorie content and chemical composition
The basis of any honey (approximately 4/5 of its composition) is monosaccharides - fructose and glucose, as well as more complex carbohydrates, including maltose, sucrose, platinum, turanose, coybiosis, etc. If we take into account that the rest of the product is mainly water (in liquid honey it can be more than 22%, in crystallized honey - about 18%), for other nutrients, and their bee product contains, according to some estimates, more than three hundred, generally a very small percentage of its composition. But it is their combination, along with the absolutely natural origin of each component, that makes honey so valuable.
Important! The value of fireweed nectar is that it has very little sucrose, while most carbohydrates are monosugars.
An important quality of honey of honey is enzyme activity, which is manifested by its constituent proteins, in particular, alpha and beta amylase, protease, peroxidase, reductase, glycogenase, inulase, lipase and phospholipase, catalase, phosphatase, diastase, invertase, polyphenol oxidase, ascorbate oxidase and glucose oxidase.
Among the “Ivan-tea product” organic acids that provide it with a characteristic taste (along with aromatic substances), first of all, apple, wine, milk, amber, citric, oxalic, and gluconic should be highlighted.
- alanine;
- arginine;
- aspartic acid;
- valine;
- glutamic acid;
- leucine;
- isoleucine;
- serine;
- lysine;
- phenylalanine;
- tyrosine;
- threonine;
- tryptophan,
- histidine;
- cystine;
- proline;
- oxyproline;
- methionine;
- ornithine.
Did you know? The leaves of fireweed contain three times more ascorbic acid than lemon!
The calorie content of honey is determined by the presence of sugar in it. In a fireweed variety, this indicator is 316 kcal per 100 g, which is slightly higher than that of buckwheat, flower and heather, but lower than that of acacia and lime.
Properties and honey of honey
Poppy honey, like other natural products, which include a large number of biologically active elements, has conflicting properties: in small doses it can be not only a treat, but also a real medicine, but in large doses it can cause serious harm to health.
Benefit
- Among the many medicinal properties of a bee product from Ivan tea, its ability should be noted first of all:
- stimulate blood formation processes (recommended for use in case of anemia, low hemoglobin level, and other symptoms of iron deficiency);
- strengthen the immune system (often used in the symptomatic treatment of colds and other acute respiratory diseases, as well as a means of quickly relieving fatigue);
- have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the cardiovascular system (strengthens the walls of blood vessels, expands them, thereby lowering blood pressure, however, at the same time, due to its high sugar content, it can also be used as a good remedy for low blood pressure);
- increase the rate of all metabolic processes in the body;
- improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, liver (used as a remedy for heartburn, intestinal disorders, constipation);
- beneficial effect on the nervous system (relieves cramps, depression, relieves anxiety, sometimes used as a remedy for insomnia);
- restore hormonal balance (relevant for both men and women);
- heal wounds and ulcers (sometimes even used for symptomatic treatment of prostatitis);
- relieve some pain symptoms (pain in muscles, joints, headaches, etc.);
- improve the condition of the skin, hair and nails (widely used in cosmetology).
Did you know? The current belief that honey improves male potency is mostly a myth. In fact, the positive effect of the beekeeping product on the reproductive function of men is determined more by its general strengthening properties than by direct targeted exposure.
In general, honey is not entirely correct to consider a medicine, however, along with traditional methods of treatment, it can very well be used as an additional way to strengthen the body and, which is also important, reduce the negative effects of a large-scale drug attack.
Contraindications and harm
Despite the fact that honey is very useful, honey should be consumed with caution and in limited quantities. Moreover, there are cases when such a delicacy should be discarded altogether.
- First of all, this applies to people suffering from:
- allergies - both food and asthmatic (it is proved that at least 3% of the world's population have an individual intolerance to beekeeping products);
- gastritis, ulcers or pancreatitis, as well as other pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract in the acute stage;
- flu and other diseases characterized by fever, chills, and a strong fever;
- urolithiasis;
- some diseases of the psyche.
Did you know? Standard recommendations not to give honey to children until they reach one, or even better, three years, are not caused by the danger of allergies, as many people think, but by a much more serious risk of botulism. It turns out that the beekeeping product may contain a small number of pathogens of this dangerous disease, insufficient to infect an adult, but critical for the baby.
The possibility of using boiled honey for people with diabetes requires an individual consultation with an endocrinologist.
Indications for use of white Cyprus honey
For a healthy person, the generally accepted safe daily norm of honey, including cypress, is considered to be 100 g. You can use the product as you like - in pure form, with milk, nuts, as part of salads, sauces, etc. But if nectar is processed by bees Ivan tea is used as a treatment, it is very important to strictly adhere to clear dosages, proportions and other important recommendations so that the benefits do not address even greater health problems.
Gastrointestinal diseases
If the work of the gastrointestinal tract leaves much to be desired, the situation can be slightly corrected with the help of a honey aperitif. To do this, pour 1 tsp. mixed honey with a glass of purified water heated to a temperature of 40 ° C (hot, but not burning), mix well until a homogeneous mass is formed, and drink before meals. During the day, such a drug can be used 2-3 times, but only in the absence of signs of allergies and other side effects.
Read about the beneficial and harmful properties of sainfoin and heather honey.
For the treatment of peptic ulcer, traditional healers have long used such a recipe. First, you should prepare a decoction of cinnamon (another name for the medicinal plant is marsh cinnamon), bay 1 tbsp. l dry grass 250 ml of freshly boiled water and simmering the resulting mixture for 20 minutes in a steam bath. When the broth cools down, it should be filtered, add 1 tbsp. l honey of honey, preheated to a liquid state, to make it easier to dissolve it in water - and mix well. The finished product is divided into three doses and taken 30 minutes before meals.
Colds
For the treatment of colds, various herbal decoctions are usually used, in which a little (up to 1 tsp) of honey is added. It should be remembered that drinks must be cooled to room temperature before mixing them with honey, since heating destroys all the healing properties of the bee product, moreover, oxymethylfurfural, which is a dangerous carcinogen, begins to stand out.
As herbal components of a medicinal decoction, you can use plants such as:
- chamomile;
- sage;
- lungwort;
- St. John's wort
- rosemary;
- lavender;
- coltsfoot;
- sagebrush;
- Melissa;
- yarrow.
Important! Milk with butter and honey not only does not help with colds, but can also cause serious harm, especially if the disease goes away against a background of fever. The same thing, by the way, applies to tea with raspberries - increased sweating caused by such "medicines" leads only to additional dehydration, and, therefore, ultimately reduces heat transfer.
The classic cough remedy is black radish with honey. A funnel-shaped hole is cut out in the upper part of the root crop, 1 tbsp. l bee product and left for several hours to let the radish let the juice. The liquid obtained as a result of mixing these two components is taken in 1 tsp. To get rid of painful coughing attacks.
ENT diseases, bronchial asthma
Angina is a dangerous disease of a bacterial nature, in which sometimes a sore throat is so severe that there can be no talk of taking any food, even puree and liquid. It is possible to maintain the patient’s condition, strengthen his immune system, and also reduce pain by using honey, including fireweed: a treat should be taken in the mouth in small portions and thoroughly resolved before swallowing.
Despite the fact that bronchial asthma is usually considered a contraindication to the use of honey, poison in some cases can become a medicine. A bee product has the ability to stimulate salivation, while saliva moisturizes the airways, thus reducing their irritation. In addition, a natural treat reduces swelling and helps to stop inflammatory processes in the body, which for asthmatics can also be very helpful. That is why, in the absence of allergies, Californian scientists recommend that patients with bronchial asthma eat 2 tsp each night. honey.
Did you know? In 2014, curious studies were carried out on the effect of honey inhalation on the condition of animals suffering from bronchial asthma. The results exceeded all expectations.
It should be noted, however, that the treatment of bronchial asthma in people with honey using modern medicine so far carries out exclusively oral.
Skin diseases
Many skin diseases can be healed with honey ointments and honey cakes. For their preparation, either a pure bee product is used, or it is pre-mixed in equal proportions with fat sour cream and egg white. In addition to the usual acne or dermatitis, such folk remedies sometimes manage to cure even some types of lichen.
If an abscess appeared on the skin, causing severe pain, it can be accelerated by maturation and subsequent healing of the skin using slurry made from wormwood leaves, crushed garlic, honey, coarse salt and a few drops of vinegar mixed with each other in equal proportions.
Find out how much honey you can eat per day without harming your health.
Recovery of the nervous system after stress
The best remedy for insomnia is to eat 1 tsp before bedtime. honey and drink it with a glass of warm milk or water. Also interesting is the “honey” method of treating such an unpleasant syndrome as St. Vitus’s dance (the scientific name for the condition is chorea). Outwardly, this manifests itself in poorly controlled muscle movements, including facial ones, reminiscent of a strange dance. Patients are prescribed a large intake (up to 300 g) of honey daily for 15–20 days, and on the third day there is a clear positive trend.
How to distinguish cypress honey from a fake?
If you mix sugar with water in a 2: 1 ratio, bring the resulting solution to a boil, add a little citric acid to it and simmer over low heat for an hour, you get the so-called invert syrup - a viscous substance of a yellowish color, often called “artificial honey” from -for almost complete resemblance to the real beekeeping product. It is the invert syrup, which consists of water, fructose and glucose, but does not include all other medicinal components, that dishonest sellers very often use, passing it off as natural honey.
In spite of the fact that when hardening the honey turns white, the sugar crystallized with the help of some chemical tricks can have the same external signs. You can distinguish a fake by conducting several experiments:
| Verification method | Natural Product Feature |
| Dip the spoon into the substance, rotate it several times around its axis, and then raise it above the surface (for liquid or melted honey) | It is wound onto a spoon, flows slowly, with the formation of a clearly visible hill, which then gradually diverges along the surface; air bubbles must be present. |
| Drip onto a flat surface | Keeps shape, leaves no wet residue |
| Dip a piece of bread into the substance | Bread Doesn't Soak |
| Dilute in water and add a drop of iodine | The absence of blue color (it gives impurities of starch or flour, used in the cultivation of honey with water for subsequent thickening). The same experiment can be carried out using instead of iodine ammonium hydroxide (ammonia), but starch or flour in this case will give not a blue, but a brown reaction |
| Dilute in water and add vinegar. | No hissing (occurs when adding chalk) |
| Immerse the glowing wire in the substance, then pull it out | There is nothing left on the wire |
| To taste | With slow resorption in the mouth, a burning sensation remains |
Terms and conditions of storage
In order for the honey of honey to well preserve its healing properties and at the same time remain liquid for a long time, it must be stored under the following conditions:
- dark place;
- protection against drafts;
- good ventilation;
- dryness (air humidity not higher than 20%);
- constant temperature (+ 5 ... + 10 ° С).
Important! Crystallization does not change the healing properties of honey and does not mean that it is spoiled. In fact, subject to the above conditions, a bee product can be stored for decades. Ёмкость для хранения мёда лучше всего выбирать стеклянную или глиняную, но ни в коем случае не металлическую, в противном случае окисление некоторых ингредиентов, входящих в состав продукта, могут привести к его порче и даже вызвать серьёзное отравление.
