What is artificial and what is natural in this tumultuous age we live in? We all consume honey, but do we actually know how healthy it is and which are the different health benefits this sweet bee product provides?

During your shopping trip to the market, take a jar of honey and turn it upside down. If the honey sweeps from the bottom of the jar and drips slowly, you are holding pure honey in your hand. Artificial honey would detach from the bottom of the jar all at once.

In its natural form, honey is composed of sugars ( monosaccharides ), glucose and fructose, acids and various elements people easily absorb.

An important feature of the honey is that it contains iron, presented in a form which can be easily absorbed in the stomach and transferred into the blood.Therefore, honey is the number one food product when it comes to anemic people.

Propolis is another beneficial bee product. It is resinous, aromatic and natural substance. Honey bees gather it from buds and trees bark (poplar, willow, birch, pine, chestnut, etc.).

Tree resin is the main raw material bees use to produce propolis, which supported by its bacterial and bacteriostatic features presents a sanitary tool useful in disinfecting the inside of the basket.

The color of propolis depends on the herbs from which it is gathered and usually it is yellow -- green, yellow or red, with resinous consistency and pleasant, low odor.

You can test real/pure honey in one of the following ways:

• Take a spoonful of honey and lift it high above the jar. Let the honey drip into the jar. If the honey drips continuously, you have real honey. Artificial honey does not drip in a continuous sequence.
• Take some honey and rub it between your palms. If you notice sugar crystals while it dries, the honey you have is artificial. Natural honey gets warm the very first moment you start rubbing it between your palms and becomes oil-like, so it does not stick.



• Real honey will give you a tingling feeling in the mouth while you swallow it. You can not achieve this effect consuming artificial honey.
• Take a cup of water and add 1 tablespoon of honey. Pure honey will gather and drop to the bottom, and artificial honey will start melting (make sure drinking a mixture of honey and water becomes one of your everyday habits for a healthier organism).
• If you put a couple of tablespoons of honey in a microwave oven at high temperature real honey will caramelize quickly.
• Artificial honey exposed at high temperature will be bubbly and hard to caramelize.