Sweet Beginnings Local Raw Honey

I first mentioned Sweet Beginnings honey in my post about the Green Festival. I had read about them previously, but until then I hadn't actually tasted the honey. Since I bought some of the honey at the Green Festival I have been using it everyday. The 12 oz jar that I had purchased is half gone! I figured that I should write a review about their company and their honey (for people who may not know what local raw honey is).

Honey that is local means that the beekeepers producing the honey are keeping the bees in your local area. In my case the bees being used to make the honey for Sweet Beginnings are kept in North Lawndale. Why choose local honey? As I mentioned previously there are theories that local honey can ease allergy symptoms. The bees pollinate local plants that carry allergens, the pollen gets into the honey and eating the honey (in it's raw form) exposes the body to the allergen in small tolerable amounts. The theory goes that over time the body will start to tolerate the allergens in larger and larger amounts. Another reason for purchasing local honey is to support your local beekeepers and contribute to your community's economy of course!

Honey that is raw means that it has not been heated/pasteurized. Heating destroys the enzymes that assist the body in absorbing the nutrients in the honey. Raw honey is usually unfiltered which means that it will contain pollens, honeycomb pieces and even the occasional bee wing or leg. Sweet Beginnings lightly filters their honey which generally means that it is only filtered to remove the honeycomb/bee bits, but leaves the pollens, enzymes and nutrients in tact.

Organic honey is a completely different beast! Organic honey would be honey that is produced by bees that only forage on organically grown flowers and plants. Sweet Beginnings cannot certify their honey as organic, because their bees forage all around the North Lawndale area which includes non-organic flowers and plants.

Now that I've gotten all of the technical honey terms out of the way let's continue on to the taste. This honey is delicious! It's super sweet tasting and way better than any honey I've purchased in the supermarket. I would highly recommend this honey to anyone living in the Chicagoland area.

Also, as a side note. I would love to one day keep bees! I think it is very important for us to realize the work that these amazing creatures do for us as humans. It is said that bees pollinate 1/3 of the world's food supply! No bees = severe food shortages. Keeping bees is an excellent way to ensure that gardens get pollinated and remain in their natural balance. In return, we are able to harvest that delicious liquid gold. So, find your local beekeeper and support him/her!