Should vegans avoid eating honey?

Posted on June 18, 2012 by bilrob

Should vegans avoid eating honey?

As a vegan, honey is officially out of bounds. The originator of the vegan movement, Donald Watson, singled it out as a no-go food stuff in the British Vegan Society manifesto of 1944.

Naturally he had the originators of honey in mind. Viewed through the vegan lens honey consumption seems less cutesy, as in Winnie the Pooh, and more shabby, as in literal daylight robbery: the bees toil to manage nectar from surrounding flora, incidentally pollinating our plants. They regurgitate this substance and fan it with their wings to the right consistency, whereupon bee vomit becomes honey. Then they painstakingly store it for their sole use during the cold weather.

While they’re out working, we rob the hive, stealing the core product and its associated royal jelly and beeswax. And to speed up the process we harvest earlier in autumn, leaving the bees without the nutrition they’ve stored for the cold weather and instead we feed them on sugar supplements.

Bees are being driven to the brink. Not only are they being attacked by a viral infection spread by mites, they appear to be at odds with industrialised agriculture and perilously vulnerable to pesticides – honey production is one of the few yields that has not significantly increased as a result of the “green revolution”. While we plough on with agri-industrialisation it’s difficult to hold out much hope for bees at all.

Will your honey boycott help? I don’t think so. In fact natural apiculture should be one of the bedrocks of sustainable and resilient food production. Unlike commercial apiculture, it is not dependent on cheap fossil fuel and has a vested interest in protecting the ecosystem.

The question is how can we make this theft more ethical? Hives managed properly (such as those harvested during spring as advocated by the naturalbeekeepingtrust.org) and products from local hives (buy local, non-blended honeys) should help landscapes to flourish.

Honey is also the least gas-guzzling sweetener we have. Beets and corn (processed into fructose syrup) are spectacularly energy intensive in growth and production, and cause a plethora of ethical problems.

Conscientious consumers need to understand the amazing product that honey can be and say no to cheap, imported products. If ethical consumers all disappear up a moral cul-de-sac, the bees have a problem. And if the bees have a problem, we have a bigger one.

Green crush of the week

“There are two things that happen when you go to uni,” says Ashleigh Stevens, 19, a student at Reading University. “You leave lights on all the time because you’re used to your mum and dad turning them off after you, or you just leave stuff on because you can!” To help curb this habit, Ashleigh became co-ordinator of the Student Switch Off initiative for her hall of residence. The campaign, which has just won an Ashden Award, pits halls and campuses against each other in a race to save energy and increase recycling with prizes for the victors.
studentswitchoff.org

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Cook Vegetables Right After Purchase To Make Them Last Longer

Posted on January 7, 2012 by bilrob

Cook Vegetables Right After Purchase To Make Them Last Longer

We often think of vegetables as something we buy and then store in the crisper until it’s time to make a meal with them. Chef and food writer Tamar Adler suggests cooking your vegetables as soon as you get home from the supermarket to help them keep longer.

What’s the first step toward cooking and eating better this year? Perhaps you should start by learning how to boil water.

While that may not sound like much of a cooking technique, you will gain a new appreciation for the hidden potential of boiled food after reading the new book “An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace,” by the chef and food writer Tamar Adler. Placing a pot of water on a hot burner allows us to “do more good cooking than we know,” she writes.

Ms. Adler waits for a rapid boil and adds surprisingly large handfuls of salt, tasting until it’s reminiscent of ocean water. (People concerned about sodium can use less.) From that simple starting point, several meals can be created, from pasta adorned with gently cooked vegetables to a chicken, simmered and skimmed, cut up and served with a fresh salsa verde. The chicken leaves behind yet another flavorful dish: richly flavored broth, to be eaten hot with vegetables or added to other dishes the rest of the week.

To listen to Ms. Adler talk about cooking is to be drawn into a rhythmic dance where each step — from washing and chopping vegetables to cooking and seasoning the meal — flows effortlessly into the next, guided by the food itself, as well as by our own basic instincts about what tastes good.

A chapter called “How to Have Balance” focuses on bread; “How to Live Well” is devoted to beans. Her message is that cooking does not have to be complicated, and all anyone needs are a few basics to get started. In instructing readers on the art of intuitive cooking, Ms. Adler offers not just cooking lessons, but a recipe for simplifying life.

“There is this sense that to cook well means to be struck with inspiration,” said Ms. Adler, 34, whose credentials include stints at the restaurants Prune, in New York, and Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, Calif. “We think everything is supposed to be extraordinary.

“But in European and Asian food culture, food is simply supposed to be good and nourishing and enjoyable” — and, she added, far less stressful.

Why are so many of us intimidated by cooking? It may be that this convenience-food generation never got to see our mothers and grandmothers boiling and roasting meals without a recipe, turning the leftovers into hash or stew. Instead we are guided by cooking shows that celebrate the elaborate preparations and techniques that Ms. Adler calls “high-wire acts.”

“Anybody who grew up with a lot of home cooking around them knows that you can have eggs for dinner or that lentils can become pancakes tomorrow,” she said. “But sometimes we just don’t know that we can do that because they don’t do that on TV.”

One of her most important lessons is that we need to spend less time thinking about food and more time just enjoying it. Her suggestions about how to prepare vegetables contradict much of what we have been taught, or think we have.

For instance, while most of us stock our crispers with fresh vegetables and then spend the rest of the week racing to eat them before they turn brown, Ms. Adler buys up basketfuls of whatever vegetables are in season, and as soon as she gets home she scrubs off the dirt, trims the leaves, chops and peels, and then cooks and prepares all the vegetables at once — washing and separating lettuce leaves; drizzling cauliflower, beets and carrots with olive oil and roasting them in separate pans. Beet greens are sautéed, and chopped stems and leaves are transformed into pesto.
Many people, myself included, have long believed that vegetables are best if they are cooked just before they are served. But cooking vegetables as soon as you buy them essentially turns them into a convenience food, allowing them to keep longer and creating a starting point for a week’s worth of meals.
“We’re told that things need to be fresh,” Ms. Adler said, but too often “we all end up watching our food go bad, and then it doesn’t matter if it was fresh, because we didn’t get to eat it.”

Watching Ms. Adler cook vegetables is inspiring. (You can see her routine in two videos titled “How to Stride Ahead” on her Web site, tamareadler.com.) Roasted vegetables can be enjoyed immediately, but most will be refrigerated in jars for later in the week. Warmed to room temperature and drizzled with vinaigrette, they make a savory, earthy salad; or blended with broth and a splash of cream, they can be a hearty soup.

For another meal, the cooked vegetables might be used in a frittata or a warm sandwich. Cooked greens can be turned into a bubbling gratin, roasted vegetables are added to risotto, and everything left over can become an end-of-the-week vegetable curry.

The comforting lesson from “An Everlasting Meal” is that we already know plenty about feeding ourselves, and we don’t need to complicate things by trying to create something extraordinary every time we cook.

“I feel like people are being hit from all sides by a lot of confusing messages, and they are feeling like eating well is really hard,” Ms. Adler said. “This is not a question of expertise. Other than being an expert eater, which we all are by the time we start cooking, we’re already experts at knowing when things are done or whether they need more seasoning.”

Honey-roasted root vegetables

Ingredients
2 cups coarsely chopped peeled sweet potato (about 1 large)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped peeled turnip (about 2 medium)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped parsnip (about 2 medium)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped carrot (about 2 medium)
1/4 cup tupelo honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 shallots, halved
Cooking spray
Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°.

Combine all ingredients except the cooking spray in a large bowl; toss to coat. Place vegetable mixture on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender and begin to brown, stirring every 15 minutes. –Source: Cooking Light

Fruit and Vegetables with Bill & Sheila

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Honey Production Slumps in 2011

Posted on December 28, 2011 by bilrob

Honey Production Slumps in 2011

“I’ve been beekeeping for 30 years and this would have to be the worst year I’ve ever had by a long shot.”

David Leyland, who has bee hives in Chidlow, north-east of Perth, describes the type of season beekeepers in the state experienced in 2011.

Mr Leyland, who also chairs the WA Farmers Federation’s beekeeper section, says he’s only managed to produce a third of the honey he usually bottles.

“We’ve produced about 18 tonne of honey since June and normally we’d be looking at producing 50 to 60 tonnes quite comfortably,” he said.

“The reduction is an effect from the dry weather conditions we’ve had over the past few years.

“Although we’ve had good spring rainfall this year, the trees are still trying to recover from the drought.

“So they’re putting more effort into growing and they’re not secreting nectar or pollen, needed for the bees to pollinate and produce honey.”

It’s a story that’s mirrored across the state.

WA’s honey production has more than halved this year which is costing beekeepers tens of thousands of dollars.

Max Fewster was a beekeeper near Gingin, north of Perth, for more than 40 years before his sons took over his business in 2005.

He says the majority of the state’s beekeepers will be struggling to cover the costs of production this year.

“My boys are down anywhere between 40 and 50 per cent at least this year and in a rough estimate that’s about $80,000,” he said.

Drought conditions

While dry weather conditions typically affect other areas of the state’s primary industries on a seasonal basis, honey production is affected by longer term trends.

The West Australian Apiarist Society says the plants and trees which are needed for honey production have failed to blossom this year as a result of continuous dry weather over the past few years.

The society’s president Ian Beeson says without flowers or blossom, bees don’t have anything to pollinate and therefore can’t produce honey.

He says despite WA recording its eighth wettest Spring on record this year, the rain hasn’t encouraged flower growth, rather the plants have used the moisture to rejuvenate.

“The trees and plants have decided to go with more growth than flowers which has cut the number of blossoms that the bees can go and forage in and collect nectar from,” he said.

Mr Leyland says it’s a season the industry had been anticipating.

“The eucalypts seem to react later; last year, when all the farmers were upset about the drought conditions, we were lucky, we had good blossoms but we knew it was coming and it’s affected us this year,” he said.

Multi-tasking

Bees don’t only produce honey; they also pollinate two thirds of the state’s fruit and vegetable crops.

Mr Leyland says the beekeeping industry provides a valuable service to many sectors of the state’s agriculture industry.

“In terms of honey, the industry is worth just over $5 million but when you include incidental pollination and paid pollination, you’re looking at close to $100 million a year,” he said.

The University of Western Australia’s plant biology department’s Boris Baer says maintaining healthy bee populations is essential.

“The pollination service that [the] honey bee provides to the Australian agricultural sector is huge; about a third of the food we eat depends upon honeybee pollination,” he said.

“We need these little creatures to produce our food, and the pollination value of the honeybees is between $4 and $6 billion a year.”

Although some agriculturalists and horticulturalists pay beekeepers to pollinate their crops, a large section of the two industries still heavily rely upon native bee pollination or what is called incidental pollination.

Mr Leyland says the industry is trying to encourage more farmers to pay for pollination services.

“It’s important for growers to actually realise the importance of bees and to think about paying a beekeeper to have their crops pollinated by cultivated bees because they provide a much better service than feral bees,” he said.

Mr Fewster’s sons are already capitalising on the paid pollination market in America.

“The few beekeepers that actually make a living purely out of honey production is a drop in the ocean compared to the value of all primary production; bees are of huge value to the human race,” he said.

“For the last couple of years, my boys have been supplementing their income by importing bees into America which go into pollinate thousands of hectares of almond groves which require thousands of bee hives.”

Outlook

Professor Baer is conducting a short-term research fellowship which is focusing on strengthening the sustainability of the state’s bee industry.

He says maintaining healthy bee populations during poor honey seasons is essential to WA’s agricultural sector.

“In the long term we need to find news ways of how we can safeguard our bees to make sure that we have sufficient pollination in order to produce our food in the future.”

For Mr Fewster, the biggest challenge is keeping the bee populations alive and healthy until next year.

“At the moment, most of the bees have been transported down to Ravensthorpe, nine hours south because the weather conditions are better for feeding,” he said.

“We’ve got to keep the queens laying eggs so we’ve got bees in our hives.

“If we can keep them alive, hopefully the trees will respond well to the rain and we’re hoping they’ll put a new crop of buds out on the new wood that they’ve made this year.”

Mr Leyland is optimistic that the season will turnaround next year.

“The white gums and our marri trees have reacted to the better rainfall and have just grown, they’re now recovering from the dry conditions, so if we get good rain next year, it should be back to normal,” he said.

Mr Beeson is also hopeful.

“Many beekeepers are hoping to get good rains again next year which should prompt the trees to produce a lot more flower and having the moisture in the ground will also help to produce the nectar,” he said.

If that happens, bees will once again be able to produce honey in much greater volumes.

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The Miraculous Healing Powers of Honey

Posted on October 22, 2011 by bilrob

The Miraculous Healing Powers of Honey

The researchers enrolled 105 children, between ages 2 and 18, in their randomized, partially double-blind study. On the first night of the study, the children received no treatment. Parents then answered questions about their children’s sleep and cough, as well as the quality of their own sleep. The second night, the children were given either honey-flavoured cough syrup or honey or nothing at all. Parents then reanswered the questions in the survey. Parents whose children received the honey rated their kids’ sleep and symptoms as better and their own sleep as improved as well.

Darker honeys have more antioxidants than lighter honeys, and we wanted the best chance to see improvements, he says, noting that lighter honeys would probably also benefit kids. At least locally [buckwheat honey] is available. I can get it here at the local supermarket says lead study author Dr. Ian Paul, a researcher at Penn State College of Medicine.

Some of the kids who took honey did experience side effects, according to the study. The parents reported slightly more hyperactivity when their kids took honey, compared with when they took cough syrup.

But it’s also interesting to note that this is not the first time the sweet stuff has been looked to as a remedy. Honey has been used since the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to treat everything from wounds to insect bites. This usefulness can perhaps be attributed to the idea that an enzyme that bees add to the nectar produces hydrogen peroxide, an antibacterial agent.

I believe that recommending honey as a cough medicine has merits. It provides a safe option to using chemical based options, says Paul Doering, co-director of the Drug Information and Pharmacy Resource Centre at the University of Florida., adding that honey is part of a trend of recommending more commonplace traditional remedies for ailments.
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Like Your Tea Sweet? Add Honey Instead of Sugar

Posted on September 3, 2011 by bilrob

Like Your Tea Sweet? Add Honey Instead of Sugar

One of life’s purest pleasures is a cup of steaming tea. Some like it pure but most like it sweet. Adding sugar is by far the most common way of sweetening tea. Common table sugar (sucrose) is comprised of fructose and glucose. While sugar satisfies a natural craving, it is not without its downside.

Sugar is the quintessential source of energy and most foods, when digested, are metabolized by the body as basic sugar (glucose). It is a major source of calories in the diet. The body will save the excess energy in sugar as fat. While some stored fat is necessary, too much is undesirable and pose several health concerns especially for diabetics. Sugar also supports the growth of the bacteria that causes tooth decay.

A healthier alternative is honey. Honey is one of the oldest sweeteners used by man and was highly valued by ancient Egyptians for its medicinal and healing properties. It is a sweet, usually viscous, liquid made by bees from flower nectar and stored in the cells of the hive for food. Consumed fresh or after processing, it is usually used as a nutritive sweetener.

“Honey is the ultimate in products derived from herbs. It’s like liquid gold. Fashioned through an ingenious alliance between animal and plant kingdoms, honey delivers a diverse array of phytochemicals in one package. This bounty arrives courtesy of the industrious honeybee, who visits some 2 million flowers to manufacture just one pound of honey” said Dr.Gina Mohammed, a plant physiologist in Sault Ste Marie, Canada. “Honey blends exceptionally well with black and flavored teas and enhances its fragrance”, added Kim Yong, founder of Your Tea Place, an online tea site which focuses on tea and health.

A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, shows that the level of antioxidants of honey is comparable to that of many fruits and vegetables. And while you are unlikely to devour a cup of honey in lieu of broccoli, the golden liquid may be a respectable alternative to sugar and a healthy supplement to your diet. It has been found that honey lessens the ill effects of radiation therapy in patients with cancer of the head and neck, improves oral health, preserves food, boosts antioxidants and enhances athletic performance.

Researchers at the University of Illinois studied 25 healthy men who consumed various combinations of hot water, buckwheat honey, black tea and sugar. They found that serum antioxidant capacity increased by 7 percent within two hours of ingesting 2 cups of hot water containing about 4 tablespoons of honey. Those antioxidants also help your arteries as it reduces oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (known as “bad” cholesterol), a benefit which likely thwarts development of atherosclerosis. The findings also show that many varieties are full of phenols and flavonoids – known cancer fighters even more powerful than vitamin E.

So the next time you’re having a cup of tea, do your health a favor by added a spoonful of honey, nature’s liquid gold.

Food & Cooking – honey with Bill & Sheila

Honey – Important Health Facts!

Posted on August 26, 2011 by bilrob

Honey – Important Health Facts!

Honey is the most known apicultural product, it is a substance that the bees produce through a complicated process of elaboration, where they absorb the nectar and deposit it in their stomach, then go back to the beehive to deliver it, throwing up repeated times; this way ferments, acid and albumen are added to the nectar. It contains most of the essential mineral elements that our system needs. There have already been found, in the honey, more than 180 different nutritional substances.

The beekeeping is a very old activity. Evidences from Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece describe ancient beekeeping and the honey is also mentioned in the Bible. It was considered sacred, and was also used to pay taxes and debts. Besides all this, it was used to draw and paint as well. Honey contains proteins, essential minerals and vitamins. It is a food of elevated energy and is also known for its medicinal and therapeutic assets. Honey is a food of easy digestion and enthusiastically assimilated by humans, constituting a healthy source of energy.

Honey consumed as food is important for the balance of the biological process of the organism. It contains glucose and fructose, which goes directly into the blood, becoming an energetic product. Honey can be used as food, as a natural sweetener and as medicine. After some time of use, it assists in the control of rheumatism and arthritis, prevents all types of respiratory illnesses and helps in the digestion. Honey is also used on the skin and is an ingredient for some shampoos. It is used extensively in the cosmetic industry as well (creams, cleanness facemasks, tonics, etc.) because of its astringent and softening qualities.

Eating honey will improve your quality of life, since it stimulates and increases physical resistance; it is slightly sedative, discouraging insomnias; it helps in the healing, it is anti-septic, digestive and laxative, helping in the treatment of gastritis; it is an expectorant fighting the cough, also of smokers. Used externally, it speeds up the healing of wounds and minor burnings, besides hydrating the skin.

With honey – and nothing else –, Nigerian doctors were able to cure serious wounds, burnings and ulcers of skin in 59 patients, which were submitted previously to conventional treatments with antibiotics without any satisfying results. First, the doctors gathered samples of the wounds to be studied in laboratory. The results had shown that the infections were caused by common bacteria – therefore more resistant – as the Pseudomonad, found frequently in infections. After that, the honey was applied on the infected skin. One week later, no micro organism appeared in the laboratory examinations. For the reason that it is slightly acid, extremely viscous and absorbs water, the honey cleaned the wounds, diminished their size and protected them from new infections. According to the Nigerian doctors, honey also has the property of being a bactericidal agent.

It has been indicated to prevent, control or cure the following illnesses:

• Respiratory diseases
• Cramps
• Intestinal disturbances
• Digestive disturbances
• Throat irritation
• Urinary irritation
• Irritation of the eyes
• Dental caries
• Illnesses of the liver
• Rheumatic pains
• Physical fatigue
• Insomnia
• Skin burn
• Stomach ulcer, etc.

The flavour, aroma and colour of the honey differ according to its botanical origin, in accordance with the flowers from where the bee has removed the nectar to manufacture it. The climate, humidity and even the altitude will interfere in these characteristics of the honey. Usually, the clear honey presents weak flavour and aroma. The honey of darker coloration is richer in proteins and minerals.

Here goes an advice: honey fattens less than sugar. 1 tea-spoon or 5g of honey = 16,4kcal. It is also the best option for athletes. Biologists concluded that honey is the best source of carbohydrates and energy for athletes and mature people.

Honey Dijon Glazed Ribs

Makes 4 Servings
3-4 pounds pork back ribs
1 cooking onion (chopped)
1/4 cup Maille Red Wine Vinegar
1 stalk celery (chopped)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. peppercorns
Maille Honey Dijon Mustard

Place ribs in a large pot and add onion, vinegar, celery, bay leaf, peppercorns and enough water to cover ribs. Bring ribs to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Continue to simmer ribs for 45 minutes. Drain off liquid and remove the ribs. Start barbeque and when hot, start grilling ribs. Baste with Maille Honey Dijon mustard for 10-15 minutes and watch carefully to make sure the mustard does not get too scorched.

Recipe developed for Maille, courtesy of Virginia Marr, executive chef at Pillar & Post Inn (Niagara on the Lake, Ontario). Additional recipes can be found at www.maille.com

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Should vegans avoid eating honey?