The Sweet Benefits of Cold Packing

While in Tempe, AZ to cheer on my sister as she completed the Ironman there Sunday – so impressed with her – we stumbled upon the farmer’s market. In addition to discovering some excellent, micro-roasted coffee from Cartel Coffee Lab, we came across a guy and girl selling honey. At first I thought it was just another flavored honey display. However, the couple behind the display of honey bottles began to explain how this was no ordinary honey. They did such a good job of explaining their products that they convinced my wife and I that this was something quite special.

What impressed us about the honey was learning that when honey is heated over 120F degrees it breaks down into a simple sugar. Furthermore, all of the good enzymes are killed. As far as the body is concerned, you might as well be having table sugar at that point. To combat this problem, Honey & Gold uses a process called cold-packing. Instead of heating the honey to a high temperature (sometimes 300F degrees), they keep the honey cool.  While it’s more laborsome, the results are a full-flavored, full-enzymatic honey with natural insulin properties.

Endurance Benefits

As someone with dreams of being an ultrarunner one day, I was especially interested when I heard that using a cold-packing process likely translates into an increased athletic performance. Zack shared that studies were done of long-living folks in Russia and why they were living so long. It turned out that the bee-keepers who consumed raw honey each day were living the longest. This lead to more research and some interesting findings.

In an email Zack explained, “Honey is an ideal builder of glycogen stores because its sugar is composed of a 1:1 ratio of glucose to fructose. The fructose unlocks the proper enzymes in the liver to allow the glucose to store as glycogen. This can profoundly increase recovery time as well as provide an ideal pre race fuel. Furthermore there has been research done with athletes to ascertain if honey could be used as an ergogenic aid (athletic performance aid). The athletes who consumed protein shakes with honey had more stable blood sugar, glycogen restoration, faster recovery, and more sustained energy than the group who consumed sugar or maltodextrin with protein shakes.” Some good food for thought indeed.

I did a little more research online and found that athletes during the ancient Olympics, ate special foods, such as honey and dried figs, to enhance their performance. Further explanation how honey is able to provide a superior carbohydrate source while maintaining optimal blood sugar levels can be found here.

Q. & A. with Zack Funke of Honey & Gold

Back at my parents’ house a few days later we began sampling the honey on different foods. The Avocado Honey (bees feasting on Avocado blossoms, not honey with avocado!) is a very dark color and tastes like molasses. It is incredibly good on toast, in coffee, and on oatmeal, grits, or the like. The other honey we bought was a Creamy Wildflower. This honey is a light, creamy color and is good on just about anything. There were at least 15 more types of honey on display at the market with all variations of color from dark brown to gold to yellow to cream.

Wanting to learn more about the honey and company, I asked Zack a few questions via email. His responses follow.

RQ: How did you get into honey?

H&G: I initially got into honey after experimenting with a dietary shift to predominately raw foods for a period of about seven months in 2007 while living in San Francisco. I experienced a dramatic increase in energy and clarity during this period and realized the vital importance of introducing highly enzymatic food into my diet. Throughout this period I primarily used raw agave syrup as a sweetener in smoothies and desserts. I found after prolonged usage of agave (derived from the same cactus that is fermented into tequila) that I was having highs and lows in my energy.

After researching agave more I found that while it may not necessarily register a high glycemic response, the abnormally high fructose content can be taxing on the liver. This led to me to look into alternative sweeteners for daily usage in my diet. Honey, being the most ancient sweetener, immediately piqued my interest. The ancient Egyptians used the substance ceremonially and as a food and they seemed to have some things figured out! Honey really is the most nutritious, mineral rich, antioxidant packed, enzymatically active, and rejuvenating food in existence. Unlike most sweeteners it actually dramatically enhances health rather than degrade it.

RQ: What makes Honey & Gold honey unique?

H&G: The unique aspect of my honey is that it is all hand packed and bottled without the use of centrifuges or heat. Many raw honeys on the market are heated to about 110-120 degrees to help facilitate the bottling process as it makes the honey easier to pour. While still a superior product to commercial honeys on the market (many are heated to 300 degrees!) these honeys do lose some enzymes as well as known and unknown nutritional factors. For instance, honey that is never heated above 94 degrees possesses an insulin like substance that can help restore insulin functioning and help rebuild pancreatic function. This very delicate factor is lost with even mild heat. Bees don’t consume honey that is heated to more than 94 degrees. Neither should we!

RQ: What are your goals for the company?

H&G: My goal is to expand the current line of hand packed honeys to different varietals. I want to work with bee keepers and restore this packaging process. While costly and time consuming, I would like to have consumers able to consume truly raw honey that possesses the true magic of the substance. I also want to create infused honeys with raw wild-crafted spices and herbs.

Health foodie, which is the parent company to honey and gold, will be releasing and producing foods that satisfy both gourmands and health aficionados. Truly gourmet food can be mindfully created to enhance the health of our nation. The French seem to grasp this concept! Research has shown that many rich foods thought to be detrimental to health, such as butter, cheese, and liver actually contain vital fat soluble nutrients that are critical to health. This has inspired me to supply foods that delight the palate and nourish the body.

All of Honey & Gold’s honeys are organic. Zack works closely with the bee keepers to make sure the best quality honey is sourced.

It will be interesting to watch as Honey & Gold and The Health Foodie grow and expand and deliver more products. DM973UBY9AJ3

What do you think?