Replied By Honey (Midway City, Ca) on 01/27/2011

This thread has made me want to throw out any and all products made with artificial sweeteners and or refined sugar and only use Raw Organic Honey for everything! I believe Honey is Liquid Gold, Serum from God, Nature's Miracle Elixir. I also believe that the old adage, "An apple a day, keeps the Doctor away" is true! Thus, the many healthy benefits of ACV! Apples have to be the ultimate fruit in the Garden of Eden!

I want to suggest to Janie D, or reiterate what Richard and one other said about the pollens and antigens from allergens that honey bees are exposed to.

Raw Organic Honey works like a vaccine. It exposes the body to a small amount of the allergen which is too small to cause a reaction to the individual whom has a particular allergy to that pollen. (There are significantly fewer spores in the honey, compared to sniffing a flower or plant directly.)

The cause of your itching could be that the particular honey that you are eating has significantly higher amounts of the particular trigger that you are allergic to. However, this reaction of severe itching is a rather severe reaction to an allergy and I would definitely suggest getting tested by an allergist.

The test is fairly simple. You go in to the office, lie on your stomach and the Practitioner will write approximately 60 numbers on your back. They will then drop a single drop of each different plant based reactor on your back and slightly scratch your skin. (This is more of a tickle than a prick, since they do not have to break the skin for it to react. ) They also put a control drop in a separate area on your back, which will definitely positively react with your skin. They will wait 20 minutes and come back to see which number reacts and that is what you are allergic to! I guarantee it will be the plant that was visited by the honey bees that produced the organic honey that you are reacting to! Problem solved.

Solution, DO NOT GIVE UP HONEY! Find another brand of Organic Honey, or stick to Raw honey. The only difference is Organic honey must be produced, processed and packaged in a way that follows the regulations for organic guidelines. Natural honey is produced using traditional methods. Both are good.

Raw honey is the best, it has not been pasteurized, filtered or heated. Pasteurization is Americas way of making the Honey 'pretty & smooth' by overheating it. Thus, removing the honey's natural capability to crystallize (which is not a bad thing, meaning, crystallized honey is GOOD! ) Pasteurization also removes many of the natural enzymes, antibodies and antigens that honey is known for it's positive benefits. America has a weird thing with ruining natural foods, like milk, oats, wheat, flour, sugar, etc. by over-processing it.

Just try raw, natural, organic, (even crystallized) honey. To make it pour better, heat the 'glass jar' that it should come in, in hot water. (NOT MICROWAVE! )

HTH!

~Erin, a Honey advocate!