Honey: Nature's Wonder Sugar | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

All right, everybody. Chuck here. wrapping up our Think Spring playlist. with number 10, All About Honey. Honey colon nature's. wonder sugar. And if you think you knew a thing or two. about honey, think again because this is. some honey-centric goodness and you're. going to learn a lot of stuff that you. never knew about honey. For instance, you can put it on toast with butter and. it's delicious. So, I hope everyone enjoys honey,

nature's wonder sugar. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart Radio. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh, there's Chuck. Jerry's here, barely, and this is Stuff You Should. Know. Well, we should explain what that means. It's very ambiguous and strange, don't.

you think? Should we though? Jerry had a poor internet connection and. was a few minutes late. That's it. She's. barely here. Yeah, mystery solved, joke. killed. It feels tenuous, too. That she's just barely hanging on by her. fingernails? Well, no. I think I don't. know. That internet connection just. sounded dodgy. That's what I'm saying. She came in like. Yeah. Houston, we have a problem. You know that internet. Apollo 13. Uh I'm pretty excited about this one.

Me, too. I even ate some honey for lunch. today. Uh I had a little dab at breaky at. breaky. Okay. Uh which I don't usually. eat, but I ate another toast with a. a spun honey spread. Good for you, man. So, uh spun honey, are you talking about. the creamed honey? Is that what I'm. hearing now? Yeah, creamed, spun, or uh I think. there's one more word for it, but we. always called it spun honey growing up. And boy, is it good. And guess what? It. is just as healthful.

uh has just as many healthful properties. as regular honey. It doesn't Spinning it. or the the process of getting it to that. state doesn't change it at all. Yeah, it's like honey in a different format. Like if you had a really great song like. um. uh. Play That Funky Music White Boy, and you. had it on eight-track, but you also had. it on record. It's the same song. It's. just in two different formats, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I like that. I I really dislike. that song, though. I really do, too, actually. Um although.

I have a great memory of it. Um. uh I guess I was sometime around. Piedmont Park, it must have been St. Patrick's Day. This like car full of. dudes came up. They were wearing like. green wigs and everything. They were. ready to throw down for St. Patrick's. Day. And they were blaring that song, and like everybody in the car was. singing it, having like the best time. And then Right on the money. It totally. was. And then as they got out of the. car, all of them are like just like. boogying down the street still like. going to the bar. And one of them like.

stopped kind of and like turned around. and and made eye contact with me. It was. I think good He'll be embarrassed for. the rest of his life about that. I. didn't even stare him down. He just He initiated that embarrassing. situation. So you he you could tell he. felt some shame because you were just. looking at him. A little bit. And again, not staring them down. You know me, I'll. stare somebody down, but not these guys. This was This was He initiated it. But. hey, good for them. I bet they had a. blast.

So honey, I think is what we were. originally talking about, right? Yeah, and the Grabster helped us with this. one, and this was uh my commission. because Emily is very much into. uh you know, she's gotten very much into. her herbs and growing herbs and and. spices natural remedies and things, and. honey is a big part of that. Uh and. although we are not beekeeping yet, that. could be on the docket for us. I hope. so, man. I think beekeeping is one of. the neatest things you can do. I'll bet. it's so relaxing.

Yeah, she's she's interested in it and. uh. so that might happen. Tell me how it. goes if she does that. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I'll follow up. Um we've actually. done an entire episode on beekeeping. Yeah. It was one of our best if you ask. me. Certainly our most homespun episode. by far. Um so we're not going to talk too much. about beekeeping, but you pretty much. can't discuss honey without also talking. at least a little bit about beekeeping. It's so beekeeping adjacent that it. would be weird to not mention it. But I.

I just want to say if you have not heard. our beekeeping episode or you haven't. heard it in a while, go listen to it. because it's a really, really good app. Did we do bees and beekeeping? Yes. Yeah, we've done bees, beekeeping, now. honey. Yeah, and one of our TV show. episodes was about bees. It was. One of the sillier episodes, I think. >> It was. I wrote that episode. Yeah, that's probably why it was silly. I. think you had a good eye for uh. the absurd for that show. Thanks a lot. And I mean that in a complimentary way.

>> Oh, I took it that way. Okay. I love. absurdist comedy and you nailed it. Um. so let's talk a little bit about honey. Ed helped us with this one, I think you. just said. And I think he did about the. best, most um clinical description of. honey that you could possibly come up. with. Uh where's that? Was that like his. definition? Yeah. I mean, he talks about. basically what honey is and how it's. made. Oh, so you're just saying start. from Take it from the top? Basically. But I thought the way he did it was.

like, here's here it's totally. unambiguous, Yeah, yeah. >> completely understandable, Agreed. and. it's just a it's a good descriptor of. honey and how it's made. Yeah, this is. this is good stuff by the Grabster. Uh. so yeah, a bit of a refresher though, but we all know that bees like to fly. around to different flowers. >> Mhm. and stick their face in them and. dance all over them and do kind of fun. things. Uh. and there is a sugary liquid called. nectar. in flowering plants and bees are wild.

about the stuff. for a lot of reasons. Uh. one reason is like, you know, sometimes. they just drink it. Like they want to. save that stuff in what's called their. crop or their honey stomach to bring. back to the hive. That's their main job. But when they're out there working all. day, they're also like, "Let me take a. little bit of this sweet stuff down for. me." I wonder if there's any bees out. there, seriously, that have like a bit. of a problem with nectar. Yeah, it goes from one for me, three for. you to three for me, one for you. Kind. of. I wonder if there's some that like.

just kind of drink it more than others. There's got to be. >> Maybe. Sure. Yeah. So, um yes, but for. the most part when they're out there. harvesting and foraging for uh nectar, they're using their um crop, a honey. stomach. Which they can store, I think, um a. thousand flowers worth of nectar in. That is a lot. A lot of nectar. Um which. is weird because I saw that it can grow. to about a hundred times its size. So, a. hundred times its initial size holding a.

thousand flowers worth of nectar. That's just a That's a very efficient um. organ. And it just sits there. It's not. doing anything. It's not digesting. Um it's just basically for carrying back. to the hive. By the way, I had the most amazing dad joke that I. failed to tell. What was it? Should I tell it now? Of course. When you said it, it just popped into my. head. That's where I That's why I know. that I'm just on the way down. comically. Well, that means the podcast.

is on the way down, too. Oh, yeah, for. sure. Okay. Uh. you were talking about the bees having. the problem with drinking too much. honey. >> Mhm. I said, "Well, you know, they could. always just go to a bee bee meeting.". Oh, boy. That was good. That wasn't bad. That was a really good one. I don't. know. All right. Well, I would love to. hear from people. Terrible or or. borderline genius. Okay, well, I'm. registering the first vote and I'm going. to say somewhere in the middle of those. two. Okay. I was about to say there's no in. between, but of course there is. Okay. Uh all right. So, you where did you.

leave off with eating pollen? That they. take the nectar back to their their. their nest, their hive. Okay. Well, then. I'll chime in here with a pollen part. >> Okay. Uh bees are obviously accidentally. transferring this pollen, but you know, some of this pollen is getting eaten and. mixed in with that honey, too. >> Mhm. Uh because they love it cuz it's. got protein and fat. >> Mhm. And so, what you end up with when. you go back to the hive is a gut a or. crop or a honey stomach full of this. nectar, a little bit of pollen, there's.

probably like just dust and things from. the air, >> Mhm. and they start puking it up into. each other's mouths, chewing on it some, puking it around, transferring it to one another until. it's ready for storage. Right. Which sounds gross. It is, but Ed makes. a really good point here that um they're. not actually It's not actually bee. vomit. Honey's not bee vomit. I've I've. said that before, so I think I'm kind of. being inadvertently taken to task by Ed.

Because again, they. >> Oh, did you really? Oh, yeah, definitely. I've said that every chance. I've ever had. But the the again, the the bee crop, the. honey crop um is not um digesting. So, what they're re- regurgitating is. virtually the same thing that's going. in. So, it's not really puke. It's just. something else. But yes, they are. transferring it from mouth to mouth. And. as each bee takes another mouthful of. nectar and then passes it around, they're chewing it for a little bit. And. one of the things they're doing is.

absorbing some of the moisture inside. They're also mixing in their own. enzymes. And what they're doing in that. sense they're they're transforming. nectar into honey. So honey is. a mixture of bee enzymes, flower nectar, pollen and. that's dehydrated and combines to form. brand new compounds and that's that's. what honey is. Yeah, and as we'll see. there there can be other things in there.

because it's nature. and these are sort of messy although. beautiful processes. So as as you'll see when we talk about. like completely raw unfiltered honey, there may be some bee legs in there. Sure. and some other little bee but. there may be a piece of a wing. because you know, this is just how. things go out there in the wild. >> And sometimes some bees have really bad. days. Yes, that's when they go to the bee bee. meetings. So. there's there's another way that what. we've been talking about is blossom.

honey. What most people think of when. they think of honey. There's actually. one other way to make honey and do you. remember in our ant episode where ants. are ranchers of aphids and the aphids. suck the the juice out of plants and. produce honeydew? Well, bees go find that honeydew in some. cases and can actually make honey from. the sap of the stems, leaves and and. like bark of trees and other plants and. they basically harvest that like they. harvest nectar from flowers and so. there's a whole there's an entirely.

different way to produce honey that. comes straight from the plant not even. from the flowers and that's called. honeydew honey. Honeydew honey. Have you ever had that? I don't think I have. I was looking it. up to see like what some types of. honeydew honey are and I couldn't find. many and nothing that I found sounded. like anything I've had before. Okay. We should point out that not all bees. produce honey obviously. There are a lot. of different species of bees and we went. over those in great detail in the bee.

episode. but the honeybee is from the genus Apis. And there are some other bees that do. make make honey, but like the the the. chief honeybee is the western honeybee. This is the. the the stud when it comes to making. great honey. This is the one we. domesticated. This is the one that makes so much. honey. They have enough for them. Uh. they have enough for us. And everybody. is happy basically. Um which is one of.

the things I love about beekeeping. It seems like one of the. jeez, few things where we extract. something from nature. for ourselves where there's enough to go. around. And if you do it in the right. way, it's uh. it doesn't harm the thing that that gave. it to you. >> Yeah, that is kind of a beautiful thing. about it. And as we'll see, the fact. that honey exists. is kind of miraculous. And that's just. kind of like the cherry on the top, Chuck, that we can harvest honey without. harming or um.

the bees or taking some of their head. stash for us. Like they just make a. little extra for us and we can take. that. I think it's wonderful, too. So, yeah, you you know, you mentioned we. have a whole episode on beekeeping, but. um as a short refresher, this has been. happening for a long time. Um they were. people were collecting honey. um. you know, in. the Mesolithic period. So, there were. like cave drawings that depict this. stuff. So, we've always liked the honey. as humans. Uh and then, you know,

there's a belief that it may have just. like beekeeping may have happened by. accident when a hive maybe set up in a a. jar or basket or something that was. outside at somebody's place and they. went, "Hey, wait a minute. Like this. awesome honey is now in this jar on my. back porch. Like I wonder if we could do. this like intentionally and do it on. purpose." And they kind of just started. doing it. That's what the thought is, at. least. >> and they think that originally maybe. some of the earliest earliest artificial.

hives were um. some sort of clay pot or something that. they repurposed for that. Um sometimes. maybe they came across a hive and. they're like, "This is pretty firmly. attached to this stick. I'm just going. to take the whole stick home with me." I. hope. >> Farm it like that, you know? Um yeah, there's there's. regardless at some point somebody. probably just stumbled upon this and. then in very short order. um it started to spread. Um they think. that beekeeping at least goes back um.

about 5,000 years ago. Um there's. evidence of it in Egypt, the Indus. Valley, and Mesopotamia. And then China. about 800 years after that evidence of. beekeeping uh starts up. And you would. guess the people of China and the people. of Mesopotamia may not have been in. contact at the same time or at that. time. So, it's really possible that. beekeeping just kind of independently. grew up or evolved in different. societies and cultures around the world.

independently. Yeah, and it was something cuz you're. using. like clay jars and things like you were. saying, you didn't need to forge metal, it wasn't super expensive, it was. something that uh. there was a low barrier to entry, I. guess, is what you would say these days. >> Yeah, totally. So, and it was really. delicious and as we'll soon find out. super beneficial. So, it became a big deal. Yeah. Um one. of the earliest artificial hives is. still. um pretty much the symbol for a beehive.

if you look at any. uh AA Milne Winnie the Pooh. illustrations. >> Yeah. Um. like it's called it's it's basically a a. cone a basket-y cone. turned upside down. So, you take an ice. cream cone, turn it upside down and the. ice cream part, make it kind of bubbly, and there you go. That's a skep. Yeah, that's great. Totally. >> why where you get your beehive hairdo is. named after these things. >> Mhm. And uh you know, things just advance. from there. Uh and we'll talk a little.

bit about that later, but I say we take. a break now. >> Okay. And then talk about what's in. honey and what makes it so good for us. Sounds good. Learning stuff with Joshua and Charles. Stuff you should know.

Okay, so the question of what is in. honey is very easy to answer because. it's almost all sugar. Uh there is some water in there, although you know, like we mentioned. part of the. um process of getting. uh to the honey state is to remove as. much moisture as possible, but you still.

need some moisture. Um so it's, you know, something that you. can squirt out of a a plastic bear. Sure. Uh but it's. >> later make a bong out of. I think most everyone that was in. college when True Romance came out. probably tried that. >> Totally. And by the way, so long sixth. grade classes that were just listening. to this episode. Poor teacher who just ran to the front. of the class. and stopped. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I'm sorry. What's a bong?

Um. Was that Ralph Wiggum? It was. It was a. pretty good one, too. So it's mostly sugar and it's, believe. it or not, it's mostly simple sugar. Uh fructose and glucose. There are some. complex sugars, but that's not to say. just because honey is. uh mainly just sugar and simple sugar. that it's not complex because it really. is. It is super complex. It's again, the. word miraculous just keeps bringing to. mind. And I'm definitely not one of. those intelligent design people. I just.

think honey is something really special. though. And so like yes, it does have the simple. sugars. It has very complex sugars. Let. me throw out a couple of these names. just to kind of blow your mind. >> All right. >> Uh there's maltopentaose. Okay. I didn't add the extra T in there. I wanted to so bad. Galactose. That's an amazing name. There's also. isomaltotriose. Nice. >> These are not your average everyday. sugars like fructose and glucose, both. of which are found in honey. But that's.

just the sugars. And again, the simple. sugars combine with other enzymes in the. bees' mouths to create these much more. sophisticated sugars, some of which have. like actual protective health properties. we found. But that's just the sugars. There's also amino acids, enzymes, polyphenols, flavonoids. And when you. start looking at all of the different. things that pop up in honey, that's in. honey, and you look at each one individually, and you look them up, you will find that. they do all sorts of amazing things. And.

when you put all of it together, you. just can't help but step back and say. honey is miraculous. Yeah, and let's. have a spoonful. Yeah, exactly. That's. the second thought that follows. Uh it. is it has In fact, you mentioned amino. acids. It has all nine all nine. essential amino acids, which are the ones that we need that we. don't make in our own body. Womp womp. Uh so we have to eat them. Um it is and we'll get to the healthy. stuff in like 12 seconds, but we do need.

to mention that one of the other great. things about honey. is that it's I don't know about last. forever, maybe. I know they pulled honey. out of like Egyptian tombs and. reconstituted it to where it was fine. So maybe it does last forever, but it is. acidic. It has antibacterial properties. So, that means honey will last you a. long, long time. And if you find an old, hard, you know, lump of honey in a jar in your house. that you forgot about, >> Mhm. you can probably make that honey. awesome again with very little effort.

Yeah, supposedly what you do is you just. throw it in that jar, and you take that. jar and you put it in like a bath of. very hot tap water. Do not heat it up on. the stove. Just put it in hot tap water, and very slowly that that chunk of honey. will turn back into liquid gold, aka. honey. Yeah, there's there's a lot of mixed. messaging around. honey being toxic. >> Mhm. if it's heated beyond a certain. point. >> Sure. Uh because the, you know, there there's.

ancient wisdom that says it becomes. toxic. Other people these days say, "No, it. doesn't." So, I was like, you know, I. mean, surely there's a study. about this. Sure. And I didn't really. find one. I found one about lab rats and. the honey heated with ghee. Okay. >> But that wasn't only honey. >> That sounds kind of good. And. it does, doesn't it? But I don't know if. I just didn't have time to find the. study cuz it seems like a simple enough. thing to research. Like you heat the. honey Yeah. and and.

feed it to a monkey, and see if it dies. So, I'm kidding, by the way. But the. thing is, Chuck, is you raised something. that came up for me later on that I'll. just put here. Like, the stuff we do to. animals is unconscionable. A hundred years from now, our cohort is. going to be looked at as just so Yeah. >> barbaric. And one of the things that. kind of raised my hackles was. as as we'll see later on, one of the. things they think honey can help with is.

neurological disorders or mental. imbalances. And they test that stuff on. rats. And one of the things they found. was that um in rats it recovers hopeless. behavior, sorry, in mice that have. undergone restraint stress for 21 days. And I was like, restraint stress doesn't. sound very good. What is that? They put. the mouse in a tube where it can't move. any of its. limbs or body or anything. >> And they kept it there for 21 days. And.

you think. being put in a tube as a human being for. 21 days where you couldn't move, like I. can barely breathe just saying that out. loud, right? >> Yeah. That's 21 human days. Imagine what 21. days is in the length of a a mouse's. life. And then by the way, after they. studied the mouse after taking out of. the tube, they probably killed it. shortly after that. So that mouse's. entire life was spent. under restraint stress in a tube. And. this is just one of the myriad things. that we do to animals. And the more I.

just kind of come across the stuff. casually mentioned in the really dry. clinical tone in peer-reviewed papers, the more I'm just like, this is. I don't know that we can justify this. And yes, we've come up with so many. amazing things to help humanity along, but I really think we should be. we should be allocating a significant. amount of our research efforts to. figuring out how to not use animals to. come up with those same amazing. breakthroughs because it's just wrong. It's cruel and wrong, and there's.

there's really basically no. justification for it in the greater. scheme of things. And that's my soapbox. I think that's your first soapbox moment. of 2023. Oh, it definitely is now that. you mention it. Sure. All right. That. means we're going to toast uh. some amaro. Clink. As that is a good for your body as well. Uh-huh. What's your amaro that you like? >> Congratu- You know, I got a few of them. That's going to be a future like very. near future topic, by the way. >> Oh, okay, cool. Cuz I've I've very into.

amaro. Mine is Montenegro. Montenegro is fantastic. >> is so good. And it's really good to mix. cocktails with, too. It sure is. A little bourbon and some. amaro or some rye and amaro. A little. bit of that, it'll fix it. It'll fix a. mouth that's been in um restraint stress. for 21 days right up. Some uh orange bitters, little shake of. that. >> Yeah, it's good stuff. All right. >> Even just also Chuck, by the way, just a. little bit of amaro Montenegro, like it. uh I think an ounce of that and some um.

good uh seltzer is really good on its. own, too. >> That's a digestif and a half. >> It definitely is. Yeah, that's great. Uh. you know what that recently I went to uh. LA just for the day to see our friend. Ben Harrison. Mhm, yeah. And uh our our. friend and uh booking agent Josh Lingren. and our uh my friend Adam Pranica, you'd. love Adam, you just haven't hung out. with him much, but we went to Musso and. Frank. and. I'll just say this and I haven't been. drinking much lately, but we had a day.

And we're way too drunk to be in Musso. and Frank. I could tell from your. Instagram posts from it. Yeah, it was it. was. >> looks really happy in these photos.". This great big meal and drinks and all. this stuff at one of the oldest. restaurants in Hollywood. And at the. very end uh Ben Harrison just shouts. out, "Well, is that it?" We're like, "Yes, nothing else." And Ben went, "Four. amaros.". Oh, yeah? So, that's how we ended our. meal. Wow. Which is supposed to help with a. hangover. So, let's not blow all of our. knowledge on amaro right here. Well put,

Chuck. Jerk. All right. So, health qualities of. honey is where we left off 10 minutes. ago. >> Mhm. Uh there are lots of health benefits and. there are lots of studies. that back this up, which is great. Um. there are medicinal uses that have been. academically studied and and verified, so this isn't like, you know, witchy. hokum or woo-woo stuff like that. Honey. is really, really good for you and we've. known this for a long time. And one of. the things that honey is great for is if. you have allergies.

If you they they did studies where they. looked over the course of a couple of. months during allergy season and it had. significant reductions in what's called. rhinitis. Rhinitis. >> Rhinitis, which is, you know, stuffy. nose, sneezing, allergic sort of qualities. >> Fear of rhinoceri. And this was like quite a bit of honey. I think it was 1 g of honey per kilogram. of body weight. That's a lot of honey. It's a lot of honey, but it works and.

you know, it's better than. some dumb allergy medication. So, you. remember our immunotherapy episode from. very early on. Mhm. We talked a lot. about eating honey to get over allergies. and it totally makes sense cuz you're. exposing yourself to the local pollen. That's why people who say it's actually. works to get yourself over allergies say. it won't it won't work unless you are. eating local honey meaning like within. 20 or I think 30 mi of where you live. because you you're exposing yourself.

little by little to that pollen and your. body's like, "Oh, this is this stuff's. not that bad. We won't give you any more. allergies." Yeah, and there's a lot of. reasons to eat local honey. And eat. locally period. not the least of which is that's just. how it was for. gazillion years. You ate what was near you because you. couldn't get anywhere else and that's. just sort of the better way to eat. Yeah, I've really gotten into green. grapes lately. They're just so good and. they're so good for you. You just always. have like a bowl of them out and we just.

left grape season. Oh. And the stuff. that's out now is just. it's so bad. It just like you put in. your mouth and there's no like pop to. it. It just mushes and I'm like, "This. is not any good." Yeah, it is like an. eyeball. It's really it's like a rotten. eyeball basically. So, I'm I'm off of grapes. So, to find a. grape replacement until they come back. in season. Grape replacement is not a. bad band name. Actually, it is a bad. band name, but I could see someone. naming their band that. That seems like. a side project band name. Right. Okay.

Uh what about in uh inflammation? That's, you know, inflammation we've. talked a lot about. That's. it's not the root cause of every problem. humans have, but inflammation is one of. the leading causes of all of a lot of. problems that humans have. >> Definitely. I think we need to do an. episode on that. Yeah, totally. >> But yeah, I mean, it's behind. cardiovascular. issues. Uh your blood pressure might be. high. Um you might have gut problems, arthritis, some types of cancer. And. it's your body basically mounting this.

immune response that is overblown, and. so you're suffering as a result, and it. has all these terrible um. effects. Well, the flavonoids that I. mentioned um are there's a ton of. flavonoids. Five I think like 30. different flavonoids found in basically. all types of honey just a varying. degrees, depending on what flowers it. came from. And they are antioxidants. We've talked about antioxidants um and. whether or not they they actually work. or not. But the jury's still kind of. out, but there are some things that.

flavonoids do that are like, "This is. just demonstrably effective." One of the. things they do is go to the genes that. produce inflammatory proteins and say, "Nope, not today. You just You just rest. easy. Stop making those things." So, they block expression of inflammatory. proteins. That's just one of the things. that you can find in honey. Yeah. A a pretty big one, if you ask me. Sure. Uh if you want kind of one of the king. daddies of healthful honeys, uh you've.

probably heard of manuka honey. Um it seems to have. uh. I don't know about exploded, but it. seems to have really garnered a lot more. um popular in popularity. Garnered. popularity? Whatever. You know what I'm saying. >> Sure. In more recent years, partially because. of marketing and PR, uh but partially. because manuka honey is really good for. you. Uh this is a monofloral honey, which means uh as as we'll talk about a. a bit more later, that it comes from a. single flower as much as possible. Mhm. Uh.

from New Zealand, and it's got a pretty short uh period in. which this flower flowers, and that makes it a more rare honey, that makes it more expensive, of course. >> Mhm. But manuka honey kind of does. all the things that honey does times, you know, with a plus afterward. Yeah, supposedly the active ingredient for. manuka honey's antimicrobial properties. is um methylglyoxal. Um it's a word as ugly as it sounds. spelled out, but it has about 100 times.

the amount that other types of honey. have. And um that's one of the reasons why. they're everybody's so bully on manuka. honey. I think the other reason is. because it is very rare. The manuka. shrub grows in fairly remote isolated. regions of New Zealand, so it's hard to. get, and that means it's very expensive, so you can sell it for a lot of money. So, anything you can say is manuka. honey, you can kind of hype, but there. does seem to be some some actual like. reality behind the hype.

Yeah, like there there are people who do. this and uh. who just like take a spoonful of manuka. honey every day as if they're taking. their vitamins in the morning or. something like that. >> For sure. And there's another one that's. kind of come up recently that has been. rivaling manuka's tualang honey. It. grows in Malaysia. The thing is manuka. honey is a monofloral honey. As we'll. see, it's just made from the manuka the. flowers of the manuka shrub. Tualang um. is called jungle honey. Like it's just. made from whatever's flowering in.

Malaysia, but supposedly the flowers. that are growing in the jungles of. Malaysia have a lot of amazing. properties, too, cuz people are saying. this tualang, it's the hot new product. and so long manuka, you're so over and. done with. Yeah, jungle honey is a good. song title. Yeah, for sure. Or maybe I'm just thinking jungle. boogie. No, jungle honey sounds good. You put honey in with any other word and. it's going to make it more appealing I. think for sure. I love the word jungle.

It's one of my favorites. >> Yeah, you said earlier you were starting. your honey file. I was like you should. call all files your honey file. Maybe I will. Uh honey's also so good topically. Um. you can put honey, especially something. like manuka honey, on a skin knee or something like that. Uh cuts, any kind of stubborn wounds, uh it's going to help out with. Um. they've done meta-studies on putting. honey on topically and a lot of these. were.

uh it seems like from studies on. diabetic foot wounds is what Ed found. But, you know, it healed faster. Uh. there was less inflammation. Apparently, it can reduce nasty odors. And even in diabetic foot wounds, helped. reduce the need for amputation. Yeah, um. apparently, that's with just about any. honey you could use for wound healing, not just manuka. I saw a paper that said actually you. might not want to use manuka because. that methylglyoxal. is something that might actually prevent.

um a a diabetic foot ulcer from healing. because it's so potent. It might. actually like kill off like the the the. new cells that are trying to form. Oh. wow. Other honey has been shown in this. honey in general that it actually does. help heal diabetic foot ulcers and. really any kind of wound. But, the. reason they say diabetic ulcers is. because they have so much trouble. healing because there's so little. circulation being led to that wound site. that it just basically just persists and.

you slather some honey on there, you can. say goodbye stubborn wound, goodbye. Uh we already talked about blood. pressure some, but we should note that. some of the studies. uh have found that it reduces. hypertension. in women and not men, and that's not to. say that it can't in men, but it's in. you know, Ed points this out very. astutely that honey it's just there's a. lot of studies and meta-studies and. things, but you know, it's something. that bees make in nature uh and that.

humans collect, so it they aren't always. the most consistent results when it. comes to studies, and and there's so. many varieties and so many kinds of bees. and where they live and then the flowers. that they're pollinating and and getting. that nectar from, that it's. just because a study says something, it. doesn't mean like that's the end, full. stop. >> Yeah, one way or the other. Like didn't. find this property actually helpful or. did, yeah, there just needs to be more. studying. Like yes, they need to refine.

the the study. of honey. Which I think we're in the in. the midst of. Like right now in this podcast? >> Mhm, we're helping move it along, I. think. What about cancer? Uh cancer's another one. They think that. um basically there's there's properties. in honey that um create apoptosis, which. is programmed cell death, and that they help target cancer tumors. to um to go ahead and and die. Just die. die die, tumor. Um and that's basically.

how chemotherapy works in a lot of ways. So yes, it does seem to have some sort. of effect on cancer. I saw that um not. only has it has it been shown to work uh. in the lab, like in in cell lines of. cancer cells, but that it's it's had some clinical um. results as well. But apparently when they go after cancer. cells, there's something that's called. blebbing. And blebbing is where um a cell s-. gets pulled away, like its membrane gets.

pulled away from the cytoskeleton. and there's like a bulge and at that. point um you have what's called blebbing. and that cell is in very big trouble. So, honey goes after two cancer cells. and makes them bleb. Well, you know how I knew it would be. something that makes you in trouble? What? Is that it's called blebbing. Yeah, exactly. >> That can't be good. No. Oh my god, I'm blebbing. That's not a. good sign. No one ever say, "Oh, that's. fantastic. Good for you." Yeah, I bleb.

Right. Uh you mentioned neurological problems. earlier a little bit. Um obviously this. can be a whole host of things, but they. have found and this is another, you. know, area that there needs to be a lot. more testing. Uh but the clinical trials have shown. some pretty good results and things like. uh. you know, depression, uh dementia, any. kind of age-related like mental. neurological deterioration basically. Uh but even things like convulsions. Uh they did There was one study in some.

uh some senior um adults that where they. had a placebo control group uh which had. a about 400% greater incidence of. dementia. than the group that took a daily. tablespoon of honey. That is astounding. That's huge, yeah. Yeah. Um that's the. kind of study where it's like, "No, that's the end. Nobody else needs to do. any more researches. Everybody eat a. tablespoon of honey." And that's. actually That raises a good question. that a lot of people have. It's like, "Wait a minute. Honey is a sweetener. Yes, it's natural, but it's got tons of.

sugar in it. So, is it really okay to. eat a tablespoon of honey a day?". And the answer is in the West especially. um you you should. Yes, go ahead and eat. a tablespoon of honey a day, but make. sure that what you're doing is. exchanging the added sugars that you're. eating in your diet normally for that. tablespoon. Don't just add it to your. normal diet. Figure out where you can. cut down some sugar and use honey. instead and yes, you will probably be. much better off in the long run cuz.

sugar's really not good for us and all. That's great. I think we take our second. break here. We come back and we talk about uh. honeycombs, grades of honey. Uh we still got a lot to go over, so. let's get to it. Learning stuff with Joshua and Charles.

Stuff you should know. Okay, Chuck, this suddenly turned into a. short stuff. Go. Well, I mean, we can talk about the. honeycomb briefly again in in our. beekeeping episode in our bee episode um. and with a lot of detail, but uh.

basically, you know, this. the honeycomb is like that uh hexagonal. cell structure that you see inside the. hive uh made of the wax that the bees. produce. Uh and they, you know, they they make. cells for storing honey or for housing. that queen and the brood. But, the. important thing as far as the honeycomb. goes is that humans came along as far as. beekeeping uh is concerned and said, "You know, let me. let me build a frame in your house for. you and you can come in and add the.

detail." So, we started making these. um. you know, what would you call it? Like a. form? A substrate. Ooh. Look at you. >> Mhm. Uh which that gives the bees a little. bit of a head start. Uh and then, you know, the honey is in. there. They extract that honey in a. centrifuge. Uh it that that honeycomb intact, although you can. uh, get that natural honey. If you've. seen it in the store with that uh, or. maybe at a farmer's market, local.

farmer's market with a honeycomb. floating in that honey. >> Mhm. Uh, you can you can eat that stuff. It's. wax, it's not going to hurt you. Yeah, it's true. >> And it probably makes you feel like uh, Martha Stewart or something. It makes my. teeth feel gritty, so I don't like it, but I do know that it is edible for. sure. Yeah. One of the things I saw. Chuck though, I was like, "Well, wait a. minute. If beekeepers are like making. basically fully formed honeycombs for. the bees to to use, this is going to. produce some soft lazy bees.". But it turns out there's actually a. really good reason to do this, and that.

is that when bees produce their own wax, they have to eat honey to produce the. wax, and they it they consume 6 lb of. honey to make 1 lb of wax. So, by giving. them the wax to begin with, you're. saving all of that extra honey. They're. just going to keep making that honey, and you're going to get more for it. Yeah, I mean, maybe that's one of the. reasons we have that surplus. Uh, probably. I would think so. Yeah, if. you're if you're keeping bees and you're. not giving them preformed bee uh, wax.

beeswax cells, you're a chump. Uh, there are lots of different ways to. rate or grade honey. Uh, we're going to. go over a lot of those now. Uh, one of. which is how much it's processed. Uh, we. talked about right out of the hive, it's. going to have some some bee legs and. pieces of wing and some yeast in there, some bacteria, some pollen, mhm, maybe. some dust, some honey crystals. You know, you generally want to I'm sure. there are purists that just love that. stuff, but if if you're selling it in a.

store, you probably want to remove um, some of that or a lot of that uh, to. make it a food product. Uh, the other. reason why is because if there's. something floating in your honey, that. just gives uh, the honey a solid thing. in there to crystallize around. And. generally the the uh, honey buying. public sees crystallization as like uh. that I don't want to buy that honey. I. saw that that was mostly Americans that. have an aversion to crystallized honey. That doesn't surprise me. And it's.

because we think that it's gone bad. somehow. And again, yeah. All it is is. like yeah, there's been some. crystallization of the sugars and all. you have to do is put it in a nice tap. water bath and it'll go back. But yes, you can just totally eat crystallized. honey. There's no problem with it. whatsoever. But because they know their. consumers, honey producers are like we. got to get the solids out of there. >> Right. Um so basically any honey you buy in the. United States is going to have at least. undergone macro-filtering, what the USDA.

calls straining. And what that produces. is raw honey. It's just they're getting. out the biggest of the big solids. But. then that's it. There's no more. filtration whatsoever and it's it's raw. honey, which is a bit of a misnomer. because every honey uh type that isn't. pasteurized, and pasteurized honey is. just one small subset, every other type. of honey is technically raw honey. It's. not been heated. There's nothing that's. been killed off in it. It's all still. raw. But I think what they're basically. using the word raw for is like rustic.

honey. Right. Yeah, I agree. Uh you mentioned pasteurization. We. might as well talk about that. Uh the I. I looked it up. I was like, why why. would you pasteurize honey? Cuz you typically think of. pasteurization for more of like a dairy. product. Um it's basically just. there is no reason to do it that I found. other than making it look and like pour. out of the bottle or jar or whatever um. more freely. Um it's smoother,

apparently. Um it's going to alter the. flavor, obviously, cuz you're heating. this honey up. >> Yeah. But uh that's that's the only thing I. found why you would pasteurize honey. Um. I saw that you know honey has all these. antimicrobial, antiviral properties. That doesn't mean there's no such thing. as bacteria in honey or there's no such. thing as mold spores in honey. And mold. in particular can cause honey to ferment. slightly. Again, nothing wrong with. that. It's totally fine. You basically. have a free little mini shot of mead. right there in your in your honey. But.

people don't like that kind of thing. So. I think pasteurizing it kills off any of. those potential microbes or yeast or. mold or anything. I met a uh hippie once in. I think shh. West Virginia that made his own mead. I. think I might have told the story. before, but he gave me some mead. Yeah, somebody mailed us mead years and years. and years ago. It's the only mead I've. ever had in my life. I'm not a fan. It was It was fine. Yeah, I It's not. something I could drink regularly or. anything like that. But yeah, if I were.

in West Virginia wearing nothing but a. pair of overalls, I could probably drink. a little mead. He was a nice guy despite the fact that. he was a Phish fan. I'm getting killed for knocking Phish, by the way. Just keep it up though. It. doesn't matter. Well, you know what's funny is all the. people that have written in are trying. to talk me into liking Phish. >> Right. They're like, "Surely you clearly. haven't listened to Phish and you don't. know what you're talking about.". >> It's They do it It's all almost. verbatim. It's funny. It's almost like. they had talking points they shared.

But uh I know Phish fans wouldn't share. talking points. It's not the Phish way. >> No way. Uh. back to the filtering uh we're jumping. back to the other. d- uh USDA designation, which is. filtered honey. And that is basically. just more filtering. Uh the filters are. finer and it's going to remove almost. all those solids that you're going to. see. Uh and it probably does require some. heating because to get through those. filters, you got to have it a little. more viscous or less viscous. Yeah, a.

little bit. Um but if you're. ultra-filtering, not only do you have to. warm it up, you you it with a lot of. water Yeah. because you're pushing it. through. not not quite reverse osmosis membranes. but something not too far off where it. is getting everything out of the honey. So much so the USDA says this isn't. honey. You can't call it honey, honey. Yeah, that's crazy. >> Yeah, so there there's another way to. basically achieve the same end without. blasting it through a. um ultra filtered membrane and that's.

using diatomaceous earth. And diatoms. are fossilized microalgae with silica. shells and this is the shells left over. um and they are super tiny but they pick. up even tinier particles. They are. attracted to them, they get stuck in the. shells and then you filter out the. diatoms and then you've also filtered. out the stuff even further. So you don't. have to use quite as fine a filter. because the diatoms have sucked up all. the stuff that would have passed through.

that filter that's catching the diatoms. Does that make sense? Yeah, and it's. pretty amazing. You might remember uh. diatomaceous earth from our cockroach. episode. >> Mhm. Cuz that's the stuff that you can spread. around that they eat that kills them. from the inside out. >> It also dries fleas out too. If you have. a flea problem, you can spread. diatomaceous earth on your carpet and it. will help. Yeah, I've I've been through. that. Uh we talked about spun honey already. Mhm. And just want to reiterate that. spun honey or creamed honey or whipped. honey.

it's all the same thing and it still. doesn't lose any of those helpful. properties. Uh you can also rate honey by color of. course. Mhm. Um you know, honey has a. great range of color and they you know, technically it's called optical density. uh but what they use the the Pfund color. scale. I think it's just Pfund. >> No, really like Pfister, the fabulous. faucet with a funny name. Yeah, but I. always say Pfister just cuz I think it's. funny. >> Okay, well then yes, this would. definitely be Pfund.

And this is a scale from zero which is. water white, all the way to 114 and. above, which is dark amber. Very nice. Uh and then what's the deal with organic. honey? So, organic honey is a different. type of classification. Any of the stuff. we've talked about, ultra-filtered, pasteurized, raw, micro-filtered, creamed, all of that stuff could also be. organic honey. Basically, as long as the. the organic techniques uh that the USDA. requires were used to um create the. honey. And also on the plants that the.

bees are harvesting uh nectar from. That's right. So, that's it. So, I from. what I can tell, based on all this. information, grade A raw organic honey. is probably top of the pops for anybody. Top of the pops. And then when it comes. to flavors, uh this is where we get into sort of the. last piece. We mentioned uh monofloral. Uh the other end of the spectrum would. be multifloral. >> Mhm. And that is just simply what these. bees are flowering uh on, or what.

they're what kind of flowers they're. dancing with. Sure. Uh if they're. dancing with one flower, and you know, it points out, bees are bees, so it may. be hard to make sure that's the only. thing, but They're very promiscuous. They are. Uh if it's labeled monofloral. honey, that probably means that they. have uh this a farm has planted a very, very large area of one thing, so it's. really likely that the bee is eating. almost all of that. >> Mhm. Or you can like the wildflower honey,

>> It's multiflorous. Like, "Hey, whatever. is in the area, have at it.". Uh. there can be different flavors, but it's. not exactly like there are notes of. things. It's not like if you eat orange. blossom honey, it tastes like you. squirted orange in it, but there will be. like notes of citrus and things like. that. >> I actually saw on a site um of different. types of honey that they warn you that. if your orange blossom honey smells like. orange. fragrance, then you've got some sort of. fake honey. that it's being counterfeited in some. way. It's not like that. Like you said,

it's notes. But orange blossom honey has. citrusy notes. Pumpkin blossom honey has. pumpkiny notes. Um. I I think sourwood is herbal and woodsy. Oh, no, that's um. Oh, what is that, Chuck? Linden. Linden. honey. Herbal and woodsy. Eucalyptus. honey has like a slight menthol note to. it. Um buckwheat honey, I don't think. I've ever had it, but it's almost like. black in color. It's definitely the dark. amber side of the Pfund scale.

Um but it also has like kind of like a. slight bitter note to it, too. I want to. try it. It sounds almost like torturous, but I would still try it. I'll try. basically any honey at least once. Yeah, and there are all kinds of great honey. Um. sort of like flavored honeys and the the. honey is still in it, so it's still. great for you and delicious, but like. bourbon honeys and like. uh sort of spicy chili pepper honey and. stuff like that. Uh all sorts of delicious things out. there. Uh one of our favorite things to. do is go to the.

uh our local farm co-op and get that. local honey. And you know, costs a little bit more, but like they're doing the right thing. and. not like Will Ferrell and LeBron James. Did you see that? Did they get into honey? They are. Actually, it's a pretty cool. thing. Uh they partnered along with some. other celebrities with a uh. a company called Flamingo Estate. >> Mhm. Uh which is listed here as an urban farm. and lifestyle brand. Okay. Sells. you know, all kinds of stuff. Sells. urban straw hats and.

Uh but they sell curated farm boxes. But. what they've done is I think they've. gone to some of these celebrities who. have large properties and said, "Hey, how'd you like your own honey? We can. make we can keep bees on your property. and it will be called Will Ferrell honey. and it'll cost $250. a jar.". >> No. Uh but it goes to charity. Okay. Okay. You pulled it out at the end. there. You know where they should go is the um. Magnum's estate. He has big avocado um.

farms. P.I.? Yeah. And apparently. avocado honey is a thing, too. Okay. Um interesting. Before we uh end. this, Chuck, if you'll indulge me, I. just wanted to rattle off the properties. that have been found among some of the. compounds that you find in honey. If. you'll indulge me. You ready? Mhm. The. These compounds found in honey are shown. to possess uh these properties: antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory,

antineoplastic, antimicrobial, anticarcinogen, antiarrhythmic, antileishmanial, uh antithrombotic, antimutagenic, mutagenic, uh antinociceptive, antimycobacterial, antiproliferative, and immune-boosting. properties, not to mention that it's. hypocholesterolemic, cardioprotective, antihypertensive, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, and uh neuroprotective,

nephroprotective, gastroprotective, so. on, so forth, and it can improve sperm. count and their motility and protects. against vaginal and uterine atrophy, plus it improves the normal estrous. cycle. Wow. Isn't that amazing? That's a might Did you say antichrist in. there? I think so. It's miraculous, but in like the reverse. manner. Uh-huh. Uh you got anything. else? I have nothing else.

>> I don't, either, and that means, of. course, everybody, it's time for. listener mail. Uh I'm going to make this one a very. short because I just wanted to. uh shout out that we got a. uh I got an email. from uh. Well, we got one from our old buddy, uh, Aaron. Mizell, who helps head up the Stuff You. Should Know 5K. >> I'm glad you you thought of this. Uh, but Aaron, I think was trying to. locate this English professor that. taught my Shakespeare class.

>> Yeah. I don't think she landed on it, but. someone else did. and said, "Was it Dr. Vance?" And I was. like, "Oh, it totally was. It As soon as. I heard the name, I remembered.". >> Mhm. And, I believe Aaron though, or now I feel. bad cuz I can't remember if it was Aaron. or the other person who wrote in. Um, was still in touch with Dr. Vance, got in touch with him and said, "Hey, Chuck took your classes. You may have. even taken some classes from Vance, who. knows?".

Do you remember? Me? No, I didn't. Okay. Um, you know, I guess so. I was an. English major, so I was always over. there. Mhm. Uh, but Dr. Vance, uh, sent in an email, which I haven't. responded to, but I'm going to. do that today. It said, "Uh, Chuck, can't tell you how honored I was by your. remarks on the podcast. I thank you so. very much. All is well here, loving. retirement, traveling, grandchildren, and, uh, here's my website in case you. want to see what I've been publishing.". And I think everyone should go check it. out. It's a mystery, thrillers, literary.

horror, humorous romance, historical. fiction, >> all kinds of fun stuff. Uh, and you can. find all this at authorjohnvance.com. Very nice. That was short and Chuck. appropriately sweet for this episode. Good stuff. That was nice, man. Got a. pat on your head from your old, uh, your. old English teacher. He was the best, man. Had a, you know, one of the few. college professors who really impacted. me. >> Yeah, like Robin Williams. Yeah. Uh, don't get that joke. >> Uh, you don't?

No. From, um, Oh, Dead Poets Society. >> Yes. Okay. Uh, thank you for saying that cuz. I was about to say from O Captain My. Captain. Well, that's a working title. So, uh, if. you want to be like Dr. Vance and let us. know how retirement's going for you, you. can wrap it up in an email, spank it on. the bottom, and send it off to. stuffpodcast@iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeartRadio. For more podcasts my heart.

radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows.