Linden honey? Wild flower honey? Acacia or eucalyptus honey? No, buckwheat honey! Although it may seem strange, there is also buckwheat honey, and what a honey! Based on scientific research, this type of honey is a powerful source of beneficial properties, but let's see better in detail.
Buckwheat honey, how it appears and properties
First, buckwheat honey is produced by bees from the flowers of buckwheat that are small flowers characterized by a color ranging from white to light pink. The obtained honey is dark, sometimes almost black, with an intense and very pleasant aroma. Buckwheat honey has interesting antioxidant properties, useful against aging processes and free radical damages and able to protect DNA (Gheldof et al, J Agric Food Chem, Feb 2003 - Zhou et al, Food Chem Toxicol, Aug 2012). A very interesting detail is that the antioxidant action of buckwheat honey is even greater than that of the famous manuka honey, a type of honey native to New Zealand, obtained from the plant Leptospermum scoparium or manuka and characterized by antioxidant, antiviral and antibacterial properties proven by scientific studies. Then, buckwheat honey also has an antibacterial action very similar to manuka honey, being therefore particularly effective especially against the Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains, the bacteria responsible for infections of the respiratory system, ear infections, bacterial keratitis, diarrhea, infections of the urinary tract, stye and pimples (Deng et al, Food Chem, Jun 2018). Buckwheat honey is an excellent antispasmodic with a soothing and calming action and has proven to be able to provide relief in case of airway infections and nocturnal cough, even in children (Paul et al, Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, Dec 2007). Finally, buckwheat honey contains sugars, proteins, minerals including iron, zinc and manganese.
Buckwheat honey, how to take it and warnings
Buckwheat honey can be added to herbal teas and breakfast yoghurt as a tasty and healthy sweetener. In case of sore throat and cough you can directly take a teaspoon of honey and let it melt in your mouth. Don’t give buckwheat honey to children under the age of one year or to pregnant women since, like all honeys, it could contain bacteria that would normally be neutralized but that, in these cases, could be dangerous.
