Just thinking about sweet, sticky honey makes my mouth water. I’m a honey fiend, and will eat it on anything from toast to tea. All of my favorite cereals have honey in them, and lately I’ve been eating a teaspoon of delicious local, homegrown honey every day because a friend tipped me that it would help with my seasonal allergies. Has it helped yet? I’m not sure. If you’re doing the same thing and have some results to report, be sure to let us know!

But I don’t need allergies as an excuse to enjoy what I consider nature’s perfect food. In fact, honey has a lot of health benefits, including:

• Aiding in fat digestion
• Antioxidants that help protect the body
• Help with athletic performance
• Amino acids and complex carbohydrates
• Various cures to health ailments when combined with other foods
• A good source of vitamins and minerals
• Helpful in the healing process
• A possible cure for insomnia and acne
• Antibacterial, antifungal, and great for skin care

For National Honey Month, try enjoying some honey every day for its health properties as well as its decadence…

• Add some to your tea, favorite drink, or even alcoholic beverages
• Use it instead of jelly on your toast
• Make some gooey, yummy honey buns
• Substitute sugar with honey
• Treat your cough with honey instead of harsh over-the-counter means
• Make some delicious honey syrups, such as honey lemon basil sauce and honey poppy seed dressing
• Make some scrumptious honey bread or whole wheat honey bread and have it for breakfast—or for anytime
• Create an apple honey shake as a fall treat
• Skip the store-bought honey mustard and make your own
• Drizzle a bit of honey over your favorite fruit for an extra sweet treat
• Can your fruits in honey (remember Hugh Grant’s apricots soaked in honey in Notting Hill?)
• If you eat meat, try honey in your recipe—such as Cardamom Honey Chicken

And for kids, be sure to…

• Educate about where honey comes from (teach bee appreciation!)
• Avoid honey for babies under one year of age
• Treat them to some homemade honey gelato
• Let them use honey as a dip for their chicken nuggets, apple slices or other finger foods
• Read Winnie the Pooh books
• Watch Bee Movie