Honey sticks are a great healthy snack for people of all ages to enjoy at home or on the road. They are a type of candy that can be opened without staining. Honey has many health benefits, and kids love the flavor! So here’s how to use honey sticks.
I. What are honey sticks made of?
Honey sticks are simply plastic, BPA-free tubes filled with honey. Then the tube is superficially sealed at both ends for quick use.
Honey sticks are a quick and convenient way to enjoy honey without having to stain your fingers with honey and grab your jar of honey from the shelf every time.
It is mostly used when out in the gardens or during a trip.
They can be considered a kind of treat to take with you, or simply a sweetener for your tea or coffee.
II. How to use Honey sticks
1. How do you open honey sticks?
To open a honey stick, hold it at a slight angle at the top. Then pinch the top end of the stick so that the honey goes down. Then bite off the other end and pop.
This will create a small opening in the stick. Next, use your fingers to tear off the small piece of plastic that covers the opening.
Finally, hold the stick over your tea, or oatmeal or just enjoy it straight from the stick! Squeeze gently and let the honey drip out.
2. How many honey sticks should I take?
This depends on what you want to use it for and depends much more on how sweet you need it.
It’s like sugar, each person takes the number of spoons needed according to their taste.
Just know that on average one stick of honey contains about 5 grams of honey.
3. Can you add a honey stick to tea or coffee?
In order to take full advantage of the benefits of honey and not waste its essential components, it is very advisable not to put it in contact with a liquid or a source of heat higher than 40 °c.
This applies especially to tea and coffee, which should be left to cool down a little after heating.
Then open the honey stick as indicated above and pour it into the cup and stir to dissolve the honey in the liquid.
4. How long do honey sticks last before they go bad?
Because of its sugar concentration, no germ can develop in honey. It is a natural product that can be stored for years, as long as it is kept away from moisture.
Honey straws can be kept in liquid form for up to a year or more before crystallizing.
It would then only need to be warmed slightly to return to its liquid state.
5. Can honey sticks be used in cold drinks as well?
Yes, they can be used for all different liquids, including cold drinks. The taste of honey usually enhances the sweetness of cold drinks and reduces their acidity, in addition to all the benefits that this natural product can provide.
Many people would like to consume plain yogurt because of its positive effects on the health of the digestive system and intestines, but unfortunately for them, it does not support the bitter taste.
This is where honey comes in. All it takes is one or two sticks of honey to make them love plain yogurt.
6. Why is my honey stick hard?
The main natural sugars in honey are glucose and fructose, which are soluble in water at room temperature.
However, as the temperature drops, the solubility of these sugars decreases, causing them to come out of the solution and form crystals.
The rate of crystallization depends on the ratio of glucose to fructose in the honey, as well as the temperature and storage conditions.
And when you end up with a very hard stick of honey, it means that it is in advanced crystallization. It is enough to warm it up a bit for the honey to become liquid.
7. How do you Decrystallize honey sticks?
As we have just seen above, it is enough to warm the honey straw for it to decrystallize. Sometimes it will be enough for you to pass it a few moments above the vapor of the herbal tea that we have just prepared so that it becomes liquid again.
And if the honey straw is tough, you can immerse it in a cup of hot water for a few moments so that it loses its crystallization.
8. How do you preheat honey sticks?
Put it in a cup of hot water!
9. How much honey is in a honey stick?
Generally, there are 5 g of honey in the honey sticks that are sold in the shops. This is more than enough to sweeten a cup of tea or a glass of rum!
And if the taste is not sweet enough for you, you can add another stick. And so on until you find what you are looking for in terms of sugar content in your drink. Just remember that natural honey is great for your health.
10. can you eat honey sticks?
Yes, a honey stick or a few honey sticks are a great quick appetite suppressant, energizer, and almost instant pick-me-up.
11. How do you fill honey straws?
There are small machines on the market that act like burning stabs on the ends of the straws to close them.
And if you don’t have this little machine, then you would just have to use an iron or simply a flat iron (it is usually used for electronic soldering).
In any case, the procedure is the same. And it is very simple.
We put our honey in a bottle with a spout. And we take a clean and disinfected straw, and thanks to the spout, we pour honey into it.
We fill the straw until there are only a few centimeters left to reach the other end. Then we pinch the end of the straw to flatten it. Then we seal it with the end of the iron warmed slightly in order not to melt the plastic.
It remains for us then to push the honey off the top thanks to the pressure of our fingers. Then we seal the other end of the straw with another blow of iron or the dedicated machine.
III. Types of Honey Sticks for Tea
1. Pure Honey Sticks
This is the simplest stick. It is filled only with natural honey. It is good for all purposes. And it is honey preserved in a plastic straw.
2. Flavored Honey Sticks
There are natural or artificial flavors of all tastes to add to the honey straw. There are orange, banana, blueberry, cherry, etc. flavors.
You just have to be careful that you are not allergic to the flavoring used.
3. Infused Honey Sticks
To make infused honey we take the herb we are interested in like lavender for example. We put some clean stems in a sterilized jar filled with natural honey.
We leave it in the shelter for at least 3 weeks before filtering the honey. Then we can put the honey in the plastic straws we just saw above.
IV. Honey sticks Benefits
Honey sticks have the same benefits as honey itself.
Consuming a little honey helps to keep healthy skin, avoid constipation and improve sleep, among other things, thanks to nutrients such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as amino acids, organic, vitamins B, C, D and E, and the antioxidants it possesses.
The high concentration of moisture in honey can be essential to moisturize different parts of the body. For this reason, it is often used as a moisturizer for the hair and scalp.
The antioxidants contained in honey are those that regulate cholesterol levels since it increases HDL (high-density lipoproteins) or the so-called good cholesterol.
The reason is the balance that exists between fructose and glucose when the honey consumed is pure and organic. In this way, some of the fructose allows the glucose to be taken up by the liver to form glycogen and thus passes to the red blood cells, the heart, and the kidneys and is available for the brain.
All of this removes glucose from circulation and, in turn, lowers blood sugar.
V. Other Questions About the Use of Honey Sticks
1. Are honey sticks more expensive than traditional sweeteners?
It is obvious that honey sticks will be more expensive than other sweeteners such as sugar for example. Honey is a natural product that is very difficult to harvest in large quantities. It is the fruit of a year of work with bees, which are sensitive to different diseases, pesticides, and attacks from other insects.
Whereas sugar is an industrial transformation of sugar cane and other vegetables such as beet. Sugar is widely available on the international market unlike real and natural honey, which is becoming increasingly rare.
2. Are honey sticks biodegradable?
It depends on the plastic used. There are now plastics on the market that degrade easily and do not harm nature.
It is highly recommended to use this kind of degradable straw to make your honey sticks.
3. Where can I find honey sticks for purchase?
Honey sticks can be found in many local markets. They are usually made with local honey and you can be very sure of their origin.
Alternatively, you can also check health food stores or specialty food stores. These stores often carry a variety of organic and natural foods, including honey sticks.
Another option is to search online. There are many websites that specialize in selling honey and other bee-related products. With a few clicks, you can have honey sticks delivered right to your door.
4. Are Honey sticks a healthy alternative to other sweeteners?
The answer is yes if the honey used in the sticks is natural and free of pesticides or other chemicals.
If not, it’s the same thing and maybe it would be better to take a lump of cane sugar than harmful industrial honey or honey full of dangerous pesticides!
5. Can honey sticks be recycled?
Normally the plastic of honey sticks is made of recyclable material.
6. Do honey sticks come in different flavors?
Yes, the flavor depends on the origin of the honey that we put in it, the flavors that we add for the flavored ones, and the plants in which we infuse the honey for the infused ones.
You are spoilt for choice.
7. How many calories are in a honey stick?
The number of calories depends globally on the type of honey. But we can say that for 100 g of any natural honey, you can find about 310 calories.
And since a normal honey stick contains about 5 grams of honey, and making the right divisions we will end up with 15 calories for each honey straw.
8. Are honey sticks gluten-free?
Honey, if not mixed with other products such as barley or wheat, is gluten-free. So you can eat the honey straws as much as you want even if you are allergic to gluten.
9. Are honey sticks organic?
It depends on the honey that is in them and the flavors that are added to them. Unfortunately, there is a lot of fraud regarding the origin of honey in the world. A good part of the so-called natural honey is in fact industrial honey, that is to say, transformed sugar.
That’s why you should always check the origin of the honey and the brand that sells it. Always prefer a local product to one that comes from abroad.
10. Are honey sticks good for coughs?
Yes, honey is very recommended for winter illnesses such as the flu and colds. It allows decongesting of the respiratory system especially if it is taken with warm tea, besides being very good for the immune system that will fight against all viruses and winter infections.
