I remember the first recipe I tested. I remember buying the ingredients at the local wholesale store, measuring them in my gray measuring cups, the scent of the spices hitting my nose, and ultimately trying it....It was awful. Like, really not good. I tried it again. Too much of this. Tried again…not enough of that. After multiple tries, I had someone else try it and their response was a head tilted “hmm”. For me, it was encouraging knowing that the recipe wasn’t a total disaster and progress was being made. After more trials, I finally produced a palatable formula. The taste was decent, but it still had room for improvement. I gave the recipe refinement process a break and just tried it with different things. I put it on toast, hot water with lemon, made sauces, even spooned it (there were some great immunity benefits). I had created something, but I wasn’t exactly sure what it was. A jamlike spread? A tonic? A base? Then it occurred to me that it wasn’t any of these, yet it was all of them at the same time.
This revelation made me think…if this honey can be categorized under each one of the aforementioned groups, then what else could it be used for? I placed on my culinary curiosity cap and just tried stuff. Nothing was off limits. I tried everything from stir fry's, and ice cream to making cocktails and marinades. Once I had an idea of what it went best with, I refined the recipe a bit more and brought some into my place of work at the time. The reception was even more encouraging. After explaining the use cases I discovered, someone said that this was something they would use everyday.
Now I really started to think…what exactly do we have here? Most people who use honey love it for the uses they are accustomed to like teas and biscuits. This honey was much different because it opened up a new world of ideas on how to create with it…create with it. Lightbulb moment!! This was not just a product. It was a creation that opened the door to other creations!
I thought about this idea through a different lens. God gave ALL of us the ability to create. In fact, He wants us to because that’s one of the ways we glorify Him. Without placing boundaries on our creative capabilities, we can imagine how powerful we actually are. We have the capacity to create something as beautiful and awe inspiring as metropolitan cities to, unfortunately, major problems…like sugar’s overbearing presence in our society. The good thing about the latter is that we can also create solutions to those problems.
The Love-Hate Relationship with Sugar
Our bodies need sugar in order to produce energy. It generally gets it from different fruits, veggies, starches, and other sources. Inherently, there is nothing wrong with sugars. The problem comes when they’re over consumed. Our bodies are not designed to process large amounts of sugars. It puts stress on a number of our systems and harms us in ways we oftentimes don’t realize until it’s too late.
It can be hard to avoid sugars. In fact, it can be really really hard to avoid them. Here in the US, there are studies to support that up to three quarters of the consumer-packaged goods products we buy in the grocery store have added sugars. It’s a daunting and even demoralizing statistic when you place it into perspective. Don’t believe me? Just flip to the nutrition facts next time you’re walking through the grocery store.
This is a problem, a major problem. The CDC states that three of the top five causes of death in the US are by heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Added sugar can either be a direct or indirect link here. When drawing correlations between the production (dare I say OVER production) of sugar-based products and causes of death, it leads us to ask a question that we all have been dancing around for decades but have yet to truly face: what can I do about it?
The answer is an easy one. Stop eating so much sugar…right? Well, in theory it sounds good but if it were that simple then maybe the statistics would reflect something different. The hard truth is that many are addicted to sugar (here is an article that can help you if you need). It’s affect on our brains is scientifically undeniable. Sugar has been shown to chemically replicate the effects of addiction which causes a person to seek more and more. It can be very hard to break this cycle for many who have a “sweet tooth” or just love sugary foods. I am not immune to this trend. I like candy and ice creams as much as the average person. However, I started to take inventory of my consumption habits and I was shocked to see how much I had been feeding myself. The exercise that really made me think deeper about my habits is when I took a new job that required me to shift my hours to earlier in the morning.
I am a coffee drinker and I like to sweeten it. For a long time I used regular sugar as a sweetener. Everyday I’d make a cup or two and with every cup I’d have some sugar. I went through a box pretty quickly. I then did the math of how much I’d been using over the course of a month and I said to myself “this ain’t good.” So I switched to honey. That was over six years ago and I think I’ve purchased one box of sugar (for a baking recipe) that made it through two apartment moves and eventually got thrown away.
Today, I still don’t buy sugar but I am a person who still consumes sweet things. I know I like to eat sweets at times but I also know that it’s detrimental to my health if I eat too much. I guess my point is that while we are faced with the monumental sugar epidemic issue, there are still things we can do to satiate our sweet cravings while not putting ourselves in a daily sugar coma.
The Melligolden Solution
Now, I just painted this whole picture on sugar and it’s somewhat ungracious presence in American society and I bet at some point throughout you said to yourself “but don’t you sell honey?” Very valid question to ask.
Let’s get one thing 100% clear: honey is considered a sugar. I’m no scientist or health professional but in doing some research, I found that our bodies break it down to it’s simplest form of all kinds of “oses” (glucose, fructose, sucrose, etc). If not consumed properly, it can cause some of the same issues as processed sugars. The difference lies in the benefits. Honey is a superfood and contains antioxidants, antibacterial, anti-microbial, and anti-fungal properties along with vitamins and minerals. It is also lower than processed sugars and high fructose corn syrup on the glycemic index. With all the sugary options available and addictive qualities they possess, we’ve seen how difficult it can be to avoid the sweet traps. We’ve also seen how our adjusted habits can shape our intake levels. I mentioned that I don’t buy sugar. I don’t do it because I use honey instead and I have been for years. It’s one of the reasons why I decided to start this passion project.
Melligold Creations is not just a honey company. It was formed with the idea that we can lead healthier lives if we become smarter about the consumption decisions we make. We have the God given ability to create works of intellectual and artistic beauty and drive real solutions that will propel our society forward. We also not only have the ability, but the duty to do it together as a community and make constant strides forward. Things will not always be perfect but if we conduct ourselves and make decisions with love, wisdom, and service to others, we know that we will be on the right track. That’s what Melligold Creations stands for and that’s how you will become Melligolden.
Asa
Founder at Melligold Creations
References:
SugarScience.UCSF.edu | Hidden in Plain Sight
FastStats - Leading Causes of Death