Lone Oak Honey Company raw honey is strained, not filtered, and is never heated. This preserves the natural active phytonutrients (1), probiotics (8), prebiotics and pollen (2)found in honey.  My bees are never treated with antibiotics or organic acids, so there is no chance of these things contaminating my honey (3).  I only treat my hives for mites, and only when absolutely necessary to keep the bees alive.  This helps ensure that there is nothing in my honey that the bees did not put there themselves.  Also, my processing practice makes sure nothing beneficial is ever removed.  Commercial honey companies heat their honey to high temperatures and use ultrafiltration to make the honey easier to bottle and to keep it from crystallizing in storage.  This makes honey that is attractive on the grocery store shelves, but the filtration and heat remove or destroy so many of the beneficial things that were in the raw honey.

When you eat phytonutrients, they may help prevent disease and keep your body working properly (9) also probiotics and prebiotics help keep a balanced digestive system.  Heating honey above 108 degrees F can change or remove the enzymes, aromas and flavors that are naturally present.

Some people with seasonal allergies claim a year round daily spoonful of raw local honey, honey that has not had the pollen filtered out, lessens the severity of their allergies.  The theory is that a constant low level of exposure to the local pollen builds your immunity for when pollen levels are high.