Welcome to another day and another blog tour! Today I’m hosting a stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Honey-Baked Homicide, the newest book in Gayle Leeson’s Down South Cafe Mystery series!

Gail has prepared a guest post for today so that will be first followed by information about the book itself (purchase links, synopsis, etc.). Enjoy!

What’s So Special About Honey? – Gayle Leeson

Other than knowing it tastes good, I knew very little about honey until I began researching Honey-Baked Homicide. In fact, until talking with a local beekeeper, I didn’t even realize that bees harvested honey from trees—I thought honey only came from flowers and clover.

According to Organic Facts (organicfacts.net), honey has been used worldwide for over 2.500 years. Honey typically contains iron, calcium, vitamin C, and may have other vitamins and minerals depending on the plants from which the honey is derived. It has antibacterial and antifungal properties, which is why Stu Landon advised Amy to put some honey on her cut finger in Silence of the Jams. Honey is also believed to boost our bodies’ immune systems because it contains nutraceuticals, which help to remove free radicals from our bodies. The Organic Facts site cautions that the benefits of honey is dependent on its quality. The type of flowers, blending process, storage, and filtration methods all affect the honey’s quality. Light colored honey is more valuable than dark, since honey darkens during storage and heating.

Be aware that as recently as October 5, 2017, it was reported by BBC News that pesticides are found in most honey samples. Traces of neonicotinoid chemicals, pesticides linked to bee death, have been found in 75% of honey samples from around the world. However, scientists say the levels found are far below the maximum permitted levels in food for humans.

Of course, if you’re concerned about pesticides but still want to reap all the benefits of honey, you might want to consider creating your own hives. There are plenty of websites and video tutorials to help you get started.

Thank you, Gayle for educating us all a bit more on honey. I love honey – I use it instead of syrup, in my tea instead of sugar, sometimes to dip things in, etc. I’m a fan of both raw and processed (i.e. light and darker) honey. How about any of you out there reading this? Do you prefer raw honey or the more processed honey?

As promised, here is more information about the book featured in today’s post.

Purchase Links: Amazon – B&N – Kobo

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Synopsis

It’s fall in Winter Garden, Virginia, and business at Amy Flowers’ Down South Cafe has never been better. So when struggling beekeeper Stuart Landon asks Amy to sell some of his honey, she’s happy to help. The jars of honey are a sweet success, but their partnership is cut short when Amy discovers Landon’s body outside the cafe early one morning.
As Amy tries to figure out who could possibly have wanted to harm the unassuming beekeeper, she discovers an ever-expanding list of suspects–and they’re all buzzing mad. She’ll have to use all of her skills–and her Southern charm–to find her way out of this sticky situation…

Thanks for joining me today on this lastest Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour. If you wish to visit other sites on the tour, please click on the banner below. It will take you to the main tour page where there is a list of participating blogs!