If you were to take a look at my bee resume you’d get a small glimpse of all the different types of research-themed pies I had my fingers in over the years. Back in 2007, Dr. Karol Mathews made multiple visits to the University of Guelph Honey Bee Research Centre to purchase our raw honey. I almost instantly developed a nerd-girl crush on Dr. Mathews, and wanted to find out exactly what she was doing with all this raw honey she was buying on behalf of the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC). As soon as I found out, my almost-crush was then upgraded to absolute. Dr. Mathews (who told me to call her Karol) was using the raw honey as a topical antibiotic/medication for drag and burn victims that would come into the OVC.

A camera crew came to the Bee Lab to shoot a video about all this one day in early April 2008. Even though you can’t see me directly, I made a point of being in view, or at least in the background. The following video has some graphic scenes, and the beginning to around the 6:50 minute mark shows several shots of burn victims and open wounds…and might not be for the squeamish.

The Bee Lab action starts at 6:52, with me in the shot over Paul’s right shoulder at 8:48. I believe Dr. Mathews is on to something so simple and accessible to pet-owners and veterinarians alike (the human applications are endless too!). There are almost too many facets to what medicinal honey is about, but the first few are: 1. Antibiotic resistance is almost futile when using raw honey. 2. Medicinal honey is non-toxic and will not contaminate/harm your animal or household. 3. Medicinal honey is yet another superb way beekeepers can be supported by the masses.

If you want to learn more, type in “Karol Mathews medicinal honey” into Google or Google Scholar.