Baba Ramdev's Patanjali bigger than Emami with Rs 2,500 crores yearly revenues

[Criminal]

doesn't 'solidify' or form sugar-crystals like it.

But that's not the sign of pure honey

I don't think any honey that sells in big indian stores is 100% pure. You can make that out just by looking at the shelves full of honey bottles. They all look the same - color, texture, consistency, taste etc. That's pasteurized or processed honey, with lots of additives and sugar. They boldly mention 'pure' honey on the label and people fall for it. What they don't mention is the percentage of pure honey.

Natural/raw/unpasteurized honey, even from the same batch/hive doesn't look the same in different bottles. Raw honey crystallizes easily while the processed one doesn't. Also people can add sugar to it to make it appear raw (crystallized).

Honey is one of the crappiest super-food available today!

 

[vivek.krishnan]

How do you guys identify that Dant Kanti is more abrasive?
I find the texture not too different from the Pepsodent I used before starting with Dant Kanti.

I too use the PA honey as only other option is Dabur.

My medical rep, had stated to me that overtime, it is abrasive. He also deals with Patanjali as well.

As for the honey, how to know its full of antibiotics?

 

[vivek.krishnan]

@vivek.krishnan - honey I switched to from dabur's and then trying some more. but yes. found it better than dabur's. doesn't 'solidify' or form sugar-crystals like it. i also buy honey from local villages when out on a trek or a trip & find some local fellow selling locally procured honey or produced by a local brand. once got such locally procured honey/nectar from a villager while on a trek, who claimed its source being a flower (cant recall name) that blooms once in few years. it tasted a bit different from the usual honey we get.

ghee i don't recall trying. we make it at home itself. but have used IIRC Chitale's once and it was very good.

cornflakes i decided to try something different, i remember, after consistently finding lumps of some hard translucent brownish material in kellogg's packs. found PA's cornflakes without such 'impurities', and as i wrote, bigger-thicker flakes. next on my 'to-try' list is bagrry's.

with toothpaste i haven't had a consistent experience, unlike their toothpowder. noodles IDK if tastes similar to other aata noodles in the mkt, but my big disappointment & subsequent 'disenchantment' had come with top ramen (my yesteryears' 'favourite').

yes I've seen those datuns selling at various places, including at dadar, etc. its good. IMO one should use these too sometimes when have time to chew ...good stuff, as well as using rocksalt mixed in a good bitter edible oil at night to rub on gums.

At home, we have used all types, and we now prefer Hatsun's. But the best is the home made ghee which we make every month or so, but in very litte quantities.

 

[Kilroyquasar]

But that's not the sign of pure honey

I don't think any honey that sells in big indian stores is 100% pure. You can make that out just by looking at the shelves full of honey bottles. They all look the same - color, texture, consistency, taste etc. That's pasteurized or processed honey, with lots of additives and sugar. They boldly mention 'pure' honey on the label and people fall for it. What they don't mention is the percentage of pure honey.

Natural/raw/unpasteurized honey, even from the same batch/hive doesn't look the same in different bottles. Raw honey crystallizes easily while the processed one doesn't. Also people can add sugar to it to make it appear raw (crystallized).

Honey is one of the crappiest super-food available today!

I think that is/should be a given, to leave out any fancy for getting something totally 'raw' or 'pure' when venturing out in the market, for anything that's made to have a 'shelf' (lit.)-life, it would be processed/treated before being put for storage & sale. having used other honey from local brands & then seeing dabur honey with those layers of crystals felt like they overdid it (even less of honey, more of additives). that's also why am rather eager to check out 'desi' honey if there's a prospect of getting it when am on a trek or/and near some small village (have tasted it once directly from a part of a beehive; didn't taste as sweet as processed one IIRC).
I consume honey only by putting it in my hot lemonade or the occasional times i take green tea.

 

[Criminal]

I think that is/should be a given, to leave out any fancy for getting something totally 'raw' or 'pure' when venturing out in the market, for anything that's made to have a 'shelf' (lit.)-life, it would be processed/treated before being put for storage & sale.

You can say so for all the packaged food in this world but not for something which is touted as "miracle food" - honey. Processing in the name of preservation or extending shelf life doesn't apply, at least to honey. I don't know if US has lifted the ban on Chinese honey but if it hasn't then Indians are still consuming contaminated Chinese honey. Commercial honey is filtered to such an extent that it loses most of it's beneficial stuff (some say it's bee pollen but I don't know). Also, is there any brand in India which can claim their honey is antibiotics free?

Has anyone seen how those roadside honey sellers extract raw honey from hives, in front of you? Have you seen how they prep it? They dunk the hives in jaggery and other sweeteners. Obviously that honey tastes different.

Honey from bees in the wild is the least adulterated but how often one comes across it?

--------

Coming back to tugging at Babaji's dhoti... I had a lot of respect for Baba Ramdev when he was spreading awareness about yoga and disease-free living. He had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders when Patanjali chose him as their marketing agent. He speaks a lot about his swadeshi company but doesn't do anything to showcase how his products are any better than the ones people are already using. He could've come up with antibiotic-free honey - a first in India. But however hard he tries, he can never provide something good at the national level. India's environment is so polluted that he cannot source pesticides/chemicals-free raw materials. So, how are his products any better? You can hardly find any beekeeper who doesn't use any antibiotics. Even if there are few, they simply cannot produce honey through out the year. So, how do they keep up?... by feeding sugar syrup to bees during non-flowering seasons!

I've used Babaji's few swadeshi products but I failed to find anything good about them. I asked earlier on this thread, if there's any product in Babaji's portfolio that wasn't already available in the market. I couldn't find any but if someone has, then please let me know about it. From soaps to shampoos to oils... Babaji's products have the same ingredients as any other regular ones. Heck, years ago I found a lot of good herbal/swadeshi products in South Indian markets.

Honey... You must've come across many articles on how honey is beneficial for people with high blood sugar levels. Honey is a form of sugar but it can be taken in small quantities by diabetics. One of the 'medicinal' properties of honey is to keep the blood sugar levels balanced - BUT - Patanjali honey is not to be consumed by diabetics! My respects to Babaji for putting this warning on the label. .

And my question remains the same - if there's nothing special about Patanjali honey then why did Babaji bring it in the Indian market? It's not more beneficial than other brands; it doesn't carry FSSAI certification; it's not free from antibiotics... they cannot even claim that it's 100% swadeshi. How is it then selling better than the established brands?

 

[letmein]

Coming to the honey vs. sugar... why and where are you people using so much honey/ sugar to matter? Or are you consuming it raw (heard it's supposed to be a 'superfood')

EDIT: Whoops, didn't read Criminal's last two para before posting this.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Just saw an ad today extolling the virtues of patanjali kesh kala oil. Claimed from google search that mineral oil causes cancer.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Just wanted to add something good about Patanjali - i disapprove of the marketing strategy, but after wanting to check their claims, I came to know more

For example, antibiotics in honey, I had never heard of that. Now to see where else other companies are screwing up.

I would like to put this as the example of HUL vs Tide - http://articles.economictimes.india...7570227_1_tide-naturals-lemon-and-chandan-rin.

Maybe there is a central controller for the same?

Just for the record, I read up some 5-6 articles about mineral oil, and found that most say that mineral oil for the cosmetic industry is extremely pure, but I have a hard time stomaching that. Either way, looking at some oils and seeing the ingredients, parachute claims 100% edible coconut oil, while bajaj almond drops is 77% mineral oil.

 

[Kilroyquasar]

@Criminal - that prompted me to check about it. got to know that a 6-yr old study by CSE had found presence of antibiotics in honey-samples of major brands, the most amount in samples of two imported brands, which suggested that these were a blend from different honey-sources. only 'Hitkari' brand's honey was found to be without any ABs. FSSAI then had issued an 'advisory'. don't know what after that.
these ABs come into the honey apparently from the meds used in beekeeping. I see one 'Phondaghat Pharmacy' honey selling in some medical stores, from big bottles to very small ones. looks the same, processed/pasteurized honey.
the nectar I had tasted was of a part from a beehive removed while I was there; had eaten some of the hive too didn't taste as sweet if not different IIRC, was long back so cant recall accurately. but yes road-side vendors too use sugar-syrup or jaggery, as have noticed in bottles purchased from some. this reminds me, that I also use honey (and more usually, pieces of sticky jiggery) as cough & cold suppressants at night.

 

[mach9]

I take it that the fact his aide who is supposed to be a majority owner & the so called brains behind this venture was once a person with serious fraud and other charges against him but apparently had these dropped in 2014 is just a coincidence of epic proportions

 

[Kilroyquasar]

^^ even the allegations & charges (having been) levelled against him in 2011-12 similarly could've happened to be equally co-incidental, who knows.

 

[mach9]

Maybe but then again politicians or politically exposed persons coincidentally turning into multi billion $ magnates in 3-5 year spans is a little too magical to be true since almost all of them are blessed with these skills of fortune which 99% of the rest of us can't acquire even after studying to be successful! Lol