Munster Express Online

Nichola Beresford

It can often be very amusing the feedback one gets from writing a weekly column like this in The Munster Express. Regular readers will know that the parameters for this particular contribution are very wide and ridiculously varied. I like that; you never know what you are going to get.

The feedback is just as unpredictable. I’ll get a run of bumping into people who mention it to me and then I might not hear anything for weeks. Articles relating to health always seem to carry a certain resonance. A few weeks ago I divulged the fact that cinnamon and honey mixed together and taken regularly is pretty much a cure-all for everything. It promotes longevity, used topically it can help with skin irritations and, in some countries, is used as a fertility treatment. The feedback was wide, varied, interesting and hilarious.

The following weekend after that item appeared I was at home nursing my very sore vocal chords. From severe overuse the previous week I had lost my voice completely on the Friday night. By Saturday morning there was absolutely nothing – no sound. I work with my voice, so it is very important that I look after it and make sure it is in good working order. Lemon, honey and total voice rest was the order for the day. I had little choice. On Saturday afternoon the phone rang and instead of leaving it go to the message minder, seeing as I couldn’t really speak to the caller, I accidentally, instinctively answered it. A woman’s voice that I didn’t recognise confirmed quickly who I was, ‘is that Nichola?’ ‘Yes’ I managed to rasp thinking ‘I don’t know this number or that voice, maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to identify myself’.

The caller then stated her own name and launched into the fact that she had read the honey and cinnamon article, was currently trying it and then stated, and I quote, ‘I’m taking it and it tastes like s**t!’ I wasn’t sure if I was meant to feel responsible for this or not. I hate to admit it but I was mildly shocked by the crudeness of such a statement but at the same time kind of amused. What are you meant to say to such a statement? Of course the main question was ‘how did you get my number? Are you drunk? Are you a lunatic?’

Not wanting to appear rude, I didn’t verbalise any of that and as best I could, at the time, I explained about my voice and why I was rasping. I let the woman speak on as I was in a perfect position to just listen and we actually had a nice chat. I soon realised her initial abruptness was not meant in a negative way, was not induced by alcohol and she was not insane. Things were looking brighter. We actually had a very pleasant conversation and she hung up, considerate of the fact that I was having difficulty whispering.

I met several other people over the following few days who had also found that particular article interesting and suddenly it was Wednesday again and the following week’s column eclipsed it. However this weekend I received a really nice letter from Mileeven Fine Foods in Piltown. It turns out that last year they were asked by a customer from another country to produce a prepared honey with cinnamon. Apparently this combination was well known to their customers so they wanted a prepared product for sale. It was duly produced and although they don’t sell it on the Irish market as there appears to be little demand for it, you can get it direct from them.

Mileeven was also kind enough to enclose a little jar of cinnamon honey and I was delighted to sample it. I eagerly took it home to my mother, who had started this whole cinnamon and honey fascination. I had discovered her mixing this concoction some time ago. On further investigation it transpired that she was taking it following an article that had stated it could promote weight loss. As mentioned earlier, an absolute cure-all. I wanted to get my mother this ready made product as recently she had told me that she had stopped taking honey and cinnamon as it wasn’t very pleasant or easy to consume. ( I wanted to say, ‘did it taste like s**t’, but I would have had to explain the context of such a comment, so I didn’t bother). Anyway I rushed home clutching my new found Mileeven Product, very proud of the fact that it is produced locally and therefore another good reason to get it.

The taste test was performed and I can confirm that it’s very good indeed. It certainly doesn’t taste like any bodily waste material and would be very easy to take on a daily basis. To think that this product is made locally, but not sold locally is probably indicative of the fact that sometimes something great can be right under our noses and we don’t even realise it.

Mileeven Fine Foods assured me that although this product is not available through a retailer in Ireland at the moment, you can contact them by phone for mail order or on the internet ( 051 6433 368 or mileeven@indigo.ie). So if you did read that article some weeks back and just found the mixture too difficult to take, well this is the solution.

My voice is back now I’m happy to say and I am taking honey and lemon daily just to keep it in order. I am now going to add the honey and cinnamon and, by all accounts, I should live to be one hundred, be incredibly fertile and by the summer I’ll have to run in the shower to get wet, I’ll be so thin! Yippee!