Honey: composition, properties, types
Bees produce honey from nectar or honeydew. At the same time, complex transformations occur in the bee’s body. Honey consists almost entirely of plant nectar; only some components enter the honey from the bee’s body. Honey contains about 300 different substances; it is based on simple sugars - fructose and glucose.
Honey has a complex chemical composition. It contains about 20% water and 80% dry matter, of which grape sugar makes up 35% and fruit sugar - 40%. In addition, honey contains sucrose (1.3-5%), maltose (5-10%), dextrins (3-4%). The amount of protein substances in flower honey is 0.04-0.29%, and in honeydew honey - 0.08-0.17%. Honey contains up to 20 amino acids.
The darkening of honey when heated is explained by the fact that amino compounds react with monosaccharides and dark-colored compounds (melocondins) are formed.
Honey contains malic, lactic, tartaric, oxalic, citric, succinic and other acids. The acidity of flower honeys (pH) is 3.78, honeydew - 4.57. Flower honeys have significantly less (up to 0.14%) mineral substances (ash content) than honeydew honeys (1.6%). Honey contains enzymes such as invertase, diastase, catalase, lipase, etc. The predominant vitamins in honey are B1, B2, B3, pantothenic acid, nicotinic acid (PP), ascorbic acid (C), etc.
Unnatural honey is considered to be sugar honey processed by bees, as well as honey from the sweet juices of fruits, vegetables and artificial honey.
The name of honey depends on the type of plant from which the nectar is collected, for example, buckwheat, sunflower, sainfoin, sweet clover, linden, white acacia, heather, etc. This honey is called monofloral.
But honey may contain impurities of other origins. For example, sunflower honey sometimes contains alfalfa honey. Small amounts of impurities do not affect the quality of honey. Honey produced by bees from the nectar of various plants is called polyfloral honey. Sometimes the name of honey is associated with the area or land where bees collect nectar (for example, Carpathian, Far Eastern, Bashkir, meadow, forest).
The color of honey comes in all shades, from light yellow to brown and brown, depending on the type of plant from which the bees collected the nectar. There are three groups of honey varieties based on color: light, moderately colored and dark. Dark honey is healthier than light honey. It contains more minerals and other substances.
The transformation of nectar into honey begins in the bees. Bees transfer a solution of carbohydrates, mineral salts, aromatic substances with water and other substances from plants to the wax cells of honeycombs. Many bees work not only to collect and transport nectar, but also to process it in the hive.
To produce honey from nectar, bees evaporate water, mix it in honeycombs and treat it with enzymes. As a result, the chemical composition of the product changes. The bulk of the water evaporates from the nectar on the first day.
Bees seal mature honey in cells with wax caps. Based on this feature, its maturity and pumping time are determined. Unsealed honey has high water content and contains a lot of undigested sucrose, which impairs its quality. Unripe honey cannot be stored for a long time.
There is no garden without an apiary, and there is no fruit without bees.
4/5 of the total mass of honey consists of natural sugars glucose and fructose, ash elements, enzymes, organic acids, nitrogenous compounds, vitamins, aromatic, biologically active and other substances. The amount of water in most varieties of mature honey is about 18% (depending on the area, it can range from 15 to 21%). Unripe honey contains more than 22% water.
Sugars are the main component of honey. High-quality honeys contain about 75% simple sugars (glucose, usually about 35%, fructose - 40%). Their ratio determines the physical qualities of honey: with an increase in glucose content, its ability to crystallize increases, and with an increase in fructose content, it becomes sweeter in taste and more hygroscopic.
The aromatic substances of various plants enter the hive with nectar and give a unique taste to mature honey. Most of them are in mature honey. If honey is pumped out and stored without tightly closing, the aromatic substances are lost and its smell becomes weaker.
Organic acids give honey a certain taste. Among them, the most common are lemon, apple, gluconic and milk.
Honey contains few vitamins, but when mixed with other components they are very beneficial for the body.
Until the beginning of the twentieth century, honey with bread was a daily traditional and very healthy Russian food.
Then the endless wars of the first half of the twentieth century undermined honey production in Russia.
In the mid-twentieth century, honey was practically forced out of Russian tables by the mass industrial production of sugar (sucrose), which had been established by that time in the USSR. And honey in Russia has turned from a necessary daily product into a rare delight for pampering.
Now Russia is catastrophically behind the countries of Europe and the USA in terms of honey production, but it is sharply ahead of these countries in terms of the many times higher price of sold honey. For more information on this, see the article “HOney SITUATION AT THE STATE LEVEL” below.
After some time, the pumped-out honey crystallizes (sugar turns into crystals). The ability of honey to crystallize and the rate of crystallization is influenced primarily by the ratio of glucose and fructose. The more glucose in honey, the faster crystallization begins and occurs.
Honey crystallization can be accelerated or slowed down by temperature. It occurs most quickly at a temperature of 13-14°C. When it decreases, the formation of crystals is weakened, since the viscosity of honey increases. At temperatures above 14°C, the ability to form crystals decreases, and at 40°C they dissolve (but at the same time honey loses its healing properties).
Crystallization (sugarization) does not deteriorate the quality of honey, the crystals only give it a certain appearance and attractiveness.
Honey's resistance to heat is low. The nutritional and medicinal properties of heated products are reduced. At 40°C and above, honey loses its special beneficial properties and turns into a simple sweet substance (practically into ordinary glucose-fructose syrup). At the same time, honey loses its bactericidal properties and aroma. Heat also changes the color of honey - it becomes darker, sometimes brown. The more intense and prolonged the influence of heat, the more the quality of honey deteriorates. Therefore, it is advisable to store it in its normal state, without heating it unnecessarily.
The aroma of honey is characteristic of this variety and is determined by the content of various substances brought with nectar (120 names). The ratio of aromatic substances in the nectar of different honey plants is different. Honey produced by bees from sugar syrup without nectar impurities is odorless.
The viscosity of honey depends on temperature. Cooling from +30 to +20°C increases the viscousness of honey by 4 times.
Honey has a bactericidal effect, enhances metabolism, accelerates tissue regeneration, and has an anti-inflammatory, absorbable and tonic effect. Honey normalizes the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates the function of internal organs, prevents sclerosis, normalizes sleep, stimulates the body's defenses, etc. It was found that bees, when making honey from nectar, add a substance to it - inhibin, which they produce, as a result of which the honey becomes a completely sterile product. Artificial honey made from sugar does not have the healing properties of natural honey.
When used externally, honey disinfects and kills all germs, staphylococci, etc. During the First and Second World Wars, doctors used honey to apply bandages. Such a bandage will never dry out, the wound is quickly covered with new epithelium (overgrown). Honeycomb honey can be used to treat eye cataracts, as honey increases blood circulation at the site of application, which leads to tissue cleansing.
When used internally, honey is a powerful energy booster, as it is 100% absorbed by the human body. There are recommendations for athletes to eat 200 g of honey some time before the competition.
Honey neutralizes alcohols. You can cure alcoholism with honey by giving a tablespoon of honey every half hour to the drinking person, no matter what condition he is in. At the same time, an aversion to alcohol develops, and the person stops drinking.
It is very useful for the teeth and the entire oral cavity to chew honey thoroughly and for a long time in the honeycomb until the honey taste completely disappears. Then take and thoroughly chew a new portion of comb honey. This is an excellent prevention of caries, stomatitis and gingivitis.
Types of honey
Monofloral honey. Honey is never collected by bees from only one type of honey plant. Therefore, honey is called monofloral (buckwheat, linden, etc.) if 40% of the nectar or more is collected from a given honey plant. The maximum these percentages can reach is 60, because... It is impossible to force a bee to fly to only one type of honey plant, and in the surrounding nature there is never only one type of plant.
In addition, to obtain monofloral honey, the period of its collection must coincide with the flowering period of, mainly, only one plant.
Polyfloral honey- prefabricated honey produced by bees from nectar collected from plants of several species. The name of polyfloral honey is associated with the type of honey-bearing land. For example: forest, mountain, steppe, meadow, etc.
May honey. First pumping honey is often called May honey.
The name "May honey" is not related to the characteristics of bee honey and has a purely philistine name among buyers.
The name comes from those ancient times when the chronology in Russia was different, and May began two weeks later than the current chronology. Then the first honey was pumped out that month.
Honeydew honey- this is honey that bees produce in hot, dry summers not from the nectar of flowering plants, but from the sweet secretions of some insects: aphids, psyllids, scale insects (honeydew honey of animal origin) and from honeydew - sugary substances of some plants, such as linden, fir , spruce, oak, willow, maple, apple, hazel, larch, aspen, elm, pine, rose, pear, plum (honeydew honey of plant origin).
Its color usually ranges from dark (black, tarry) and dark brown (honey from various deciduous trees) to dark green in the honeycomb cells. But honeydew honey from coniferous trees can be light yellow.
Honeydew honey has a less pronounced aroma, depending on the source of the honeydew: it can be unpleasant, smell like burnt sugar, or not at all. The consistency is syrupy, viscous, honey does not melt in the mouth for a long time. Honeydew honey, being cheaper, is used mainly in baking and confectionery production.
Some varieties of honey
Clover honey- colorless and almost transparent, has a weak aroma of clover flowers, after crystallization it takes the form of a white lard-like mass, has good taste. Predominant in colonies of gray mountain Caucasian bees.
Raspberry honey- light golden color with an exceptionally pleasant aroma and taste; is in great demand as a remedy. Collected from many apiaries.
Buckwheat honey- has a bright light brown color with a slightly reddish tint, has a strong pleasant aroma and good taste. Buckwheat honey contains up to 0.3% protein and significantly more iron than light honeys.
Heather honey- reddish-brown in color, has a strong specific aroma and slightly tart taste, after crystallization it remains brown in color. Heather honey is the richest in protein (1.86%) and mineral salts. In terms of taste, it is classified as low-grade honey.
Field honey- has many shades, from light amber to light brown. This honey is of high quality, with a strong aroma and good taste, and therefore is in great demand.
Forest honey- also has many shades, from light yellow to dark brown. It is always darker than meadow and field honey. In terms of taste, honey collected from summer herbs is not inferior to meadow and field honey, but if it contains a large percentage of honeydew or buckthorn and heather, it loses its taste.
Meadow honey- from light yellow to light brown color, has a very aromatic bouquet (especially from Rosaceae) and a pleasant taste and therefore is not inferior to other honeys.
All types of benign honey are very useful, and useful, almost equally.
Candied honey is just as healthy as fresh honey.
Complete sugaring of good mature honey occurs 3-4 weeks after honey collection.
Taking into account that the last honey bribes are taken in September, by October 20 all good-quality honey should only be candied (with the exception of two rare varieties - acacia and heather).
The color of honey depending on its origin
The plant is the color of honey
Common apricot – brown-yellow
Acacia - pale yellow
Hawthorn – dark brown
Meadow cornflower – brown
Veronica - white
Common cherry – light brown
White mustard - lemon yellow
Common buckwheat – dark brown
Pear - light green
Yellow sweet clover - golden yellow
Oak - yellow-green
Tatarian honeysuckle – yellow-hot
Willow - light yellow
Ivan-tea - green
Horse chestnut - burgundy
Common chestnut - dark red
Clover white - brown
Red clover - chocolate
Norway maple - dark yellow
Tatarian maple - grayish-white
Sycamore maple - grayish-yellow
Mullein - light yellow
Linden - soft green
Alfalfa - dirty gray
Raspberry - grayish white
Fescue team - white
Dandelion officinalis - orange
Walnut – yellow-green
Plantain - grayish-white
Sunflower - golden yellow
Rapeseed - lemon yellow
Radish - pale yellow
Common bruise - dark blue
Plum - yellowish brown
Phacelia - blue
Cherry – yellow-brown
Sainfoin - brown
Apple tree - dirty yellow
Methods for determining honey quality
1. In order to determine the maturity of liquid (uncandied, fresh) honey, lower a spoon into it and begin to rotate it. Unripe honey flows from the spoon, and mature honey is wound, lying on the spoon in folds, like a ribbon.
2.
Take liquid (uncandied) honey for testing by lowering a thin stick into the container. If this is real honey, then it stretches after the stick as a long continuous thread, and when this thread is broken, it will completely descend, forming a tower, a pagoda on the surface of the honey, which then slowly disperses.
Fake honey will behave like glue: it will flow abundantly and drip down from the stick, forming splashes.
Fresh ripe honey flows from a spoon in thick, continuous ribbons.
Normal thickness of mature fresh honey when dripping from a spoon (at a temperature of +20 o C).
3. High-quality honey should not foam. Foaminess indicates fermentation, i.e. spoilage of honey. Natural honey cannot ferment, because... it is bactericidal. (To obtain alcoholic beverages from honey by fermentation, it is either dissolved in water and brought to a boil. When heated, honey loses its bactericidal properties and can be fermented.)
4.
Over time, honey becomes cloudy and thickens (candied) - this is a sure sign of good quality. Liquid honey is usually available in the summer (July-August) during the period of its pumping. After a maximum of 1-2 months (depending on the variety), it crystallizes.
Therefore, if liquid honey is sold in winter or spring, it means that it is either heated or adulterated. It should be remembered that when heated to a temperature of +40°C and above, honey loses its main beneficial properties, turning into a simple sweet fructose-glucose syrup.
Candied natural honey retains all its beneficial properties, and it is not advisable to heat it or add it to hot dishes or drinks.
Most often, real honey is candied 2-3 weeks after collection. Considering that the last bribe is taken at the end of September - beginning of October, by October 20, natural honey can only be candied. The exception is white acacia honey (acacia honey), which does not crystallize for a long time (sometimes until spring), and heather honey turning into a jelly-like mass.
FROM RUSSIAN HISTORY. Once upon a time, Catherine II issued a Decree to flog traders of “thin” honey in November and later. Unfortunately, now this Decree is not being implemented, which is why before the New Year, and even in the spring, the shelves in Russian stores are completely lined with clear, uncandied “honey,” i.e. a known falsification.
It happens that during storage honey forms a crystallized layer on the bottom and a syrupy layer on top. This indicates that the honey is immature and contains an increased amount of water.
5. Check the smell and taste. Adulterated honey is usually odorless. Real honey has a fragrant aroma. This smell is incomparable. Honey mixed with sugar has no aroma, and its taste is close to the taste of sweetened water.
6. Determine whether there is starch in honey. To do this, put a little honey in a glass, pour boiling water, stir and cool. After this, add a few drops of iodine there. If the composition turns blue, it means that starch has been added to the honey.
7. The addition of starch syrup can be determined with ammonia, which is added dropwise to a sample of honey, previously dissolved in distilled water (1:2). The solution turns white with a brown precipitate.
8.
An admixture of chalk can be detected if you add a few drops of vinegar to honey diluted with distilled water. In the presence of chalk, the mixture boils due to the release of carbon dioxide.
Or you can simply drop vinegar or some other acid onto the honey. If the honey “boils,” it means there is chalk.
9.
Determination of the addition of sucrose (sugar) to honey. Dissolve honey in hot distilled water (in extreme cases, boiled) in a ratio of 1:2 until you obtain an easily flowing (fairly liquid) solution. Inspect for mechanical impurities - a solution of natural honey (without added insoluble additives) will definitely be transparent, without sediment and without foreign impurities on the surface. Then carefully drop a few drops of silver nitrate solution there, observing the reaction. If honey is without added sugar, there will be no cloudiness.
If sugar is added to honey, a clearly visible whitish cloudiness will immediately begin around the drops.
10. Presence of mechanical impurities. We take a sample of honey into a small test tube, add boiled or distilled water and dissolve it. Natural honey dissolves completely, the solution is transparent. If there are insoluble additives (for adulteration), a mechanical impurity will be found on the surface or in the sediment.
11. Traditionally, light varieties of honey are considered the best. However, this is not always true. For example, dark-colored honey, say, buckwheat, may contain more iron, copper, manganese and other important substances and be more valuable to the body than light honey.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
In general, all varieties of natural honey are almost equally very healthy and necessary for a healthy diet. The difference between different types of honey is more in their varied taste and appearance, but the benefits are approximately the same and are always excellent (see below the conclusion of Yu.A. Cherevko, professor at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy).
The main thing is that the honey is not adulterated and not collected in areas with a high content of toxic substances.
It must be taken into account that the toxic substances that fall on the plants in the honey collected from them are concentrated (i.e., they are in a much higher concentration). Bees are insensitive to many toxic substances, and for people such honey can be very harmful, even leading to widespread severe and even fatal poisoning (such cases are quite common, because it is simply unrealistic to test honey for the presence of all possible toxic substances in the laboratory - there are too many of these substances).
Honey collected from honey plants at military training grounds, near chemical industry enterprises, large airfields, thermal power plants, in areas of increased radioactive contamination, as well as in areas of agriculture that use intensive chemicalization of fields with highly toxic pesticides is undesirable.
In Russia, there are quite a lot of heavily chemically or radiation-contaminated areas in which extracting honey is impractical. As an example about one of these zones - the Altai Mountains - see the article "Roscosmos and the poisoned honey of the Altai Mountains" below on this page.
IN THE APPENDIX FOR THE CURIOUS at the end of this page there are maps of various man-made pollution of the territory of Russia.
Honey storage
Honey should be stored in complete darkness, because... many beneficial substances quickly disintegrate when exposed to light. (This applies to all food products.)
It is best to store honey in tightly closed glass containers (for example, glass jars with screw-on lids) in a cool place and always in complete darkness.
During long-term storage, loosely sealed honey can greatly change its specific gravity, its own weight, and water content.
If it is stored in a dry place in an open container, the water content in it can decrease to 14%, and the weight will decrease by 4-5%. And if stored in a humid room, honey is able to absorb ambient humidity from the air.
At 60% relative humidity, mature honey becomes watery, and as humidity increases, the wateriness increases (honey absorbs moisture from the air). In this case, as a rule, the honey turns sour.
In a dry room, sealed mature honey is well preserved at any temperature. And in case of high humidity, it is better to store at a temperature below +10 degrees Celsius (for example, in a refrigerator) or above +27 (but not more than R32).
Honey can absorb foreign odors, so the dishes and the room must be clean. You cannot store sauerkraut, herring, vegetables, kerosene, etc. in it.
Honey should be stored in tightly closed glass, enamel or ceramic containers (but under no circumstances in iron, copper or galvanized containers). Galvanized and copper utensils are strictly prohibited! Honey enters into a chemical reaction with zinc and copper, filling with toxic salts.
Unenamelled metal cookware can only be stainless steel or aluminum, but unenamelled metals are not desirable in either case.
Honey can also be successfully stored in wooden barrels or boxes. The most suitable material for barrels is linden. Beech, cedar, and poplar are also suitable. In barrels made of coniferous wood, honey acquires a resinous smell, in aspen it becomes bitter, and in oak it turns black.
The shelf life of honey under optimal conditions is one year. After this, it loses its antimicrobial properties. The amount of glucose and fructose decreases by 10-20%. Vitamins B1, B2 and C begin to break down. The amount of sucrose and acids increases.
If you want to turn thickened honey into liquid, place the container with honey in a saucepan with hot water and heat while stirring (it is not recommended to heat the honey itself directly over the fire).
However, remember, when heated to 37-40 degrees Celsius and above, honey inevitably begins to lose many of its beneficial (healing) properties, turning into an ordinary sweet fructose-glucose mass.
For this reason, you should not add honey to hot tea or other hot drinks.
In addition, when heating honey above 45 gr. C part of fructose forms oxymethylfurfural- a substance harmful to bees.
If you need to dissolve crystallized honey, then you need to heat it only in a water bath and make sure that the water temperature does not exceed 50 degrees. WITH.
Curious things in the world of honey
Macedonian beekeeper sues bear for stealing honey
The state was responsible for the bear's guilt
In Macedonia, a rather unusual court case took place in which a beekeeper sued a bear. As a result, by a decision of the court of the city of Bitola, the clubfoot was found guilty of stealing honey and causing damage to the beekeeper’s farm.
Speaking about the details of the incident, the beekeeper said that he honestly tried to ward off the offender with the help of loud turbo-folk music.
“I tried to scare away the bear with bright lights and music, because I heard that bears are afraid of this,” Zoran Kiseloski told the press after the conclusion of the case in his favor, which had been going on in court for a whole year. “So I bought a generator, installed lights in the territory and turned on the music."
The bear did not approach for several weeks, but as soon as the generator stopped working and the music stopped, the clubfoot went for honey again. Then the injured beekeeper went to court with a demand to curb the wild robber.
The bear was found guilty, but since it is not someone’s property and belongs to a state-protected species, the court ordered the state to pay 140 thousand dinars (about $3,550) in damages to the beekeeper, but ordered the victim to improve the protection of his apiary in the future so as not to expose the wild animal to unnecessary temptation.
Counterfeits of honey and methods for identifying them
Adulteration, or counterfeiting, of bee honey has been known since ancient times, especially in connection with the development of the sugar industry.
Amos Root in his “Encyclopedia of Beekeeping” (1876) reports on Hassell’s book “The Detection of Adulteration” (1855), where, in his opinion, information about the adulteration of honey is provided for the first time. He cites a quote that is still relevant today: “Fake and adulterated honey is very common in our markets. The substance usually used is ordinary sugar, diluted with water in the form of syrup and flavored with various aromatic substances. This preparation is usually mixed with real honey.” Even alum, which is harmful to health, was found among the impurities in counterfeit products.
Over the past century, falsification techniques have improved. They began to use molasses, invert sugar and sucrose. Various carbohydrate-containing substances, such as potato and corn starch, and other products, were used for counterfeiting.
It has become difficult to distinguish counterfeit honey from natural honey not only organoleptically, but also during laboratory tests.
Therefore, in the articles below on this page, the editors of SuperCook give all possible ways to independently test honey at home. Some of these methods are repeated in different articles, which indicates their popularity.
The state has taken upon itself to protect honey consumers from purchasing counterfeits in the retail chain, but often honey, in addition to markets and stores, is purchased from private individuals.
Consumers should be aware of the existence of counterfeit honey and be able to recognize them.
To date, known honey counterfeits can be divided into three large groups: natural honeys with the addition of foreign products to increase their mass and viscosity, honeys made by bees from sweet products of non-nectar origin, and artificial honeys.
Honey going on sale must always comply with GOST. GOST must be indicated on the label. Any deviation from it indicates unnaturalness and falsification. To assess the quality of natural honey, 43 indicators are proposed in the scientific literature: maturity, stability, water content, sucrose... But, unfortunately, these requirements are often violated. How to determine benign natural bee honey?
Regardless of where you buy honey, you should always ask where and when it was collected.
When buying honey in a specialty store(which, however, in Russia is also not a guarantee against counterfeits - nowadays we have plenty of scammers everywhere) read it carefully label. She will tell you what kind of honey it is.
White label will indicate quality honey, blue— that the honey is of low quality or honeydew. The label must contain the standard, variety, botanical type of honey, time and place of its collection, name and address of the supplier.
Methods for determining honey quality
People have their own methods for determining the quality of honey, for example, by using chemical pencil. The essence is this: a layer of honey is applied to paper, a finger or a spoon and drawn over it with a chemical pencil, or the pencil is dipped into the honey itself. It is assumed that the honey is adulterated, i.e. contains all sorts of impurities (sugar, sugar honey, as well as an increased amount of water), then a colored pencil mark will remain. However, researcher V.G. Chudakov in 1972 tested 36 samples of honey of varying quality, including 13 falsified ones, and believes that this folk method of determining the naturalness of honey and assessing its quality is absolutely wrong.
There is another popular method for identifying counterfeit honey; it involves testing on blotting paper. A small amount of honey is placed on blotting paper. If after a few minutes a watery spot appears on the back of the paper, this is considered a sign of falsification. Again, V.G. Chudakov conducted laboratory studies of this sample, which led to the conclusion that the sample actually allows one to identify almost 100% of counterfeit honey, but in addition, some natural honeys also fall into the category of counterfeits.
If you buy honey, look in reference books to see what it should look like. The main thing is that it must have a certain aroma, honey taste, that is, a bouquet corresponding to a certain type of natural honey; The color must match.
If the honey is too white, This should raise suspicion, is it sugary? If the color is dark brown- Isn’t he a honeydew? If its aroma is dulled, the taste of caramel is felt - which means it is melted honey.
Also pay attention to the consistency of the honey.- it must correspond to the density of the variety, at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, it must be wound onto a spoon like a ribbon, with sweet threads that are interrupted at a certain moment.
Liquid honey should raise suspicion. Most likely, this is unripe honey. It will not be stored, it will ferment, as it contains a lot of water. Such honey will not “wrap” around the spoon, but will simply flow off it. If you buy honey in winter, it should not be runny, and if it is, it has most likely been heated or diluted.
When purchasing, check honey for fermentation. If, when stirring, you feel that it is not viscous, it is actively foaming and gas bubbles appear on the surface. It gives off a specific sour smell and also has an alcoholic or burnt taste.
Before buying a large amount of honey, buy 100-200 grams for testing.
Beware of purchasing honey from apiaries located along roads with heavy traffic. Such honey may contain an increased amount of lead compounds and other substances that reach the flowers with car exhaust fumes. Lead gets into honey with nectar and pollen, and this is dangerous for the health of those who consume it.
Honey collected in areas with unfavorable ecology is also very harmful (see maps below).
How to identify impurities in honey
To identify various impurities in honey The following methods are recommended. Pour honey into a transparent jar, then add distilled water - the honey will dissolve and impurities will settle at the bottom.
- In order to discover admixture of flour or starch in honey you need to pour 3-5 ml of an aqueous solution of honey (1:2) into a jar or glass and add 3-5 drops of Lugol's solution (or tincture of iodine). If honey contains flour or starch, the solution will turn blue.
- Addition of starch syrup(a mixture of cool water and starchy sugar) can be recognized by its appearance, stickiness and lack of crystallization. You can also mix one part of honey with 2-3 parts of distilled water, add a quarter of the volume of 96% alcohol and shake. If the honey contains starch syrup, the solution will take on a milky color. After this solution settles, a transparent semi-liquid sticky mass (dextrin) will settle. If there is no impurity, the solution will remain transparent.
- Detect impurities of sugar (beet) molasses and ordinary sugar You can add a solution of silver nitrate (lapis) to a 5-10% solution of honey in water. If a white precipitate of silver chloride appears, this indicates the presence of an impurity. If there is no sediment, then the honey is pure. There is another way: to 5 ml of a 20% solution of honey in distilled water, add 22.5 ml of methyl (wood) alcohol; if an abundant yellowish-white precipitate forms, the honey contains sugar syrup.
- For detection invert sugar impurities There is a rather complicated method: grind 5 g of honey with a small amount of ether (in which the products of the breakdown of fructose are dissolved), then filter the ethereal solution into a bowl, evaporate to dryness and add 2-3 drops of a freshly prepared 1% solution of resorcinol in concentrated water to the residue hydrochloric acid (specific weight 1.125 g). If the impurity turns orange (to cherry red), it means there is invert sugar.
“Sugar” honey, like all unnatural honeys, is distinguished by the absence of vitamins, organic acids, protein and aromatic substances, and mineral salts. In sugar honey, the main element is silicon and there are practically no other salts, there are only traces of them. In natural honey it’s the other way around.
- If honey does not crystallize, then we can assume that there is admixture of potato molasses.
- In order to discover admixture of honeydew honey Pour 1 part of an aqueous solution of honey (1:1) into a glass and add 2 parts of lime water, then heat the mixture to a boil. If brown flakes form and precipitate, this indicates the presence of an admixture of honeydew honey.
SET OF EXPRESS HONEY QUALITY TESTS WHEN PURCHASING
(Some points will repeat what was stated above, but repetition is the mother of learning, since any reasonable adult is simply obliged not to allow himself to be fooled by any kind of rogue scoundrels and in all cases to be able to choose normal quality products):
Is it possible to buy honey by hand? Only if you are sure what exactly you are buying. Selling honey in a store is also not a guarantee of its quality.
The only real guarantee of the quality of purchased honey is personal acquaintance with the beekeeper, confidence in his integrity and the knowledge that his apiary is located in a prosperous area. Therefore, it is best to buy honey from a familiar beekeeper directly in his apiary.
The most common honey adulterator is sugar syrup. Unripe honey is often diluted with the same syrup to give it the missing sweetness.
First, the honey must be mature. After all, bees work on nectar for about a week: they evaporate the water, enrich it with enzymes, and break down complex sugars into simple ones. During this time, the honey is infused. The bees seal the finished product with wax caps - this is the kind of honey that has all its beneficial properties and can be stored for a long time (but no more than one year).
Very often, beekeepers pump out honey during honey collection, without waiting for it to ripen, due to a lack of honeycombs. The water content in such honey is sometimes twice the norm, it is little enriched with enzymes and sucrose, and quickly sours.
To determine the maturity of fresh, uncandied honey, its temperature is brought to 20 degrees. C, stirring with a spoon. Then the spoon is taken out and started to rotate. Ripe honey wraps around her. Over time, honey may become sugary; this is normal and does not in any way affect the taste, aroma, or healing qualities of honey.
Using simple tests you can determine whether honey is adulterated.
— Flour and starch are determined by adding a drop of iodine to a small amount of honey diluted with water. If the solution turns blue, honey with flour or starch.
— If the solution sizzles when adding vinegar essence, there is chalk in the honey.
- If in a 5-10% aqueous solution of honey, when adding a small amount of lapis solution, turbidity forms around the drops and a white precipitate forms, sugar has been added.
How can you determine the quality of honey?
1) By color.
Each type of honey has its own color, unique to it. Flower honey is light yellow in color, linden honey is amber, ash honey is transparent like water, buckwheat honey has different shades of brown. Pure honey without impurities is usually transparent, no matter what color it is.
Honey, which contains additives (sugar, starch, other impurities), is cloudy, and if you look closely, you can find sediment in it.
2) By aroma.
Real honey has a fragrant aroma. This smell is incomparable. Honey mixed with sugar has no aroma, and its taste is close to the taste of sweetened water.
3) By viscosity.
Take honey for testing by lowering a thin stick into the container. If this is real honey, then it follows the stick as a long continuous thread, and when this thread is broken, it will completely descend, forming a tower, a pagoda on the surface of the honey, which will then slowly disperse.
Fake honey will behave like glue: it will flow abundantly and drip down from the stick, forming splashes.
4) By consistency.
In real honey it is thin and delicate. Honey is easily rubbed between your fingers and absorbed into the skin, which cannot be said about a fake. Adulterated honey has a rough texture; when rubbed, lumps remain on your fingers.
Before buying honey in reserve at the market, take the product you like from 2-3 regular sellers. To start, 100 grams each. Do the recommended quality tests at home and only then buy it for future use from the same sellers.
5) Check if water and sugar have been added to the honey.
To do this, add a drop of honey to a piece of low-grade, unglued paper (for example, regular newspaper or toilet paper), which absorbs moisture well. If it spreads across the paper, forming wet spots, or even seeps through it, it is fake honey.
6) Determine whether the honey contains starch.
To do this, put a little honey in a glass, pour boiling water, stir and cool. After this, add a few drops of iodine there. If the composition turns blue, it means that starch has been added to the honey. This is fake honey.
7) Find out if there are other impurities in honey.
To do this, take a red-hot stainless steel wire (you can heat it in the flame of a lighter) and dip it in honey. If a sticky foreign mass hangs on it, you have fake honey, but if the wire remains clean, the honey is natural or, in other words, full-fledged.
8) What should you pay attention to when buying honey?
Honey, incl. and when sold, cannot be stored in metal containers, since the acids contained in its composition can cause oxidation. This will lead to an increase in the content of heavy metals in it and a decrease in useful substances. Such honey can cause discomfort in the stomach and even lead to poisoning.
Conscientious sellers store honey only in glass, clay, porcelain, ceramic and wooden containers. If you see that honey is sold from metal containers, immediately step aside.
9) How else can you distinguish a fake?
Add a little of what you bought under the guise of honey to a cup of weak, warm tea. If you were not deceived, the tea will darken, but no sediment will form at the bottom.
Over time, honey becomes cloudy and thickens (candied) - this is a sure sign of good quality. And not, as many people mistakenly believe, that the honey has gone bad.
Sometimes honey during storage is divided into two layers: it thickens only at the bottom, and remains liquid at the top. This indicates that it is unripe and should therefore be eaten as quickly as possible - unripe honey only lasts for a few months.
Careless beekeepers do not take bees out to collect nectar, but simply feed them sugar. Sugar honey is unnatural. There is nothing useful in it. This “sugar” honey is unnaturally white.
In real honey there is no free water - in mature honey, water (about 20%) is completely bound in a true saturated solution. Honey with sugar syrup has high humidity - this can be checked in the following way. Dip a piece of bread into honey, and after 8-10 minutes, take it out. High-quality honey will harden the bread. If, on the contrary, it has softened or completely spread out, then this is nothing more than sugar syrup.
But no one on the market will allow you to conduct such experiments, but they will let you try. Often honey is dripped onto a small piece of paper for tasting. This is quite enough to conduct another experiment. When going to the market to buy honey, take a chemical pencil with you. Smear the honey on a piece of paper with a pencil, you can smear it with your finger, and try writing something on the “honey” strip with a chemical pencil. If after a few seconds an inscription or blue streaks appear, you can confidently and loudly inform the seller (so that other customers can hear) that the product contains starch or flour. If you don't have a chemical pencil, a drop of iodine will do. The same blue tint of the proposed honey will unmistakably identify the starch and flour in the product.
10) Which honey is better - mountain honey or, let's say, lowland honey?
Don’t fall for the bait when they try to convince you that mountain honey is better than what bees collect in our open spaces. Mountain honey has no special advantages over plain honey. The quality of honey and the concentration of nutrients in it depend only on the decency and knowledge of the beekeeper, as well as on the environmental situation in the area where honey is collected. Here, however, there is a difference between honey collected in a clean environment and what bees collected from the flower beds of an industrial enterprise. But here too everything depends on the beekeeper. His conscience should not allow him to make money from “industrial” honey.
11) Honey sellers have several tricks designed for gullible buyers.
First, cover your ears and don't listen to what they tell you. Check everything yourself. Of course, there may be one honest salesperson out of a bunch of liars, but how do you know that the one standing in front of you is honest? Try honey not only from the top, but also from the bottom of the jar. Feel free to put a spoon into the jar and don’t listen to the sellers who start shouting: “Don’t spoil the product!”
Unheated honey - both fresh transparent and candied - is an effective antiseptic, and a clean spoon in a jar cannot spoil it. It’s a different matter if it wasn’t honey at the bottom, or if the honey was previously heated, which led to the loss of its antiseptic and all other healing properties.
Do not buy unchecked or rolled honey from the market. It is a myth that honey is best stored with a tin lid. A simple screw-on or tight polyethylene lid is sufficient.
Crystallization (sugarification) is a natural process for honey that does not affect its quality and composition of nutrients. Don't be fooled by crystallized honey. Do not come the next day to the seller who promised you non-crystallized honey. They will bring the same thing, but warmed up. But under no circumstances should you heat honey, because... this turns it into a simple sweet substance, devoid of many beneficial properties!
12) Real honey has the following characteristics:
High-quality honey does not roll off the spoon too quickly. Take a tablespoon of honey and turn the spoon several times in a quick circular motion. The honey will roll over it, almost without draining into the jar.
Dip a spoon into the container with honey. When pulling out the spoon, evaluate the nature of the swelling of the honey. A good one will form a ribbon, sit in a mound, and bubbles will form on its surface.
All types of honey have a sweet taste, but some varieties have a specific taste. For example, tobacco, chestnut and willow varieties have a bitter taste, while heather is astringent. Any deviations in the taste of honey indicate its poor quality. Other flavor defects may be due to the presence of impurities. Excessive acidity may be associated with the onset of fermentation, the aroma of caramel is the result of heating, obvious bitterness is due to incorrect storage conditions of a low-quality product.
The color of honey depends solely on the variety. It can be all shades of brown and yellow. Do not be alarmed by the pale yellow, slightly cloudy honey - this is normal for acacia honey that has been standing for some time, because it candied very slowly and for a long time - sometimes completely only at the end of winter (but be sure to try it and determine for yourself by taste that it is acacia honey). Other types of uncandied honey are not characterized by turbidity, because the process of their sugaring (clouding and hardening) occurs quickly - it was just transparent and suddenly (2-4 weeks after the bribe - the period depends on the type of honey) it was all sugared at once.
Another very simple express check: you need to drop honey on paper and set it on fire. The paper around it burns, but real high-quality honey does not burn, melt or turn brown. If the honey begins to melt, it means the bees were fed sugar syrup, and if it turns brown, it means it was diluted with sugar.
ABOUT HONEY
Based on materials from the magazine "Science and Life"
1. SYNTHETIC HONEY, “HOT”, “CHEMICAL”, UNRIPED: HOW TO DETERMINE THE QUALITY OF HONEY
2. “HOney” SITUATION AT THE STATE LEVEL
In recent years, the average Russian consumes, according to various estimates, about 0.25-0.3 kilograms of honey per year, that is, approximately 150-200 times less than a century and a half ago. And the annual consumption of sugar in Russia is 41 kilograms per person per year. That is, in a sense, the average “sweetness” of life has not changed, the taste and benefits of this sweetness have changed. Moreover, even according to the standards of modern medicine (many times revised upward), sugar consumption in all products should not exceed 38 kilograms per person per year.
How are things going in other countries?
In Germany, for example, the average per capita honey consumption is 5 kg per person per year, that is, about 20 times more than in Russia, the average for the countries of the European Union is 3.5 kg, in Japan - 7 kg, in Saudi Arabia - up to 8 kg per year. In general, we are lagging behind. More precisely, we are catching up with developed countries at a good pace in terms of allergy sufferers per capita, but we are orders of magnitude behind in terms of the simplest and most natural methods of recovery. It is known that honey is a good preventative. By consuming pollen and enzymes from various plants in minute quantities with honey, the body maintains a healthy reaction to them throughout the year.
Among the reasons explaining the lower consumption of honey in Russia is, of course, its price. In terms of the retail price of honey, today's Russia has surpassed both Europe and the United States many times over. And this is despite the gigantic territories from which honey can be collected.
Commercial honey in Russia is now supplied to several regions, including the Krasnodar Territory. There you can often see the following picture: a large flowering field, and on the edge there is a trailer with hives in two or three rows (up to 36 hives on a trailer). This is what nomadic beekeeping looks like, which not only produces a lot of honey (several tons per trailer), but also significantly increases yields. It is known that the cost of additional crop production obtained through high-quality pollination by bees is 10-12 times higher than the cost of honey.
In rural areas of Germany, up to 70 bee colonies can be counted per square kilometer. What about in Russia? Here we are behind, and significantly. The federal law on beekeeping was discussed by deputies for a long time, but was never adopted.
With the traditional question "who is to blame?" more or less figured it out.
Now let's look at the following
To give a comprehensive answer to the question that worries many people, whether there is sugar in honey, it is necessary to study its composition. And having understood what both substances are, it will be possible to confidently determine which of these products is preferable to eat and which will be more beneficial.
What are sugar and honey?
Sugar is the common name for sucrose. A common substance belongs to the category of carbohydrates necessary to provide the human body with energy. Sucrose is broken down into glucose and fructose and then absorbed into the bloodstream. Everything seems to be wonderful, but why then was sugar dubbed “white poison”? And the reason lies in the method of its production.
Everyone knows that sugar is produced from plant raw materials (sugar cane and beets), but during its production organic acids, protein, nitrogen elements, and enzymes are destroyed. Sugar contains virtually no vitamins and minerals, which is why it is called “empty calories,” since they are consumed from the body’s internal reserves. When these reserves run out, the metabolism of “bad” cholesterol and fatty acids kicks in, resulting in weight gain and problems with the liver and pancreas.
What is honey?
Honey is a valuable food product that bees produce from nectar or sweet sap of plants and trees. The content of microelements in the product of bee activity is high due to its plant-animal origin. It contains iron, magnesium, chlorine, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, lead and many other macro- and microelements. And, of course, honey contains sugar: the natural product consists of carbohydrates, the amount of which reaches 75% - glucose, fructose and sucrose. The volume of water is up to 20%, and the remaining 5% are proteins, vitamins, organic acids, enzymes and minerals.
Honey or sugar - which to choose?
What these 2 products have in common is that they are both sweet, made from natural raw materials and contain glucose and fructose - carbohydrates necessary for the body. So, can you replace sugar with honey? Of course, the benefits of the latter are enormous and known to almost every person on earth: the glucose and fructose contained in honey are simple carbohydrates, they are very quickly absorbed by the human body without unnecessary energy costs.
Sucrose (cane sugar) is a complex carbohydrate, but its content in mature beekeeping products is insignificant (1-6%). This occurs due to the fact that sucrose, under the influence of invertase enzymes, is gradually broken down into fructose and glucose. Thus, when they enter the body, they do not attract insulin for their processing, as is the case with sugar, as a result of which there is no load on the pancreas.
Benefits of consuming honey
What to choose - honey or sugar? Definitely, the beekeeping product will be a good alternative to sugar, because its properties and difference from the latter lie not only in its ease of digestibility and richness of nutrients. Honey is also characterized by antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, which sugar does not have, which makes it more harmful than its opponent. Replacing sugar with honey is recommended for anyone who cares about their health, follows a diet, or wants to lose 2-3 kg.
Why does eating amber sweetness bring fewer calories into the body than using sugar? It is no secret that honey has more calories than white powder (1 teaspoon of honey contains 22 kcal, and a teaspoon of sugar contains 16 kcal); it is much sweeter than its bulk counterpart. Accordingly, it is impossible to eat a lot of this sweet product. So it turns out that the number of calories consumed with honey is less than when eating granulated sugar.
These properties are important for those who are trying to keep their figure in shape. Those who care about their health should know that sweet honey has a lower glycemic index (55) compared to sugar (61). High GI of frequently eaten foods can lead to the development of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and excess weight. As a result, it becomes clear that the lower the GI level in the product, the less the load on the pancreas and the less significant the health problems. This means that the amber product is better than sugar.
Those who want to really lose weight (for example, select an individual calorie content for weight loss and, based on it, enter the required portion of BJU (protein, fat, carbohydrate) into the menu, calculating their correct ratio), you should take into account that the calorie content of honey is 328 units . per 100 grams of product. From all of the above, the conclusion suggests itself: consuming the bulk product is harmful to the body; it will be beneficial if you use honey instead of sugar in food. This delicacy not only has a lower calorie content, but also has a positive effect on metabolic processes in the human body, as it contains all the elements necessary for this.
How much honey should you eat per day? A good and important question, but there is no clear consensus on its solution. This largely depends on the person’s lifestyle and personal preferences. Some people believe that eating 4 tbsp. l. a treat per day is quite enough for an adult (a tablespoon of honey contains 30 g of thickened product, and if it is liquid, then about 5 g more). For children, this amount should be reduced by 2 times - a teaspoon is quite suitable. You can, of course, eat honey in its pure form, but it will be better if 1 tsp. dissolve in a cup of tea (milk or water). It is only important that the liquid into which the substance must be added is not hot.
In order to enjoy the taste of a wonderful product and benefit from it, it is necessary that it be of high quality. Some dishonest sellers counterfeit natural honey by adding, for example, sugar syrup.
Here are some tips on how to test honey for sugar:
- Rub a small amount of product between your fingers. High-quality honey melts easily and is absorbed into the skin. If the product is hard and leaves lumps on your fingers, it is a fake. It is necessary to immerse a spoon in the container with the product being tested and then slowly remove it. Real honey should flow from the spoon in thin, viscous strings, forming “turrets” on the surface.
- Brew weak tea, remove the tea leaves, add 2 tsp. honey If the added product is of high quality, the tea will darken, and if a sediment forms, it is counterfeit.
- You need to carefully consider the product you are purchasing. Cloudy honey with sediment indicates the presence of sugar in it. The natural product has a transparent color of any shade.
- Take a sheet of stiff, moisture-absorbent paper, place a few drops of sweet liquid on it and trace. If sugar is added to honey, the drops will spread and seep through the paper.
There are ways to help identify impurities added to honey (chalk, starch, saccharin and even wood shavings) at home:
- The basic method for working with honey is to dissolve a small amount of honey in water. The presence of precipitate indicates a fake. To find out about the starch content in honey, you need to add a few drops of iodine to an aqueous solution of the substance. The color may differ from the original, for example, blue will indicate the presence of starch.
- If the solution begins to foam when adding vinegar or citric acid, it means there is chalk in the honey.
Special laboratories will help you check the quality of the treat. Experts know how to identify any impurities using a general method:
- Moisture content (a product with an increased amount of water will quickly begin to ferment).
- Reducing sugars (primarily glucose and fructose). Their content is important when assessing the maturity and good quality of the product).
- The amount of sucrose (its increased amount may mean adulteration of honey by adding sugar).
- Presence of pesticides and antibiotics.
Armed with these tips, you can safely go and buy a healing product.
The conclusion is this: sugar destroys our body, and the amber delicacy is very useful for humans, because a spoonful of honey does not contain a single harmful element. Everything associated with this natural product improves our health and mood. This is why honey can be an excellent alternative to sugar.
Honey is perhaps one of the unique products that nature has given us. According to Ayurveda, it is the nectar of life. Because it is created from the essence of the reproductive organs of a flower and has a natural affinity for reproductive tissues. The healing properties of this product have been known since ancient times. For centuries, people have been and are still looking for the elixir of youth, but they turn to it again and again.
One of the ancient Indian books says that beekeeping products help prolong life and preserve beauty until old age. Avicenna gave advice: eat pomegranate in the morning, at lunch - food that should be stuffed with onions, and at night - honey, then the blood will always be clean. There is evidence that if properly stored, it will not lose its beneficial and medicinal properties for a millennium.
Honey helps restore the body after illness, containing not only potassium and magnesium, but also manganese and iron, which are so necessary for humans. In addition, it contains a huge amount of vitamins that help strengthen the nervous system and significantly strengthen the body during seasonal colds.
For colds and nerves
Honey is good. 1 tsp is enough. per glass of milk, which is heated to no more than 40-50 degrees and drunk at night. The cold will gradually subside.
For colds, mix 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon with 1 teaspoon of honey and take two or three times a day.
The blood sugar level has dropped and the person feels “broken” and tired, and the heart rate increases. Honey will help cope with this disease.
For high blood pressure, high cholesterol, drink a cup of hot water with a teaspoon of sweet product and 5 - 10 drops of apple cider vinegar early in the morning.
Gastrointestinal problems
Honey is also used for all types of intestinal disorders as it is a good antibacterial agent.
It significantly improves digestion as it contains many enzymes for digesting food. They recommend adding it to porridge in the morning, spreading it on bread, adding it to fruit salads, among other things, to get a good boost of energy.
For nausea, vomiting and stomach upset, mix one part lemon juice with one part honey. Dip your index finger into this mixture and lick it slowly twice a day.
For stomach pain, take a mixture of 1/4 teaspoon ground bay leaf, 1/4 teaspoon celery seed and 1 teaspoon honey before lunch and dinner daily.
Metabolism
To heal mouth ulcers, apply 1 teaspoon of honey and a pinch of turmeric directly to mouth ulcers or tongue ulcers. This mixture will generate saliva and draw out toxins; spit it out to speed up the healing process. For internal ulcers, mix a cup of warm milk with a teaspoon of honey and take twice a day.
To lose weight, eat honey, because it has a structure completely opposite to fat, helping to break it down. It is advised in the morning, on an empty stomach, to drink a glass of still mineral water, or just clean water, dissolve 1 tsp. honey, better than spring honey, or as they say, May honey. For greater effect, you can add a few drops of lemon juice. Both tasty and very healthy!
Expert opinion
Honey is a beekeeping product, which is the result of the enzymatic processing of pollen and nectar by the digestive system of bees. It contains natural sugars (fructose, glucose), water, macroelements, microelements and enzymes. It contains a foreign protein, so honey can cause an allergic reaction.
The benefits of this product are undeniable: it activates the immune system, improves digestion, is considered an excellent anti-aging remedy, and honey is an irreplaceable source of energy for the human body. However, it should be used with caution, because excessive amounts of honey can aggravate the course of certain gastrointestinal pathologies.
Use for cosmetic purposes
- Honey is widely used in cosmetology. It helps improve complexion. For this, 1 tbsp. l. combine with 1-2 tbsp. l. olive or almond oil, if possible, jojoba oil is better. Apply to the skin of the face, neck and décolleté, leave for 30 minutes and rinse with lukewarm water.
- Another recipe for a nourishing mask: take green or white clay, fortunately, now you can buy it at the pharmacy without any problems, mix it with honey (the proportions are usually 1:1). Apply to the face and leave for 20 minutes and the skin will become smooth and radiant. This mask is good for oily, problematic and mature skin. For those who have acne or other inflammatory processes, use honey with white clay.
Preservative and antiseptic
Honey has preservative properties; since ancient times it has been used to preserve food, for example, the Greeks used it to preserve meat, which could be stored for up to 4 years.
In ancient times, honey was used to heal a wide variety of wounds, as it has disinfecting, antifungal properties that can destroy microbial infections.
How to choose a quality product
Contraindications for use
- Please note, raw honey is not recommended for children under 18 months of age, the elderly, or those with weakened immune systems.
- Allergy is also an absolute contraindication to its use.
So it turns out that by eating sweets, you can improve your health, because honey is useful for any health condition, with the exception of allergies to this product. This is an excellent remedy for quick recovery of a person after an illness, for example, or during physical activity. But you need to remember that you cannot heat it to more than 50 degrees, as all its beneficial properties will disappear.
One more thing. Honey tends to crystallize or become sugary, so if you are offered a liquid product in winter, there is a reason to think about its quality and usefulness. Most likely they have warmed it up, or worse, they are trying to sell you an artificial surrogate. It is very easy to find out: the natural product will easily dissolve completely in warm water.
The beneficial properties of honey are widely known. It is used not only as a sweetener, but also as a treatment for colds. It has antibacterial, antiviral, soothing and healing effects, it helps strengthen the immune system and increase vitality.
The high cost of a natural product is a direct consequence of the complexity of its production. But even after paying a considerable price for this product, you cannot always be sure of its quality. Counterfeiting is not a new phenomenon.
Mention of unscrupulous traders is contained in the Encyclopedia of Beekeeping, published by the American entrepreneur and great enthusiast of this field of agriculture Amos Root in 1876.
Unnatural honey
Current fakes can be divided into three groups:
- Natural with addition foreign substances designed to increase the total volume and density of the mass;
- Products, obtained from a mixture sugar and water, with added colors and flavors;
- Sugar.
The falsification method described by Root back in the 19th century is still used today.
A mixture of sugar and water is boiled to a thick syrup, after which flavors and dyes are added to it. To enhance the effect, the final product can be mixed with a small amount of real honey.
Since the time of Amos Root, honey adulteration technologies have improved. Now artificial mixtures are prepared from invert sugar and sucrose and thickeners are added to them, among which you can find corn and potato starch. High-quality counterfeits can be difficult to identify even with the help of professional expertise. Fortunately, they are rare.
Another method of obtaining honey is used by unscrupulous beekeepers. Instead of waiting for the bees to collect flower nectar, the insects are fed regular sugar syrup. Sugar honey obtained in this way has no beneficial properties.
How to distinguish a quality product from an artificial one
Good taste
Jar of honey The taste of natural honey is sweet with a tart note, which is especially noticeable in buckwheat and chestnut honey. This product leaves behind a pleasant aftertaste. Counterfeits will have an unremarkable sweet taste, in some cases a little cloying.
Natural color
Color can vary from white to dark brown. Each variety has its own characteristic color. Honey collected from white acacia flowers is almost transparent in its liquid state.
Buckwheat honey has a rich brown color with a reddish tint. The white product may well not be from plant pollen, but from sugar syrup.
Before purchasing, you should find out exactly what type of honey is in front of you. This will make it easier to relate the description to the product being offered to you.
Correct consistency
The structure of natural and artificial honey is strikingly different. By rubbing a drop of it with your fingers, you will notice that it has disappeared without a trace, quickly being absorbed into the skin. After doing the same with the fake, you will feel that there are small lumps left on the skin.
Honey tends to crystallize after several months of storage. If they try to sell you a liquid product in the middle of winter, then this is an alarming sign. Such a product was either made from sugar syrup or was heated before sale. Honey heated above a temperature of 40 degrees loses its beneficial qualities.
Viscosity check
Real honey should be sticky An important indicator and condition when determining the authenticity of naturalness is its viscosity. Dip a clean spoon into the container with honey, and then slowly remove it. The real product should follow the spoon continuous thread. As the substance drips off the spoon, it forms a visible trace on the surface that slowly dissolves.
Aroma
Smell is the hardest thing to fake. The aroma of the natural product is thick and fragrant; notes of honey plants can be distinguished in it. A product made from sugar does not have a distinct aroma. How to check? If you find it difficult to detect the smell, then this is a fake.
Determine sugar
Whether there is sugar in a product can be determined using thin paper. To do this, place a drop of honey on a paper napkin or sheet of blotting paper.
The appearance of wet spots will indicate that the product is artificial.
The natural product can remain on the paper surface for several minutes without bleeding onto the back of the sheet. The longer a mark does not appear on the paper, the better quality it is.
How to test real honey at home?
Whether you have any natural honey left or not, you can dispel it using a few simple procedures. How can you distinguish honey and find out its quality?
Drop of iodine
Iodine Dilute a small amount of honey with water and add a drop of iodine to the resulting mixture. If after this the solution turns blue, this means that it contains starch or flour.
With bread
Place a piece of bread in a container and leave for 5-10 minutes. If after this time the bread has retained its shape, then this is a natural product. If the bread has softened and spread, then this is a clear sign that the product was made on the basis of sugar syrup.
Pencil
Place a drop of honey on the back of your hand or a piece of paper and spread it in a thin layer. Run a regular chemical pencil over the surface. A thick line will indicate the presence of water in the product. The absence of a noticeable trace will mean that this is undiluted honey.
Vinegar
Vinegar Dissolve a teaspoon of honey in water and add a few drops of vinegar to the resulting mixture. If this is followed by hissing, then this is a sure sign that the product contains chalk.
Identify counterfeit using water
Place a spoon in a clear glass of warm water and stir. The natural product will dissolve without residue, slightly coloring the water. If there are foreign impurities in the product, they will either precipitate or float to the surface.
Buckwheat honey The best way to protect yourself from counterfeits is to purchase homemade honey from a beekeeper you know. In order to choose a person worthy of trust, ask if he sells honeycombs.
If the answer is yes, you will know for sure that the seller has access to natural honey. Such people value their reputation highly and will not risk it by offering counterfeits.
Buy honey in season, because real beekeepers sell it as it is produced. If you purchase honey in a store, check and pay attention to the correct label. A counterfeit product can be harmful to your health.
Honey is good for the human body. The product has an antibacterial, immunomodulatory, antiviral effect on the body.
The question arises, is it possible to use honey instead of sugar? At the same time, honey stands alongside another sweet product – sugar, which is commonly called “white death”, since its consumption is harmful to health and the body as a whole.
Therefore, it is worth thinking again about the benefits of the product, and consuming the product instead of sugar.
Composition and use of honey
One of the reasons for the replacement is the calorie content of the product. At first glance, it is difficult to understand where the most calories are contained. Honey exceeds the energy value of sugar, one spoon of sweetener contains 65 kcal, one spoon of sugar – 45 kcal.
The diet should include a small amount of honey.
How to use honey?
Doctors have proven that honey is an aphrodisiac.
Since ancient times, there have been many ways to consume this sweet product.
You can simply eat it with tea. But this method can lead to extra pounds.
Some nutritionists recommend drinking herbal tea for breakfast to lose weight.
To prepare it you will need:
- Green tea.
- Black tea.
- Mint.
- Carnation.
- Cinnamon.
This drink can tone up the body throughout the day. With constant use, metabolism improves.
If desired, you can drink coffee with honey.
Spices and lemon must be handled with caution. For example, if you have gastritis, you should not consume citrus. Cinnamon can increase blood pressure, and is completely prohibited during pregnancy. It has a tonic effect and can affect the contraction of the muscles of the uterus.
Honey is widely used for preparing culinary dishes. Confectionery products with honey have a special aroma, taste, and beautiful appearance. The beekeeping product is combined with apples, cinnamon, oranges, and ginger. It is added to shortbread, biscuit, and curd dough.
The main rule of baking is maintaining proportions. Please note that honey may cause the product to fail to bake.
Honey products do not go stale for a long time because they retain moisture well. It is also added to compote, jam, charlotte, and pancakes. One of the recipes:
- Flour – 1.5 cups.
- Honey – 0.5 cups.
- Eggs – 5 pcs.
- Apples – 3 pcs.
- Cinnamon to taste.
Method of preparation: beat eggs for 5 minutes. Add honey and continue whisking for another 5 minutes. Combine the whipped mass with the flour, mix carefully with a wooden spoon until a homogeneous consistency is formed. Wash and peel the apples. Cut into thin slices and place in a round pan. Pour the dough, sprinkle with cinnamon, put in a warm oven. Bake for 40 minutes at 170 degrees. During cooking, do not open the oven, do not raise or lower the temperature
The beneficial and harmful properties of honey are discussed in the video in this article.
