Honey has long been considered one of the healthiest and most delicious foods. The complexity of collecting honey is determined by the need to maintain an apiary of hives with bees. The variety of honey is determined by the presence of more than 25% of the nectar of one plant. Currently, there are over 70 types of honey.

Assurances from sellers about the 100% purity of a particular sort of honey are just a marketing ploy, since bees collect nectar from all nearby plants. The resulting mixtures do not mean that the product is of poor quality. Such claims are aimed at increasing the final cost of the honey product.

How to check the naturalness of honey

In addition, unscrupulous sellers, wishing to save a quality product, add additional components to honey, increasing the final volume. Most often, sugar and sugar syrup are used as a supplement. Thanks to them, you can improve the taste of unripe honey. In addition to sugar, the manufacturer can add starch, beet molasses or starch, sucrose or chalk. Consuming low-quality, diluted honey can harm health instead of the expected therapeutic effect.

How to test honey with water

How to check the purity of honey? The accuracy of the statement about the purity of honey delicacy can be obtained by handing over a small amount of it for analysis to a chemical laboratory. You can avoid such a complex, lengthy and expensive procedure by conducting a series of small and simple experiments at home. In the next article, you can learn how to test honey using water.

How to test honey with water? Using water is the cheapest and easiest way to determine naturalness. Testing honey for naturalness with water consists in the need to fill the glass halfway with water. Next, dissolve 1 tablespoon of the sample to be analyzed in water. Real honey will quickly dissolve without residue, forming a cloudy solution.

Note! Rapeseed honey is not suitable for such an experiment. When trying to dissolve in water, it remains homogeneous.

The counterfeit product, when dissolved in water, forms a precipitate at the bottom of the glass.

Checking with water and a plate

There is a belief that honey has a "genetic" memory of honeycomb. You can check the quality of honey in this way using a ceramic plate. Pour a small amount of honey into a flat dish or saucer. After that create a water layer on top. When making circular movements with water, you should get honeycomb-like grooves. The observation of such structures indicates the authenticity of the origin of the product.

Checking with water and a plate

Checking the naturalness of honey

In addition, you can find out the presence of impurities by reacting with iodine. Iodine allows you to detect the presence of starch or flour in the composition of honey. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of the product sample in a small volume of water. After that, you should add a few drops of iodine. After thoroughly stirring the resulting solution, you can determine the presence of a fake by the appearance of a dark brown color. Natural honey will hardly change color, unlike fake honey.

Dilution of honey can be detected by applying a drop to a piece of paper or newspaper. The spreading natural bee product will not leave any marks after wiping. Whereas a fake, diluted with water, will leave behind a damp stain or seep through the paper layer.

Checking the naturalness of honey

Adding sugar to honey is one of the most common scams. You can use fire to determine the sugar content. After scooping up some honey, you need to set fire to the edge with a match or a lighter. The real honey will start to melt slowly, while the fake sugary product will start burning. In addition, the fake honey product will smell like a characteristic caramel flavor.

You can check for cleanliness using a metal wire or a thin stainless steel rod. After dipping in a bee product, real honey will leave the metal clean. The fake quality will remain sticky on the bar.

The addition of starch syrup reduces the honey performance. Such honey becomes more viscous, it has a distinct smell of molasses, since the content of reduced sugars is reduced in it. In the process of technological impact on molasses, sulfuric acid is formed in the counterfeit product. It is possible to identify it in the remainder by acting with ammonia. In an aqueous solution of honey, you need to add 5-10 drops of concentrated ammonia. The appearance of a brown precipitate and a change in the color of the solution indicate the falsification of the honey product by adding starch syrup. The same color change occurs when low-quality honey reacts with 96º alcohol.

Checking with tea

It is possible to identify the presence of impurities in a more time-consuming way. To do this, you need to brew tea and add 1-2 teaspoons of the analyzed honey to it. After 60 minutes, you need to carefully inspect the bottom of the container. The presence of a suspicious sediment indicates a questionable quality of the product.

The original method is to test a bee product with a piece of bread. By dipping bread in honey for 10 minutes, you can determine the quality of the product. In real honey, the bread will surely harden, while in fake honey it will soften.

In addition to diluting honey with water, adding flour or sugar, often unscrupulous manufacturers add chalk to the bee product. Chalk can hide the poor quality of the original product and add excess weight to the final product. It is possible to determine the fact of falsification of honey with the help of chalk crumbs by reacting the product with table vinegar. When reacting with acetic acid, carbon dioxide is released. To do this, dissolve 1 tablespoon of the sample to be analyzed in water and drip a small amount of vinegar essence. The formation of foam on the surface of the solution, as well as hissing, are proof of poor quality. There is no change in the pure product.

In addition to making changes to the composition of the finished product, beekeepers can feed the bees with sugar. The lack of medicinal properties of such "sugar" honey reduces the gustatory and medicinal value of the product. A discrepancy can be identified by adding honey to hot cow's milk. When fake raw materials smell of burnt sugar, milk curdles. The natural product will completely dissolve.

Checking the naturalness of honey with vinegar

It is possible to determine the quality of honey based on the external characteristics of the product being sold. Particular attention should be paid to the color, aroma and texture of the bee product.

No stratification of the structure should be observed in the container. Uniform density and color range are the first signs of naturalness. The consistency of honey should be viscous, without excessive hardness. The presence of wateriness in the final product is unacceptable. Honey, which resembles kefir in consistency, can hardly be called natural.

After warming honey up to 20º, stir it with a spoon. When pulling out a spoon, you need to pay attention to the behavior of honey when making rotational movements. If the honey product does not flow down in a trickle, but is wound on a spoon, we can say about the naturalness of the composition. When holding a spoon, a real bee product should fold up in a slide, with the formation of bubbles on the surface. Otherwise, too fast flowing off and an unstable consistency indicate a change in the original composition.

Natural honey tends to crystallize, acquiring a harder consistency. For different varieties, the process takes a different period. For example, sunflower honey crystallizes within the first 3-4 weeks. Acacia remains in liquid form throughout the year. The characteristic aroma will also help in determining the quality of honey. Fragrant, rich real honey is not easy to confuse with a fake.

Important! It is impossible to determine the nature of the origin of acacia honey by smell, since the natural product does not have any aroma.

Astringent taste is one of the criteria for the natural origin of honey. High quality products can easily dissolve in the oral cavity and slightly tingle the throat during swallowing. The presence of a sugary taste indicates the addition of sugar to the composition.

Immaturity or dilution of honey can be detected by weighing the purchased product.

Important! One liter of natural honey weighs in the range of 1.4-1.5 kg. If a lighter weight is found, this indicates the presence of an unripe or diluted honey product.

Summing up, we can say that honey is a useful and popular product, it should be carefully checked for the possibility of counterfeiting. Consuming a counterfeit product can negatively affect your health. The addition of sugar, starch syrup, chalk or starch reduces the benefits.

It is recommended that you purchase a small portion before purchasing a large volume of honey to check for impurities. An unambiguous answer about the presence of additives can be obtained after analysis in a chemical laboratory. However, even at home, you can carry out a number of simple experiments that reveal the true composition of the honey product.

In order to choose high quality honey when buying, it is useful to know at least the main signs of its naturalness.

The most beneficial for health is mature honey, in which important biochemical processes have taken place: it is saturated and the richest in nutrients.

Such honey is pumped out of the honeycomb, after allowing it to ripen and brew.It is important to remember that mature honey is never runny. Liquid, pouring honey can be of high quality only in the summer season. and in the event that the bees collected it from white acacia or clover. If honey is flowing in autumn, this means that it was prematurely removed from the honeycomb, and it has excess moisture.

Another important sign quality honey - smell. He should be pleasant, unobtrusive. A falsified product may not have a smell at all, or, on the contrary, the aroma manifests itself sharply, it seems "chemical". True, some exotic varieties of high-quality honey, for example, honey collected from Ivan tea, may also be odorless, but they can be found extremely rarely on sale.

Even high-quality honey should not contain any foreign particles - bee chitin, bee bread, wax, pollen. It is also better not to buy honey, which contains air bubbles. Unscrupulous sellers sell last year's honey in this way - it is heated and filtered in order to "remove" crystallization and pass off as honey of the new harvest.

Such honey can initially be of very high quality, but after these procedures it completely loses all biologically active substances.In culinary terms, it is in no way inferior to fresh honey from an apiary, however, it is useless to use this honey as a preventive and general tonic.

How to determine the quality of honey?

At first, honey must be ripe. After all, bees work on nectar for about a week: they evaporate water, enrich it with enzymes, break down complex sugars into simple ones.

During this time, honey is infused. The bees seal the finished product with wax caps - it is such honey that has all the properties and can be stored for a long time.
Very often, beekeepers pump out honey during honey collection, without waiting for it to ripen, due to the lack of combs. The water content in such honey sometimes doubles the norm, it is little enriched with enzymes and sucrose, and quickly turns sour.

To determine the maturity of honey, it is heated to 20 degrees, stirring with a spoon. Then the spoon is taken out and rotated. Ripe honey is wrapped around her. From time to time, it can become sugar-free, this is normal. If you want to transfer it to its previous state, heat it slightly in a water bath. But sometimes this provokes further souring.

With the help of simple tests, you can determine whether honey is falsified. 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, when adding vinegar essence, the solution sizzles, there is chalk in the honey. If a white precipitate forms in a 5-10% aqueous solution of honey when a small amount of lapis is added, sugar has been added.

How can you determine the quality of honey?

By color
Each type of honey has its own color, inherent only to him. Flower honey is light yellow, linden honey is amber, ash is transparent like water, buckwheat has different shades of brown. Pure honey without impurities, as a rule, is transparent, whatever color it may be.
Honey, which contains additives (sugar, starch, other impurities), is unclear, and if you look closely, you can find a sediment in it.

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.

By viscosity
Take honey for testing by dropping a thin stick into the container.If it is real honey, then it follows the stick with a long continuous thread, and when this thread breaks, it will completely sink, forming a turret on the surface of the honey, a pagoda, which then slowly disperses.
Fake honey will behave like glue: it will flow abundantly and drip down from the stick, forming a spray.

By consistency
Real honey has it thin, delicate. Honey is easily rubbed between the fingers and absorbed into the skin, which cannot be said about a fake. Fake honey has a rough structure, and when rubbed, lumps remain on the fingers.
Before buying honey on the market in reserve, take the product you like from 2-3 regular sellers. To begin with, 100 grams. At home, do the recommended quality tests and only then buy it for future use from the same sellers.

Check if water and sugar are added to honey

To do this, drop honey on a sheet of low-grade paper that absorbs moisture well. If it spreads on the paper, forming wet spots, or even seeps through it, it is fake honey.
Determine if the honey contains starch. To do this, put some honey in a glass, pour boiling water over it, stir and cool. Then add a few drops of iodine there. If the composition turns blue, then starch has been added to the honey.This is fake honey

Find out if there are other impurities in honey To do this, take a hot wire (made of stainless steel) and dip it in honey. If a sticky foreign mass hangs on it, this is a fake honey, but if the wire remains clean, natural honey or, in other words, full-fledged honey

What should you look for after buying honey?

Honey should not 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 to a decrease in useful substances. Such honey can cause unpleasant sensations in the stomach and even lead to poisoning.

Honey is stored in glass, earthenware, porcelain, ceramic and wooden dishes.

Honey contains 65-80% fructose and sucrose, it is rich in vitamin C, in addition, it contains almost all minerals. Therefore, when consuming honey with warm water or heating candied honey, do not bring the temperature to 60 degrees - this is the limit after which the structure of honey breaks down, the color changes, the aroma disappears, and vitamin C, which can live in honey for many years, is destroyed by half or more.

How to distinguish a fake?
In a cup of weak warm tea, add a little of what you bought under the guise of honey. If you are not fooled, the tea will darken, but no sediment will form at the bottom.

You can dilute some honey in a small amount of distilled water and add 4 - 5 drops of iodine there. If the solution turns blue, then starch was used to make this product. It is clear that not bees. And by dropping a few drops of vinegar essence into the same solution instead of iodine, you will check the honey for chalk content. If it is there, the solution will hiss.

Over time, honey becomes cloudy and thickens - and this is a sure sign of good quality. And not, as many mistakenly believe, that honey has gone bad.

If even after years your honey has not thickened, hence, it contains a large amount of fructose and, alas, does not have healing properties. Sometimes honey during storage is divided into two layers: it thickens only from the bottom, and from above it remains liquid. This suggests that it is immature, and therefore needs to be eaten as soon as possible - unripe honey is stored for only a few months.

Careless beekeepers do not take out bees to collect nectar, but simply feed them with sugar. Sugar honey is unnatural. There is nothing useful in it. Such honey is unnaturally white.

Which honey is better - mountain or, let's say, flat honey?
Do not fall for the bait when they try to convince you that mountain honey is better than the one that 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 depends only on the decency and knowledge of the beekeeper, as well as on the ecological situation of 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 even here everything depends on the beekeeper. Conscience should not allow him to earn on "industrial" honey.

Can I buy honey by hand? T Only if you are sure you are buying. The most common honey counterfeiter is sugar syrup. Unripe honey is often diluted with the same syrup to give it the missing sweetness.

There is no water in real honey. Honey with syrup has high humidity - this can be checked in the following way. Dip a piece of bread in the honey, and after 8-10 minutes, take it out. In high-quality honey, the bread will harden. If, on the contrary, it has softened or creeped altogether, then in front of you is nothing more than sugar syrup.

But no one on the market will allow you to conduct such experiments, but they will give you a try. Often honey is dripped onto a small piece of paper for tasting. This is enough to carry out another experiment. When going to the market for honey, take a chemical pencil with you. Smear honey on a piece of paper with a pencil, you can smear it with your finger, and on the "honey" strip try to write something with a chemical pencil.

If after a few seconds an inscription or blue stains will appear, you can confidently and loudly inform the seller (so that other buyers 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 in the proposed honey will unmistakably determine the starch and flour in the product.

Sometimes to achieve density real honey in syrup or unripe honey can add anything. Flour, starch, starch or beet molasses and even chalk. To prove the presence of these substances in honey, it is enough to dissolve it in water (1: 2).

Fake honey solution will be cloudy and overflowing with rainbow color, a little time later a sediment will appear on the bottom of the glass. If you want to know for sure what is mixed with honey, add a few drops of vinegar to the sediment. Foaming of the sediment (release of carbon dioxide) directly indicates chalk in solution.

There are several tricks for sellers of a wholesome product.
First, cover your ears and don't listen to what they tell you. Of course, one honest seller can fall into a bunch of liars, but how do you know that the one who stands in front of you is honest? Taste honey not only from the top, but from the bottom of the jar as well. Do not hesitate to reach into the jar with a spoon and do not listen to sellers who start shouting: "Do not spoil the product!"

Honey is an antiseptic, and a clean spoon in a jar cannot spoil it. It's another matter if not honey was found at the bottom.

Do not buy honey on the market without checking or rolled up. It is a myth that honey is better stored when rolled up with a tin lid.

Crystallization is a natural process of honey, which does not affect its quality and composition of nutrients. Don't be confused by crystallized honey. Do not come the next day to the seller who promised you not crystallized honey. They will bring the same, but warmed up. And you can't heat honey. Those who prefer liquid honey should take this fact into account. Put a jar of honey in warm water. When the water has cooled down, change it. Gradually, the honey will melt.

Real honey has the following characteristics:

1. Quality honey does not roll off the spoon too quickly. Take a tablespoon of honey and turn the spoon over several times in quick circular motions. Honey will wrap up on it, almost without draining into the jar.

2. Dip the spoon into the honey container. Pulling out a spoon, evaluate the nature of the swelling of the honey. A good one will form a ribbon, sit in a hill, and bubbles will form on its surface.

3. All types of honey have a sweet taste, but some of the varieties have a specific taste. For example, tobacco, chestnut and willow varieties have a bitter taste, while heather varieties are astringent. Any deviations in the taste of honey indicate its poor quality.

Other defects in taste can be associated with the presence of impurities. Excessive acidity can be associated with the beginning of fermentation, the aroma of caramel is the result of heating, obvious bitterness is the wrong storage conditions for a low-quality product.

4. The color of honey depends solely on the variety. And here can be all shades of brown and yellow. Do not be intimidated by pale yellowish, slightly cloudy honey - this is normal for acacia

Which honey to choose
Lime:
excellent honey, light yellow, crystallizes easily, has a characteristic odor. It is used for diseases of the respiratory tract, including in the form of inhalation. It has a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys. From one linden, bees can collect about 40 kilos of honey.

Acacia:
also one of the best. It is transparent, light, thinner, with a faint acacia aroma. Crystallizes slowly. It is recommended for diseases of the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, female inflammatory diseases, including it is used topically, due to its bactericidal properties.

Fruit honey:
polyfloral, from berry and fruit crops. Light amber, with a delicate smell and taste. Possesses exceptional dietary qualities.

Clover:
colorless, almost transparent, and a weak aroma raises doubts among buyers about its naturalness.

Buckwheat:
bright, almost brown color, with a characteristic odor and slight bitterness. Used in confectionery. Field and meadow: polyfloral, with a pleasant smell and taste. It is light amber brown in color. Possesses all medicinal properties.

Dandelion:
with a characteristic color and smell, slightly bitter, thick. It has a wound healing and anti-inflammatory effect.

Sunflower:
golden yellow, pleasant to the taste, crystallizes quickly. In terms of medicinal properties, it is inferior to the main honeys.

Buckwheat treats diseases of the stomach, blood and skin
sweet clover - heart ailments
lime is good for colds and flu
clover increases potency.
At the same time, honey, like any medicine, must be stored and consumed strictly according to the rules.

It is necessary to take honey according to science.

If done incorrectly and on time, even the best honey can cause rashes, vomiting, or indigestion. If the acidity of the stomach is normal, you can take honey at any time, just not immediately after eating. If the acidity is low, honey should be eaten ten to fifteen minutes before meals. Drink with cold water. If the acidity is high - an hour or two after a meal, and wash it down with warm water. Taking honey on an empty stomach is not recommended.
Honey mixed in tea is no longer a medicine, but just sugar.

Storage method

It is enough to store natural honey in glass or plastic containers, tightly closed with an ordinary plastic lid. In a dark and dry place (preferably a living room than a kitchen), honey can be stored in such containers for tens of years. Direct sunlight is destructive for him (remember how honey stays in the sun in the markets for weeks, if not years).

Beekeepers recommend buying several kilograms of honey at once if you find a natural quality product. You should not especially believe that honey is most useful only for the first year. It has practically no shelf life and does not lose its medicinal and taste qualities.

Warmth is harmful to honey. At temperatures above +150, life-giving balm becomes just a mixture of carbohydrates. Honey is afraid of the sun. After forty-eight hours of continuous solar irradiation, enzymes are destroyed in it. First of all, inhibin, an antimicrobial enzyme.

The environment for honey must be chosen carefully. It instantly absorbs the smells of fish, cheese, sauerkraut. Equally easily absorbs both flour and cement dust. There is too much humidity in the refrigerator for him. The best place for honey is where it is dry, cool and odorless.

Dishes with honey (preferably a dark glass jar) must be hermetically sealed, otherwise it will sour. If honey is kept in a wooden coniferous barrel, it will absorb the smell of resin. It gets dark in an oak barrel. If the barrel is, then it is linden, birch or aspen. In a plastic food container, honey can be stored for no more than a week. All other polymers are strictly prohibited.

Nickel-plated and enameled dishes are suitable for metal dishes, only without any chips. But galvanized and copper are strictly prohibited. Honey enters into a chemical reaction with zinc and copper, filling with poisonous salts.

The shelf life of honey is one year. After that, it loses its antimicrobial properties. The amount of glucose and fructose decreases by ten to twenty percent. Vitamins B1, B2 and C begin to break down. The amount of sucrose and acids increases.

Good day, dear friends! Every day we hear more and more often about low-quality honey. Not all beekeepers take their business with due responsibility. Sometimes they just chase volumes and, accordingly, money, and questions such as quality of honey and his naturalness fade into the background. Recently, there are more honey traders, and there are fewer natural honey on the shelves! How can a person who is not related to beekeeping determine authenticity of honey at home? I will try to give a few tips in this article.

So, I want to note right away that it is possible to determine 100% the quality of honey and its authenticity only in the laboratory. Every year, "craftsmen" to counterfeit honey are added to our misfortune. But there are nuances that you should always pay attention to.

The first thing to look for when assessing quality is maturity of honey... What kind of honey can be called mature and in general how is this maturity measured? To begin with, bees do not collect honey! Bees collect nectar from plants. It takes a lot of time and energy before the nectar turns into honey. When the inhabitants of the hive think the honey is ready, they seal the honeycomb with wax caps. This is the signal for the beekeeper - you can download honey! A conscientious beekeeper will not take combs that are sealed at less than two-thirds of their area. And the unscrupulous take away the frames as soon as the bees have time to bring nectar.

Mature honey has less moisture, which naturally affects the consistency. Ripe honey is thick. To check maturity in a domestic environment, you can use this method. If you collect honey in a spoon and turn it, then ripe honey will wrap around the spoon and remain on it, while unripe honey will quickly drain from the spoon. If you start pouring honey from one container to another, then the stream should be continuous and a slide should form when the container is filled. Unripe honey will not form a hill.

One problem leads to the following. If an unscrupulous beekeeper downloaded unripe honey, then he needs to somehow hide his "sins" and increase the viscosity of the honey. In this case, the unfortunate beekeeper adds impurities to honey: starch, chalk, flour. There is a method for determining the presence of impurities. To determine if the honey contains starch or flour, take a small amount of honey and dissolve it in a small amount of distilled water. Then take regular iodine and add a few drops to the solution. If there is starch or flour, the solution will turn blue. When determining the impurity of chalk, you need to add a few drops of vinegar essence to the same honey solution. In the presence of chalk, the solution will hiss with the release of carbon dioxide.

Another important point - crystallization or sugaring honey... Buyers of honey treat crystallization differently. I can say one phrase that is worth remembering: the crystallization of honey is a natural process. That is, if your honey is sugared, then this is a sign of good quality. When honey is heated before packing or honey is falsified based on sugar syrup, the honey remains liquid. Honey heated over 50 degrees Celsius is harmful to health. And who can guarantee that it has been heated exactly to this temperature? Most often, honey is heated for the convenience of packaging. Another reason for heating honey can be attributed to the desire of the beekeeper to pass off last year's unsold honey as fresh. These nuances should be considered very carefully when buying. However, it is worth noting that there are honey varieties that practically do not crystallize, for example honey harvested from white acacia. But in the vast majority of cases, by the New Year, your honey should be hard.

Vinegar

Water

Paper

Bread

Fire

Stainless wire

Milk

Checking by external signs

Taste

Colour

Consistency

Home check

Every housewife has a tool in her home medicine cabinet or kitchen cabinet that can easily check the naturalness of honey.

Iodine

It is quite simple to check the naturalness of honey with iodine. Take a teaspoon of the product and add 2-3 drops of the pharmacy product. The result of a chemical reaction is that the honey changes its color to blue or light blue. If the shade becomes more intense, saturated, the more starch it contains. This will not happen in a natural product.

Vinegar

With vinegar essence or vinegar, you can detect the presence of chalk in honey. To do this, dissolve a tablespoon of the product and dilute it in half a glass of water at room temperature. Add a few drops of vinegar and watch the reaction. If there is a hiss, then the seller has added chalk.

Water

The easiest way to check is with water. It is enough to dissolve a little honey in plain water and observe - if there is no sediment, then the product is natural.

Paper

A teaspoon of honey is applied to a clean napkin or sheet of paper. If, even after half an hour, a damp spot does not form around, then the product is without additives.

Bread

How else at home you can check whether honey is natural or not. Experienced housewives will answer unequivocally - with the help of a bread crouton. We dip it into the prepared product and wait about 10 minutes. If the crouton does not retain its hardness, then the product contains in the additive.

Fire

High-quality honey, in direct contact with fire (a lit match), will first start to melt and only then sizzle. There is no melting step in the product with the additive. Another way to test with fire. We spread the honey on a blank sheet of paper and set it on fire. If the product does not burn, then it is natural. The smell of burnt sugar when burning is evidence of a counterfeit.

Stainless wire

How to check at home whether honey is natural or not, if there was no iodine or vinegar at hand. You can use stainless steel wire. It is enough to warm it up well and dip it in honey. If the product remains on the metal, then there are no foreign impurities in it.

Milk

How can it be easy to establish at home using ordinary milk to check whether the honey is natural or not. Bring the milk to a boil, add a teaspoon of the product and stir. If the honey is completely dissolved, and does not remain flakes on the surface, then there is no doubt about its naturalness.

Checking by external signs

Dishonest sellers are inventing many ways to increase the mass of honey with starch, sugar syrup and chalk. A specialist can easily identify forgery. The average person can be guided by taste, consistency and viscosity.

Taste

Natural product tastes sweet and tart. The presence of a sour taste, bitterness is evidence of a synthetic origin. If sugar has been added, the honey will taste very sweet. The caramel flavor is evidence of warming.

Colour

The variety determines the color of the product, but the purity and transparency is always preserved if it is natural. Turbid honey with sediment, white grains, very light shades is a product of the seller's manipulations.

A little more difficult with acacia honey. It has a natural turbidity due to the peculiarities of the crystallization process. In this case, the taste of the proposed product can serve as a guideline. If, after tasting, a slight tickling sensation does not appear in the throat, then it is better to refuse the purchase.

Consistency

A uniform consistency similar to a cream indicates a natural origin. It is easy to rub into the skin. Consistency is especially important in winter. The warmed honey will continue to remain liquid, while it should be slightly sugared.

The assortment of beekeeping is quite large, but one product stands out from the total mass - honey, it has many useful vitamins, it is used in folk medicine.

It should be noted that only natural honey has such qualities. If you are a beekeeper yourself or you have familiar beekeepers, then you are very lucky. And if you are an ordinary person who has never dealt with beekeeping, what to do, how to buy high-quality honey?

Honey varieties

You, probably, more than once found yourself in a situation when you were presented with cheap products, how expensive? This is exactly the case with honey; less popular varieties are sold at the price of expensive ones.

Each species has its own taste, which directly depends on the pollinated plant. Insects never do pollination in just one place; bees like to move to different places. From this we can conclude that a pure variety of honey will never work - any kind will turn out to be mixed. Professional beekeepers have learned to distinguish which flowers prevail in the finished product.

What are the types, their colors

All species are different in appearance, each has personal characteristics.

1. Lime. This type was recognized as the most effective remedy for colds. Medoc is usually amber or light yellow in color.
2. Buckwheat. This species is dark brown in color, has a red tint and a pronounced taste, in which there is a slight bitterness.
3. Forest. Has a standard taste. Light yellow color is more common.
4. Lugovoi. Light in color.
5. Acacia This type of honey is almost transparent in color. If sugared, it will be almost white.
6. Clover. Honey has a rich taste and aroma, more often found in an amber hue.
7. Crimson. As much as I would not like, but this species has a light tone, which is not at all similar to the shade of berries.

Determination of product quality by appearance

Having come to the market, you will not be able to carry out various operations that will help you to know the quality of honey. Do not forget about the seller, who will be very "glad" for your actions. So how do you behave if you need a quality product? Only the external signs of honey will help you in this, in which you should be well versed.

1. If you observe bubbles on the honey from above, it means that water was added to it to enhance fermentation. Natural honey necessarily has wax and pollen, which are present in any type of product. If the product is too transparent, then it is artificial.
2. Real honey is always absorbed into the skin.
3. Any variety should have a slight astringency and a slight burning sensation, and its sweetness should be moderate. There should be no caramel flavor in the product, otherwise be aware that honey has been additionally processed for a more presentable look. This is one of its significant disadvantages, since most of the beneficial properties simply disappear, sometimes such honey should not be consumed at all.
4. Natural honey always emits a strong aroma, in the artificial version, the smell is practically absent.
5. If suddenly the honey is sugar-coated, then you shouldn't worry, because this is a sign of high quality. Real honey always crystallizes.

How to test honey for supplements at home

Maturity and viscosity of the product. The most delicious and high quality honey will be the one that has undergone full processing. Any variety must reach the minimum moisture threshold. Many beekeepers want to sell the product as soon as possible and do not think at all about its quality. Often, such honey is stored for a very short time, its aroma is less bright, and its taste is very weak.

It is quite easy to check the maturity of the product; it will require an ordinary tablespoon. Pour a lot of honey into it and turn it over so that there is a small trickle. If it pours continuously and forms a hill, then the honey is ripe.

The second method is almost the same. Again we collect more honey in a spoon, hold it horizontally and twist it around the axis. If the honey is ripe, then it will not spread. Otherwise, the mass will be liquid, which indicates poor quality.

Honey weight. On average, a 1L jar should weigh about 1.4 kg with the product. If the indicator is much lower, then honey is diluted with water.

Several ways to test sweet food

How to identify a fake you can look at the photo

1.Take 1 tsp. honey and place the product in warm water. After an hour, a precipitate should form or floating flakes should appear.

2. Make tea with honey. If you get a dark liquid, then the product is of high quality.

3. The next test will be with bread. Dip the crumb into the honey for about 15 minutes. If the bread becomes hard, the quality of honey is good, soft bread will indicate that the product is diluted.

4. Take paper that absorbs moisture and pour honey on it, then spread it over it. Wet traces should not be observed, otherwise know that honey is diluted with syrup.

5. An interesting method of verification with the help of improvised means. You will need a stainless wire, which needs to be heated and dipped in honey for 1 second. If the wire is clean, then the product is free of impurities.

6. The last way is to heat a teaspoon over a fire. If the honey is of poor quality, it will burn. The actual product will be slightly charred.

Identification of other impurities

If the end of the shelf life of the product is suitable, then the sellers go to various tricks that will help get rid of the goods soon. The buyer will not be able to distinguish a good quality product from a spoiled one by its appearance. If the seller cheats and adds something to the honey, then the product, on the contrary, will become more attractive.

One of the means that can identify additives in the product is iodine. Put just a couple of drops in honey and watch the chemical reaction. If nothing happens, then the product is real. If a reaction starts, during which the honey turns blue, then the seller has added starch to the product as a thickener.

With the help of a bite, you can identify the presence of chalk in iodine. Pour half a glass of water, add 1 tsp. honey, then drip vinegar. If the water does not sizzle, then there is no chalk.

With the help of ammonia, molasses can be detected in honey. To do this, you need to take 2 tbsp. water and 1 tbsp. honey, mix everything, then drip a little alcohol and shake vigorously. The color should not change in any way, there should also be no sediment.

And finally, let us tell you a few words about the product's sugaring. It all depends on the specific variety. For example, mustard honey can begin to sugar a week after harvest, from acacia six months later. The rest of the varieties, on average, begin this process a couple of months after harvest.

How to test honey for naturalness at home using iodine

Iodine can easily identify the starch that is present in honey. To conduct an experiment, you need:

1. take a little more than 100 ml of water, heat and dissolve 1 tsp in it. honey.
2. stir until smooth.
3. add a few drops of iodine to the sweet mixture.
4. watch how the color will change.
5. when observing blue spots, it can be argued that you bought a fake product.

How to check natural honey at home or not using paper

For the test, you can take any paper napkin. Put just a little honey on a piece of paper and watch to see if it spreads. If you observe a wet spot under the honey, then this indicates poor quality, and syrup or water was added to it. To fully verify the quality of the product, you can set fire to paper with honey. If the product is without additives, then only part of the paper will burn. Low-quality honey will begin to char and will give off a burnt sugar smell.

Water test

Take a saucer and add 1 tsp. honey into it. Now pour in 1.5 tbsp. water at room temperature and shake the saucer in a horizontal position. If you see a pattern that looks like a honeycomb, then this is a sign of good quality honey.

How to check the quality of honey using bread

Take a slice of bread (preferably stale) and dip in honey. After 5 minutes, take it out and look at the result: if the honey is real, then the bread should remain the same hard. In the case of softening bread, we can say that the product is not real.

You can also spread honey on the bread and see if it spreads. A high-quality product will not run off at the edges, the bread should turn from soft to stale.

Outcome

If you do not have time for all the experiments described above, then just put on the honey and after a while the picture will clear itself. In just 2-3 months, the real product will begin to crystallize. When there is too much fructose in honey, it remains liquid even after a long period of time. If after a while the honey is divided into 2 layers - thick and liquid, then know that you have purchased an unripe product. In this case, there is nothing wrong. The only disadvantage of such honey is its short shelf life.

We really hope that our article will help you make the right choice when buying honey. Now you can easily figure out all the tricks of the beekeepers!