How to check the quality of honey at home: 15 effective ways

Signs of poor quality honey

What is honey? It is a sweet viscous liquid based on flower nectar processed by bees. By the type of source, there are floral, honeydew and mixed varieties. The product obtained from one type of vegetation is called monofloral, with two or more - polyfloral. For example, linden, acacia and buckwheat species are very popular.

There are other classifications as well. So, processed flower nectar is classified according to the regional feature or geographic location of the bee farm. On the shelves in the store you can find Altai, Bashkir, Tambov, Chinese, Indian, French and even Colombian varieties. On the technological basis, honeycomb, sectional, pressed and centrifugal honey are distinguished.

Beekeeping as a separate branch of agriculture is considered a very promising and profitable direction in business. But here, too, it was not without fraud: the variety of varieties and types of honey makes it possible to pass off a fake as a natural product.

In some cases, it is possible to identify a fake by eye. The main signs of counterfeiting include:

• lack of a characteristic aroma;
• heterogeneity of the sweet mass;
• crystal transparency or amber sheen;
• whitish shade on the surface;
• the presence of foam when pouring from one container to another.

A sign of a fake can be too bitter or, conversely, too cloying taste. If, when weighing 1 liter of honey, the scales showed a value of less than 1.4 kg, it is better to refuse such a product.

Video "Checking honey for quality at home"

This video presents some simple but very effective ways to determine the naturalness of a product.

Checking the product by external signs

Many do not know how to check the quality of honey at home. As it turned out, you can find out if honey is real by its appearance.

Taste

The very first rule is to taste the viscous liquid. Sugary-sweet or downright tasteless mass is a clear fake. Real honey has a pronounced tart taste. Some varieties have a slight pungency or bitterness.

By color and shade

The next test criterion is the shade and color of the product. Due to the huge variety of species and varieties, it is almost impossible to determine the exact color of honey.For example, buckwheat variety is distinguished by a dirty yellow color, linden - light golden, sweet clover - golden yellow, acacia - pale yellow, clover - pale amber. The color of the product depends on the original shade of the flower nectar.

By consistency

The consistency of real honey can vary. A fresh product is characterized by a liquid and viscous homogeneous consistency, while an “old” product has a crystallized form. Flower nectar processed by insects consists of water (22%), glucose and fructose (75%), other organic substances (more than 5%).

In the process of aging, crystals of glucose and fructose begin to form. Crystals from glucose settle to the bottom of the jar, crystal-like elements saturated with fructose, on the contrary, rise to the surface. Crystallization of the sweet sticky mass is a natural process. The presence of small pieces of wax and pollen impurities is considered a perfectly acceptable phenomenon. But insoluble grains resembling plastic indicate a fake product.

By density and viscosity

Natural honey is characterized by high viscosity and density. Do a simple spoon and plate experiment. The natural product flowing from the spoon does not spread, but is collected in a slide in the center of the plate. The counterfeit immediately spreads over the entire surface of the plate.

Noticed that winter honey does not crystallize? Lack of crystallization can be a sign of a counterfeit or substandard product. A low-quality product means honey that was heated during the pasteurization stage.

By aroma

Many people mistakenly assume that honey must smell like sweetness, herbs, or flowers. The flower nectar processed by bees has a specific tart aroma, in which notes of wax are captured. If the honey mass smells like burnt sugar or sweet aromas, this is a fake. The smell of burnt sugar or caramel indicates the presence of granulated sugar.

Sweet aroma can be a sign of added aromatic impurities.

Determination of the naturalness of honey by improvised means

There are many methods for determining the authenticity of honey using improvised means available in the house. Let's consider the most effective ones.

With iodine

Pour 100 ml of warm water into a glass beaker. Dissolve 1 tsp in liquid. sweet mass. Now take a bottle of iodine and put a few drops of the solution into a glass. If the liquid in the glass turns blue, it's safe to say that flour or starch has been added to the processed flower nectar.

With bread

The "participant" in the next experiment will be bread. Pour some sweet honey into a saucer and cover with bread. After half an hour, look at the bread. Real honey will be absorbed into the pores of the bread without disturbing its structure and integrity. The counterfeit or water-diluted product will remain on the plate. At the same time, the bread will soften and become like gruel.

With water

Pour boiling water into a glass and dip a spoonful of honey into it. A natural product will dissolve, a fake product will sink to the bottom and remain there as a slide.

With vinegar

Stir in warm water (125 ml) a spoonful of sweet sticky mass. Take 9% table vinegar. Add 1 tbsp. l. vinegar in a glass. A hissing chemical reaction is considered a sign of the presence of chalk.

With a chemical pencil

A chemical pencil will help determine the excess water in honey. The pure product does not leave marks on the pencil, diluted with water - it paints the lead in a purple hue.

The method for determining naturalness with a chemical pencil cannot be one hundred percent correct. According to scientists, a pencil lead can change color when interacting with glucose and fructose crystals.

Using a sheet of paper or napkin

For the next experiment, you will need a piece of paper or paper napkin. Spread the paper on a flat surface and drip a few drops of honey on it. A wet spot formed on the paper is a sign of a poor-quality product or a product that is highly diluted with water.

With matches or fire

Did you know that natural honey does not burn? Place a few drops of liquid or crystallized sweet mass on a sheet of parchment paper. Light the honey and watch the reaction. The processed flower nectar without impurities will remain intact. Please note that the viscous mass should not change either color or smell. The presence of changes in consistency or shade is a sign of a fake. If black soot or a smell of burnt sugar appears, the product has been diluted with sugar water.

Using a heated stainless steel wire

For the next experiment, you need a stainless steel wire. We lower the wire heated over the fire into a container with honey and carefully look at the result. The appearance of a dark sticky mass around the wire indicates that we have a fake.

With milk

The easiest way to verify authenticity is to experiment with milk. At the same time, the percentage of fat content of milk does not play any role. Add some honey to the milk. When interacting with counterfeit milk curdles.

Using ammonia

Another option for determining the naturalness of flower nectar processed by insects is the use of ammonia. Almost every home has a bottle of ammonia solution.

So let's take honey and distilled water. The amount of water should be 2 times more. We mix both components in one container. Now we take a bottle of ammonia and measure out a few drops of ammonia with a pipette. Add ammonia to the liquid and watch the chemical reactions. The appearance of a brown sediment and / or a change in the color of the liquid is considered a clear sign of some kind of additives. Most often it is molasses.

The honey authentication methods described above cannot be called 100% correct. Do not exclude the possibility of error. And the product is different. Simple precautions will help to avoid buying counterfeit products - buy honey from trusted producers or responsible beekeepers.