What consistency and color should a natural product be, why is honey runny or too thick, and how to distinguish a real product from a fake? It is not so easy for a beginner, and even for people who are not involved in beekeeping professionally, to understand these issues. In addition, more and more often you can encounter scammers who offer counterfeit products instead of this valuable product. Let's try to find out which honey is liquid and remains so for a long time. So let's get started.
A little about honey
Natural honey is a product with exceptional taste and nutritional qualities. This is a fairly high-calorie product (about 328 kcal), and its composition is close to blood plasma. 200 g of honey is equivalent in nutritional value to 480 g of fish oil. Honey improves metabolism, enhances digestion, stimulates appetite, and increases hemoglobin. Helps with cardiovascular diseases, as well as liver and stomach. This product contains folic acid, which has a beneficial effect on the growth and development of children. It is even called the elixir of youth. You should pay attention to the fact that one liter of mature honey should contain 1.4 kilograms.
When to buy?
Just buy in summer or fall. It is during this period that the working bees begin their work, which will continue until the last fine days. At this time, fresh liquid honey is obtained, which is how it is collected from bee honeycombs. Over time, the moisture evaporates and it begins to thicken.
What influences the choice?
Let's take a closer look at the quality of the natural product. This will help you not make a mistake with your choice.
Consistency
This is the first sign of a quality product. The mass must be homogeneous; no separation or precipitation is allowed. The consistency of the product directly depends on the time of year and air temperature. In the summer, when they start pumping it, the honey is liquid; closer to winter, the consistency becomes thicker. Usually, with the onset of cold weather, a process begins - it becomes thicker, lighter and more cloudy. The exception is acacia honey, which crystallizes much later. Natural honey cannot have a liquid consistency in winter. If in winter the honey has a liquid consistency, this indicates that it was heated on the stove or the bees were fed sugar.
Fluidity
The following method is used to test only young liquid honey: you need to scoop it into a jar with a spoon and lift it up; natural honey lasts a very long time and flows down in a continuous stream. If you put it on a plate, it lies in a heap, and only then spreads over the surface. You can take a spoon with nectar and twist it around its axis, a high-quality product will wrap around it, and unripe honey will flow right away. If you take a little honey and rub it between your fingers, the natural one will be immediately absorbed, and the fake one will turn into a lump.
Taste
The taste of real honey is not only sweet, it should also be slightly bitter, cause a slight sore throat and have a tart taste.
Aroma
Natural honey has a pleasant, unobtrusive scent of flowers. A counterfeit product either has no aroma at all, or it can be sharp and reek of caramel.
Color
The color of the finished product directly depends on which honey plant the bees collected nectar from. Linden honey is amber, buckwheat honey is brown, and flower honey has a light shade. The white color indicates that the bees were fed sugar.
How to make honey liquid?
Making honey liquid is not difficult; to do this, you can melt the crystallized product. However, it should be remembered that when heated above 40°C, all useful substances disappear from it, which is not so scary. When this product melts, a substance is formed - oxymethylfurfural, which is a real poison. You can heat honey in three ways:
- The most popular way is to heat the honey in a water bath (in water up to 40°C).
- Leave the honey in a room with a fairly high temperature (for example, in a bathhouse).
- And last but not least, melting on the stove should be considered; do not forget about the poison content.
Why is honey liquid?
The answer is quite simple - fresh, just pumped honey contains about 22 percent water. After some time, the liquid evaporates and the crystallization process begins. The consistency of the product may vary, depending on the variety and storage temperature.
Which honey is better - thick or liquid?
Honey lovers often wonder which honey is better and healthier - thick or liquid? The answer is simple: crystallization does not impair the quality of honey in any way. If the mass is homogeneous with sugar crystals, this is considered the norm for such a product. The benefits of honey depend on which honey plants it is collected from.
Unripe honey
Sometimes purchased honey with a liquid consistency exhibits stratification, the thick fraction settles at the bottom, and the liquid fraction, on the contrary, rises to the top, there are no sugar crystals. This means that the purchased product is immature, most likely the temperature regime has been disturbed, as a result of which the honey has high humidity. Therefore, aging honey is very important. A low-quality product may soon foam and ferment.
Varieties
Among natural varieties of honey, there are some that are candied later than others. This must be taken into account when purchasing.
May
This honey is the earliest, it begins to be pumped out in the first month of summer. For him, bees collect pollen from the very first honey plants: bird cherry, apple tree, cherry, lily of the valley. It is considered one of the most valuable varieties of natural honey. This variety contains a lot of fructose. It is known that they often sell counterfeits as it is very similar to the product produced after feeding sugar syrup to bees. It is better to buy this honey in the fall, when it has aged well.
Acacia
The white variety of honey has a unique aroma and taste. It contains 40% fructose and 35% glucose, as a result of this and thanks to the moisture it contains, the product does not crystallize for 1-2 years. Acacia honey is very liquid, as if it had just been pumped out, and retains this consistency for quite a long time.
Chestnut
True chestnut color and very viscous consistency. The process of its crystallization takes from six months to a year, but even in this form it has an excellent taste. Hardened honey crystals look like gelatin granules. During long-term storage, its structure becomes more coarse-grained. This variety has the ability to flake, but this does not mean that it is not real, but is considered to be its special quality.
Lime
This is another white honey, just like acacia honey, and is stored in liquid form for 1.5 to 3 months. Linden honey has a viscous consistency. When crystallized, it becomes like semolina porridge with lumps.
Buckwheat
The variety is dark in color, and comes in orange and brown colors. Contains a huge amount of minerals. Honey has a rather tart taste with a hint of bitterness. When you eat it, your throat may feel a little sore. It crystallizes very quickly, so it must be stored correctly. Recommended for use to boost immunity.
How to store it correctly?
It is necessary to choose the right container for storing honey. For this purpose, you can use glass, ceramic, wooden, and metal containers. In a room intended for storing the product, the temperature can be from +6 to +20 degrees, but at room temperature, the crystallization process will begin much earlier. If your refrigerator has a dry freezing function, honey can be stored there too. This product has the ability to absorb odors, so it is recommended to store it separately. It should not be placed in a bright place; light destroys its antimicrobial properties. During storage, liquid honey becomes cloudy, darkens, and becomes thicker - this is a completely normal stage of its ripening.
The liquid consistency of honey does not always mean that it is natural and fresh. If in the middle of winter you are offered to purchase a liquid product, then at best it is honey, pre-heated to give it a marketable appearance, and at worst it is counterfeit, made from something unknown. Although there are exceptions to this rule: certain varieties can retain a liquid consistency for a long time without losing their beneficial properties.
Experienced beekeepers know when real honey should be candied, and therefore can easily identify fake honey.
Conditions for candiing natural honey
The natural sweet substance is candied from two weeks to two months, with rare exceptions. The product consists of 90% fructose and glucose, the ratio of which determines the speed of its sugaring - if glucose predominates in the composition, honey becomes solid very quickly, and if the fructose content is increased, then the sweet substance can maintain a liquid consistency for a year or even more .
In addition, the rate of crystallization may depend on the influence of certain external factors:
- product storage temperature;
- processing before packaging;
- air humidity;
- degree of maturity.
As a rule, it begins to crystallize at temperatures from 4 to 27 degrees Celsius (optimal - 15 degrees). If the temperature falls below or above these limits, sugaring is suspended until favorable conditions occur.
Too rapid crystallization may be an indicator of an increased content of pollen and solid impurities in the product. A high concentration of liquid due to immaturity or absorption of excessive amounts of moisture from the air, on the contrary, slows down the crystallization process.
There is one simple way to distinguish a natural product from a counterfeit: you need to rub a small drop of it between your fingers. The real product applies evenly, melts and is absorbed into the skin, while the fake product rolls up in lumps.
Product properties and reasons for crystallization
The crystallization process does not affect the healing properties of the sweet mass at all - it remains as healthy as fresh. Sugaring does not affect the shelf life in any way - on the contrary, the harder the product, the less likely it is that it will spoil, since crystallized honey is much less exposed to air and light.
Regardless of the variety and storage conditions, any real honey sooner or later changes its structure and crystallizes. If the sweet mass remains liquid for three or more years, it is probably a fake.
So, a natural product must be candied during storage. But sometimes it happens that a sweet substance, purchased just the other day, begins to show a tendency to crystallize. Noticing this process, the buyer begins to worry, wondering if he really purchased a real and fresh product.
If recently purchased honey has begun to crystallize, there is no need to worry too much about this - perhaps it is a variety with a high glucose content, or its storage temperature was favorable for the sugaring process. However, rapid sugaring can also mean that an old product that has already thickened has been added to a fresh, recently pumped out product.
It is impossible to give a definite answer to the question of when honey should be candied, since the rate of crystallization is associated with numerous factors - in particular, storage temperature and variety. Buckwheat, rapeseed and sunflower thicken the fastest, while acacia, heather and chestnut thicken the slowest.
Why doesn't honey crystallize?
Varieties in which glucose predominates tend to remain liquid for a very long time. This is a natural condition and should not cause concern. However, it also happens that the sweet mass loses its ability to be candied due to external intervention.
If you are going for honey, then perhaps this little reminder will be useful to you. With its help, you can competently evaluate the product that is offered to you.
How to check the quality of honey?
When purchasing liquid honey, check its “stringency” and thickness. It shouldn't be very liquid. If you dip a spoon into the honey and try to scoop out the honey, you should end up with a “toffee”. And if you pour honey from a spoon into a jar, you should get a slide that will gradually settle and become equal to the general level. In the case when the honey flows like water and does not form slides, refrain from purchasing.
Also, do not buy liquid honey that shows signs of separation into two fractions - natural honey, collected according to all the rules, will never separate.
Keep in mind that only fresh honey can be in a liquid state. Then it gradually begins to crystallize. Different varieties have different crystallization times, but in general we can say that by December any honey has already passed into a candied state. If you are offered to buy liquid honey in winter, then most likely it was obtained as a result of feeding the bees sugar. Either crystallized honey is heated - in this case it becomes liquid, but loses the bulk of its beneficial properties.
The density of honey is such that a kilogram of it just fits into a standard glass jar with a capacity of 800 grams. If you see a strong deviation from this weight downward, then you can with a high degree of probability say that the honey is diluted with water.
Old honey, which is highly crystallized and difficult to scoop with a spoon, is not bad in itself. If it was stored in a tightly closed jar in your refrigerator or cool cellar, then you can safely eat it - it has plenty of beneficial properties. Another question is if you are offered to buy such honey. You have no guarantee that it was stored correctly. And honey has such a quality as the ability to actively absorb moisture and odors. And it may turn out that you purchase a useless or even harmful product.
By the way, if you bought honey, but still doubt its quality, you can conduct a very simple test at home. Take a spoonful of honey and sprinkle starch on top. The starch has been absorbed and dissolved - alas, the quality of the honey leaves much to be desired. There is starch left on the surface of the honey - your seller did not deceive you. Drink honey, heal your body and enjoy its taste.
Which type of honey should you choose?
Considered ideal as a cure for colds lime honey. For bronchitis and other diseases associated with the respiratory tract, it is recommended melilot honey. If you want to become more alert and reduce eye fatigue, drink tea with acacia honey. By the way, it is particularly transparent and does not crystallize for a very long time, so one would like to say about it “clean as a tear.” Also, the indisputable advantages of this type of honey is that it is the most hypoallergenic.
The opposite of acacia is dark buckwheat honey, it has an extremely beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract.
Very bright yellow honey - collected from flowers sunflower. You can use it as a body cleanser and diuretic. White, like sugar or snow - honey with clover meadows It is often called "feminine" because it has a beneficial effect on gynecological diseases. However, there is also a suitable type of honey for men - chestnut. And although it tastes slightly bitter, this does not prevent it from increasing male potency.
For people suffering from diabetes, choose mountain honey.
And of course, always try to objectively assess the amount of honey you need. Because this is a product that you shouldn’t take “with a reserve”.
To choose high quality honey, you need to know at least the main signs of its naturalness and the standard requirements for its physical and chemical composition.
Ways to determine the quality of honey when purchasing
Some methods of adulteration or hiding the shortcomings of low-quality honey are difficult to determine even in the laboratory.
It is much easier to describe the main features of good quality honey that you should pay attention to when purchasing.
So, mature honey, that is, honey pumped out of the honeycomb after the active biochemical processes in it have ended, is never liquid. Liquid, flowing honey is acceptable only in the summer season and if the bees collected high-quality honey from white acacia or clover.
If the honey remains fluid until autumn, this clearly indicates that the honey was prematurely removed from the combs and has excess moisture.
Honey should have a pleasant, “unobtrusive” smell. Adulterated honey is often either odorless or has an extremely strong, “chemical” aroma. (However, some exotic varieties of high-quality honey, for example, honey collected from Ivan-tea, may have no odor at all).
High-quality honey must be free of particles of bee chitin, bee bread, wax, and pollen. High-quality honey should not have air bubbles in its mass.
If there are no foreign impurities in the honey, but there are air bubbles, this means that last year’s honey was heated and filtered in order to “remove” crystallization and pass it off as honey from a new harvest. Such honey may initially be of very high quality, but after heating there are no biologically active substances left in the honey.
To be fair, it is worth noting that in EU countries, as well as in Ukrainian supermarkets, only filtered honey is sold, since most of the allergens are contained in pollen and animal inclusions in honey. In culinary terms, such honey is in no way inferior to the usual “honey straight from the apiary” that is familiar to us. Although, consuming such honey as a preventive and restorative remedy is useless.
Method for determining the “maturity” of honey
This method was also used by our grandparents. You need to dip a chemical (cosmetic) pencil into honey. Too early the pumped out honey will become colored with a pencil.
Ways to identify the most common counterfeit honey at home
At home, you can check honey for the presence of the most common counterfeits - sugar syrup, starch, flour, chalk, and evaluate the diastase content. (This enzyme breaks down starch into simple carbohydrates. Diastase in honey itself is of no value, since similar enzymes are found in abundance in saliva. However, the concentration of diastase makes it possible to estimate the duration of honey storage; this enzyme remains in honey for no more than six months).
Sometimes unscrupulous beekeepers place a container of sugar in front of the hive so that the bees fill the honeycombs faster. Such honey is practically indistinguishable from quality honey in appearance.
Although, excess sucrose content can be determined by a simple analysis using silver nitrate - “lapis”. You can buy a lapis pencil at a pharmacy (as a wart remover).
It is necessary to dilute honey with water in a ratio of 1:20 and add a little silver nitrate. Precipitation is a sign of increased sucrose content.
It is even easier to determine the addition of flour as a thickener in low-quality honey. It just needs to be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:3 and allowed to settle. The flour will precipitate.
With chalk and starch it is somewhat more difficult. These impurities can remain suspended for a long time (a cloudy solution when diluted cannot be considered a sign of falsification - often even the highest quality honey produces a cloudy solution).
To determine chalk, you need to add a couple of drops of diluted inorganic acid to diluted honey. If low-quality honey contains an admixture of chalk, the liquid will “boil” with the release of carbon dioxide bubbles.
Starch additives can be easily recognized by adding a drop of iodine to the honey solution. If the honey is of poor quality, it will turn blue.
Determination of the amount of diastase in honey
In essence, this is a slightly complicated test for starch. Dilute honey with water in a ratio of 1:2 and add a little 1% starch solution. Place the honey in a water bath with a temperature of 35-40°C for an hour (the easiest way is to simply place a container in the honey where hot water from the tap will constantly flow).
Then cool the solution and add iodine. If the honey is fresh and of high quality, diastase will break down the starch and coloring will not occur.
