How To Choose The Right Honey In A Store Or On The Market: Signs Of A Quality Product

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Good honey from the right bees: choosing a treat wisely

Everyone knows that honey is an incredibly tasty and healthy product. Perhaps not everyone likes its sweetness, but honey should be in every home: it perfectly replaces sugar, cures many diseases, and is used in baking and desserts. The summer months are the time for honey production, and this delicacy fills the counters of markets and shops. And with it useless and even harmful counterfeits go hand in hand. Today we will tell you how to buy a quality natural product and not fall victim to deception.

Market or store: where is the quality of the product guaranteed?

It is not at all difficult to buy honey. It is sold in the market, at special honey fairs, in supermarkets and even online stores. But you can only correctly determine the quality of the product if you check the honey right at the counter. Not every store (especially on the Internet) can provide you with this opportunity. The honey is packaged, the packaging is airtight, and not every seller wants (or can) open it for you only as a sample.

1. You can buy honey from the store, but choose one that has been sourced in your area. This may indicate that it was recently collected. If there is imported honey nearby at a low price, this is a reason to think about poor quality.
2. You can get really good honey at the seasonal honey fairs. These events often have specialized mobile laboratories where you can check the quality of the product. Information about these fairs is always disseminated through the media.
3. Ask the honey seller for his business card and specify the time when he trades at this place. If later you doubt the quality of the product, you can return it.
4. It is best if you buy honey from the same place where you buy the rest of the food. Every seller knows that a casual buyer is unlikely to waste time returning an item, and a regular customer with a good opinion of the seller is worth its weight in gold!

Buy honey harvested in your region, at a certain time and from trusted beekeepers

These are the simplest tips to help you navigate the choice of honey. And now we will tell you more about the criteria for choosing a quality product and identifying a fake with improvised means.

How to check honey for quality

There are several signs by which you can first check the quality of honey "by eye". These are not 100% methods, but they will help you protect yourself from counterfeiting.

High-quality honey pours in a slide with folds that slowly spread

1. Honey can only be liquid for a month after being harvested. This period lasts from late July to late September (sometimes varies depending on the type of honey). At the end of October, all honey thickens and crystallizes, except for heather and acacia, which have a slightly different composition. If in the winter you are offered liquid honey in the market or in the store, then it is melted or diluted with glucose syrup.
2. To check how natural liquid honey is, put it in a spoon and, lifting it, let it drain. High-quality honey flows down slowly, in a thread, forming a slide that will gradually spread. Twist the spoon and real honey will fold. If it pours quickly or scatters with splashes - a sure sign of a fake.
3. If foam with gas bubbles appears on the surface of the honey, it means that fermentation processes have begun. They are caused by the water content of the product over 20%. Honey also ferments after poor-quality heating at too high temperatures, which destroy the structure of the substance. Natural, fresh honey, due to its bactericidal properties, does not ferment.
4. Ask the seller for a sniff and taste of the honey. It should have a fragrant aroma and characteristic taste that is characteristic of the plants from which it was collected. The absence of these characteristics indicates that the honey was produced artificially. The caramel flavor indicates high temperature exposure.
5. The quality of honey is difficult to determine by its color. The product is white - not necessarily sugar. Dark brown - not necessarily added molasses or sugar syrup. Melilot, acacia and fireweed honey are of a light shade, while honeydew, cherry and buckwheat honey is dark brown. The rest of the varieties range in color from light yellow to dark amber.

How to determine quality at home

Immaturity of honey can harm its qualities and significantly reduce the shelf life. If the honey was pumped out earlier than necessary, then the necessary biological processes have not yet been completed in it. There will be no benefit from such a product, well, except perhaps to sweeten tea instead of sugar. And the increased moisture content will add harm and cause fermentation.

Uneven crystallization will indicate that you have bought unripe honey. The lower part is already sugared, the upper part remains syrupy. Sometimes delamination by color is observed: between the lower and upper parts there is a dark layer. If at the same time there are no signs of fermentation, it is necessary to eat such honey as soon as possible: it will not be stored for a long time.

Some unscrupulous sellers add impurities to honey. This helps to improve the appearance of the product and reduce its cost. For example, sand is added to increase weight and gelatin is added to thicken. To speed up the crystallization of fake honey, starch, chalk or flour are poured into it.

1. To determine mechanical impurities, place some honey in a transparent glass, add distilled water and stir. Insoluble impurities will settle or float.
2. Add a few drops of iodine to the honey and water solution. If starch is present, the solution will turn blue.
3. To determine if gelatin is present, you will need a 50% tannin solution. It is not very easy to find it, but it is possible. Mix the honey and tannin solution 1: 2. The gelatin will fall out in white flakes. The usual cloudiness of the solution indicates good product quality.

There are many varieties of honey, and each has its own color, consistency and sugar time

But in this way, you can check the honey without leaving the counter. Take a blank piece of paper with you. Spread some honey on it and light it from below with a match or lighter. If the honey is falsified, the paper will begin to burn, and the product will bubble and char, because sugar burns perfectly. Otherwise, the fire will go out as soon as it gets to the honey, due to the high density of the product.

Video on how to choose the right quality honey

Be sure to take our advice on board, and you will protect yourself from counterfeiting and deception. Share your methods for determining good quality honey in the comments. Remember that this product should not only bring pleasure, but also health. Good luck to you!