How to determine natural honey or not. How to distinguish natural honey from a fake on the market: signs by appearance, smell, viscosity
The quality of natural honey can be spoiled various additives or heating, due to which the product loses its beneficial properties. A complete analysis of the composition of honey is carried out in laboratory conditions, but buyers can judge the quality of the product for themselves.
Haze is not inherent in honey, it is always transparent, regardless of the shade. The exception is acacia honey, which loses its transparency in winter. The color of honey is influenced by the plants from which the bees bring pollen. Light yellow tint flower honey, amber - in lime, ash honey is transparent, buckwheat is dark, with a brown tint. Sugar and starch reduce the transparency of honey, precipitate. Natural honey is fragrant, the human sense of smell can catch odors unusual for the product. It is easy to determine the presence of sugar syrup in honey - there is no aroma at all, and the taste is similar to poor quality lemonade.
It is best to buy honey from a beekeeper you know, on a site with bees. A confirmation of his integrity will be the location of the hives, which should be in a favorable place.
And cosmetology. In order for its effect on the body to be positive, you should pay attention to its properties during the purchase.
How to check the quality of honey? The answer to this question is simple. The most accurate results will laboratory analysis. But checking its taste, color and other characteristics using special tools also gives good results.
Unscrupulous sellers sometimes try to hide the signs of a damaged product or make the product look more appetizing by mixing in various substances. To protect yourself from this, you need to know how to recognize natural honey and in what ways you can check the honey is natural or not.
Checking honey for quality and naturalness by eye
You can check honey not only at home, but also directly at the point of sale. When buying a product, you must know the signs of natural honey and not fall for counterfeit.
Taste
The first diagnosis of honey is carried out by checking for naturalness by sampling and evaluating its taste. The taste should be pleasant burnlearning aftertaste in the throat. If the taste has a hint of caramel, then most likely the product succumbed to thermal heating. The sugary sweetness indicates the addition of sugar.
Color
The color of the creation of bees depends on the plants from which it was collected. Summer flower varieties are light yellow, amber, brown. Quality regardless of color fresh product It has transparent structure and does not contain precipitation.
Smell (aroma)
natural has pleasant smell And fragrant aroma, which is incomparable to anything. Fake smell has no. The aroma depends on the plant from which it is collected. Even an inexperienced consumer can distinguish between buckwheat and linden honey according to its taste and aroma. When buying, you should pay attention to the fact that the aroma does not contain the smell of smoke, caramel and fermentation.
Density and viscosity
Viscosity is an important criterion in determining its maturity. mature product contains 18% water, and not mature - from 21% and above. If honey contains 25% water, then its viscosity will be six times less than that of mature honey, so it is not difficult to determine this parameter visually. Observations should be carried out at a temperature not lower than 20 degrees.
To do this, a tablespoon of fresh bee dessert is turned over in quick circular motions. If it wraps up on a spoon, then it is mature, if it drains, it is not. Mature product forms long strands when draining from a spoon and lies on the surface in the form of a small hill.
However, the viscosity also depends on plants. from which it was collected. This must be taken into account. Clover nectar is also very liquid. Linden, buckwheat and fireweed are also considered liquid.
Consistency
Consistency of quality bee product uniform and soft. Its drop is easily rubbed between the fingers and absorbed into the skin. A counterfeit cannot boast of such an ability. It usually remains on the fingers in the form of lumps.
Important! The crystallization of various honeys is natural process, and its speed depends on the type of product and the temperature of the content. The ratio of fructose and glucose in the product is one of the parameters of the intensity of crystallization. High content fructose indicates slow crystallization.
Checking honey for naturalness using improvised means
Consider ways to test honey using improvised means.
Yoda
Checking honey with iodine is carried out for the presence of impurities of flour and starch. To do this, prepare its solution with water in a ratio of 1: 2 and add a few drops of iodine. If the solution changes color to blue, then impurities exist, if the color does not change, there are no impurities.
vinegar
By using vinegar essence the presence of chalk impurities can be determined. To do this, dissolve it in water (1: 2) and, if there is a precipitate, add a few drops of vinegar essence. If as a result chemical reaction the solution began to foam, this indicates the release carbon dioxide, therefore, an admixture of chalk exists. In the absence of vinegar essence, you can use plain vinegar, but its dose must be increased to 20-25 drops.
ammonia
With the help you can determine the impurity in the product molasses. To do this, mix it with water in a ratio of 1: 2 and add a few drops of ammonia. After mixing, according to the results of the experiment, we can conclude that there are additives. The brown color of the solution with a precipitate indicates the presence of molasses.
Milk
With the help of fresh, you can determine the falsification with an admixture of sugar. If you dissolve a teaspoon of bee product in hot milk and it curdles, then this sign indicates the addition of sugar to the product.
Important! A more accurate test of honey for sugar is carried out using silver nitrate (lapis). You can find it in a pharmacy. At 10% water solution product of bees, add drops of lapis. If we observe turbidity around the drops and loss white sediment- the solution contains sugar.
Water
Testing honey with water is the simplest and most basic. It determines the presence of impurities in the product. To do this, pour water into a transparent glass beaker and add 1 tsp. honey. The solution is stirred until homogeneous. A quality product should dissolve completely. The solution should be cloudy, but without sediment. If sediment falls to the bottom, this indicates the presence of impurities.
a piece of bread
sheet of paper
To determine the maturity of the product, a sheet of paper or ordinary toilet paper is often used. To do this, a large drop of honey is dripped onto it and after 20 minutes the result is evaluated. If a wet mark up to 1 mm thick forms around a drop on paper, then the honey is mature, if the mark is much thicker, then such a product is better. do not buy.
stainless steel
Hot stainless steel wire is used to determine impurities. If, after immersion in the product, its surface remains clean, then this indicates its good quality. In the case of sticking of different particles, the honey product has impurities.
Important! Honey should not be heated above 50 degrees, otherwise it will lose all its beneficial properties.
chemical pencil
Before you test honey with an indelible pencil, you need to know that its action is based on a change in color when it comes into contact with moisture. It is necessary to dip the pencil into the bee dessert and draw conclusions from the result of the reaction. If the pencil has not changed color, there is no admixture of sugar syrup, and the honey is mature.
Other ways to check the quality of honey
There are many ways to determine which honey is natural and which is not, but there is no 100% certainty that the results are correct. Let's take a look at the ones that seem the most revealing.
heating
How to distinguish natural honey from fake using heating? Small jar with tablespoon bee products put on water bath and at a temperature not higher than 45 degrees we warm up for 8-10 minutes. Open the lid and appreciate the smell and aroma.
Lack of smell is the first sign poor quality product. If heating in a water bath is carried out for about an hour, then natural honey should exfoliate, and the fake will remain homogeneous.
weighing
An easy way to determine the density of honey and therefore its water content. It should be noted that the less water, the higher the density. glass jar 1 liter capacity is weighed on a balance. Pour 1 kg of water into it and mark the level of the lower meniscus on the glass.
Later, the water is poured out and the jar is dried. Next, pour the purchased product into the jar to the mark and weigh it. The mass of a substance is determined by the difference between a dry and filled jar, which is equal to its density. According to the table set it water content.
| Mass of honey, kg | Water content, % |
| 1,433 | 16 |
| 1,436 | 17 |
| 1,429 | 18 |
| 1,422 | 19 |
| 1,416 | 20 |
| 1,409 | 21 |
| 1,402 | 22 |
| 1,395 | 23 |
| 1,388 | 24 |
| 1,381 | 25 |
Those who want to lose weight come to the rescue. Well, those who are not worried about problems excess weight, can treat themselves to a piece honey cake. It should be noted that the most valuable properties possesses only natural honey. Unfortunately, at present, some beekeepers are not chasing the quality of the product, but the volume. As a result of dishonesty, it has become quite easy to come across a fake and, under the guise of honey, acquire something that does not even smell like honey. Today you will learn how to determine the quality of honey at home.
The ideal option would be to determine the quality of honey at the time of purchase, then you can protect yourself not only from wasting money, but also from a purchase that will not bring you any benefit. It is known that some simply feed the bees with sugar to increase the volume of honey. Such honey palatability practically does not differ from the flower, however, according to useful properties he is clearly behind. There are several recommendations for choosing honey, we have already introduced you to them, but it will not be superfluous to repeat them. So, you can determine the quality of a beekeeping product by the following criteria:
Color
The color of honey depends on its variety and can vary from light yellow to brown. Flower varieties are usually light, linden honey has amber, well and buckwheat honey produces brown color. At the same time, honey should be transparent, without sediment, if the product is cloudy, then this indicates that it contains additives. Often in honey there are bee products - bees, pieces of honeycombs, this should not alarm you, since this is a sure sign High Quality honey.
Aroma
Natural honey has a distinct smell that cannot be confused with any other. If honey is characterized by a slightly perceptible aroma, then most likely you have a product with added sugar.
Viscosity
You can also determine the quality of honey by its viscosity. Scoop honey with a spoon and lift it above the plane, natural honey will stretch with a continuous thread and form a slowly spreading hill on the surface of the honey.
Consistency
Anyone who has tasted natural honey at least once will confirm that the product had a delicate texture. Take a drop of honey and try to rub it between your fingers. If the product is absorbed, then this is a sure sign of its high quality, fake honey with such manipulation rolls into lumps.
Taste
And of course, the naturalness of the product can be established by tasting honey. Real honey has a tart-sweet taste. Taste a little honey, if you were treated to a natural product, then you will definitely have a tickle in your throat.
If you do not trust your senses, but are accustomed to relying only on research results, then you can also determine the quality of honey at home empirically.
How to check the naturalness of honey with water
Place a teaspoon of honey in warm water. If bee nectar melted away a short time, and does not lie in a lump at the bottom of the glass, then you can be sure of the quality of the product.
Tea with honey - not only delicious drink, but also an excellent method for determining the quality of honey
If you dip a spoonful of honey into tea, the natural product will immediately turn dark.
Milk with honey will help with coughing and will identify a poor-quality product
It is known that you can get rid of a cough if you undergo a course of treatment with milk and honey. However, this will help not only cure the disease, but also determine the quality of honey. So, if you add unnatural honey to milk, it will curdle.
How to check the naturalness of honey with a blotter
Take a piece of a blotting paper or napkin and put some honey on it. After a couple of minutes, take a look at reverse side paper. If a watery speck was found, then the poor quality of honey will have to be stated.
Iodine and vinegar - indicators of the quality of honey
Fill a glass with warm water and dissolve a teaspoon of honey in it. After that, add a couple of drops of iodine to the liquid. If after a few minutes the water in the glass turns blue, this indicates that the honey contains starch.
Instead of iodine, vinegar can be added to water with honey. This will determine if the product contains chalk. As a rule, in the presence of foreign impurities, the water in the glass begins to hiss and boil.
How to check the quality of honey with bread
Can determine the quality of honey and slice stale bread. Dip the bread in a container with honey. If the bread becomes soft after a few minutes, then you have to admit that the honey is not natural.
The quality of honey can be judged by spreading it on a piece of bread. As a rule, a natural product lays down in an even layer, does not drip from the edges and quickly transforms soft bread into solid.
Heating is an effective method for determining the quality of honey
Fill a tablespoon with honey and heat it over the fire. The natural product will char, honey containing impurities will ignite.
Chemical pencil will help to identify low-quality honey
Smear a drop of honey on a piece of not very thick paper and draw a chemical pencil over it. The appearance of blue stains indicates that the honey contains flour or starch.
Time will put everything in its place
If you don't want to experiment, you can just leave the medok alone for a few months. Time will do everything for you! So, if after a couple of months the honey began to thicken and crystallize, then this indicates that the product is natural. If honey remains liquid even after six months, then it contains a large number of fructose. If the honey does not thicken, but separates into two layers - liquid and thick, then be sure that you have purchased an unripened product. Of course, it does not pose a health hazard, but it is characterized short term validity.
We are sure that after all that has been said, it will not be difficult for you to determine the quality of honey, and if necessary, you can easily bring the seller-beekeeper to clean water.
Sweet, fragrant, with a beautiful amber hue - honey. This is one of the most useful natural products given to us by mother nature. It is used in many fields from to and therefore highly valued for its usefulness and versatility. However, today, in pursuit of profit, many manufacturers act in bad faith, falsifying its quality. In this connection, many people have a question how to understand that the purchased honey is natural? Our article will help answer it.
Natural honey - how to understand
You can figure out whether a natural product is in front of you or a fake, which will bring absolutely no benefit to the body, according to the following signs:
- Use your sense of smell - the smell of genuine honey is fragrant, but not sharp, the aroma of the plants from which it was collected should be felt.
- Real mature honey wraps around the spoon like “folds” when you turn it, and flows down from it in a continuous thread, and after a while completely merges with the total mass. The counterfeit will behave differently and quickly drain from the spoon, as it is diluted with water.
- It is also heavy in weight: liter jar with honey it may well weigh one and a half kilograms.
- A quality product should not foam much, otherwise it is unripe or fermented honey.
- Very often unscrupulous sellers add to bad honey pieces of honeycomb or pollen to give it an authentic look, so you should not rely on these facts.
- A good product never delaminates, so when you see two layers in a jar (thick at the bottom and liquid at the top), this is a fake.
- With the onset of autumn, natural honey is candied, with the exception of only acacia and chestnut honey, they remain in their original form for a whole year.
- If by appearance it is too transparent and has a bright sheen, you know, the honey was boiled, and that's it useful material evaporated from it.
How to check the naturalness of honey at home
There are several ways in which you can easily check the quality of honey yourself:
- Taste it, the natural one should dissolve completely on the tongue, and it also “pinches” the throat a little.
- Stir a small amount of in a clean glass hot water if sediment is found at the bottom, then it contains additional additives that should not be.
- Sprinkle a drop of honey with a pinch of starch - on a genuine product, it will remain on the surface.
- Pour about 50 g of honey into a jar, close the lid and heat in a water bath for 10 minutes, while the water temperature should be 45 degrees. Open the lid - the absence of a natural honey smell indicates a fake;
- Heat it for 1 hour at 40 degrees - the natural product will begin to delaminate.
- You can rub a little honey into the skin, if after that grains that look like sugar are felt on it, then you have a poor quality product. Good honey is completely absorbed.
How to test honey with iodine
One of the most famous and simple ways determining the naturalness of honey is a "test" of iodine. In practice, it is considered the most effective.
For this procedure you will need:
- distilled water;
- glass cup;
- table vinegar.
So, let's begin. Fill the glass halfway with lukewarm water, dilute a spoonful of honey in it and mix very well. Be sure to achieve complete homogeneity of the solution, there should not be any clots and lumps. Add 3-4 drops of iodine there and observe the reaction in the container:
- if the color of the liquid remains unchanged, then there is no doubt about the quality of the purchased product;
- the water in the glass has turned blue - this means that starch or flour has been added to the honey as a thickener.
candied honey
The process of crystallization or, as it is popularly called, "candied" is absolutely natural for this product. And the more glucose it contains, the sooner it happens. Average time frame this phenomenon range from 2 to 11 weeks. But it is worth remembering that change physical condition honey in no way affects its usefulness and taste.
It can be easily returned to a liquid form only by heating in a water bath, the main thing is to do this at a low temperature. So he will retain all the valuable substances.
Candied honey can be made artificially - just add a little candied honey to liquid honey and stir it every day for a week.
And remember to get natural and quality product, which will be good for health - buy it from trusted beekeepers. And if you buy it at a fair, ask the seller to show a certificate of quality.
Speaking about the almost limitless benefits of the most popular beekeeping product, painting it healing properties, always imply that it is natural. Of course, it would be nice to come to a familiar beekeeper and buy only proven products. But not everyone and not always has such an opportunity. How to determine the quality of honey to be sure of its benefits?!
While shopping in the market, there is a danger of acquiring low-quality or unnatural product. It can be pumped out ahead of time, diluted with water or sugar, with the addition of starch and other substances. In addition, sometimes unscrupulous sellers drown the candied product in order to give it a more presentable look.
All this neutralizes the benefits, and heating can even lead to the formation harmful substances. About how to choose real honey It is worth considering even before going to the store or to the fair.
To avoid buying a melted product, do not search liquid consistency at the end of autumn or even more so in winter. By this time, even the most late varieties. If you, say, in January, come to the market and see honey flowing well from a spoon, it has most likely been melted. Similar product better not to buy.
Another precaution is foam on the surface. This indicates either that the contents of the honeycombs were pumped out unripe, or that water was simply added to it. In addition, fresh quality honey must be uniform in both color and texture. But if you buy a shrunken one, the presence of white spots on it is quite acceptable. Also in this state, separation into layers may be noticeable, this is also normal.
If you are buying, the most important thing here is that all cells are sealed. Caps, which beekeepers call zabrus, preserve honey and contain many useful substances.
Usually, in market conditions, it is not possible to do full-fledged checks. Here they choose according to color, aroma and texture. You can also use the method with a sheet of paper or an indelible pencil, if any. But more on that later.
What qualities should good honey have?
We will try to figure out how to choose a quality product according to outward signs. This is something that is always noticeable, even if there is no way to check in more detail.
Color
The first thing you see when you look at the counter is the color. Of course, each variety has its own - ranging from almost colorless ash to rich dark brown buckwheat. And here you need to know what colors are considered normal for a particular variety.
But there is general rule. Fresh, not crystallized, it should not be cloudy and even more so have a sediment. The presence of the latter indicates the presence of impurities. If there are dark spots, then the product is most likely heated.
Consistency
When the "tail" breaks, it will completely settle back into the container. The resulting mound will gradually disperse into total mass. When honey drips, or moreover forms splashes, it is a fake.
If, when choosing honey, you twist the spoon from which the stream flows, it should easily wind up. fresh and liquid product will drain gradually, forming a hillock and bubbles on the surface. Diluted behaves quite differently.
Taste, aroma and weight
It is impossible to say unequivocally how to determine the quality of honey by aroma. Of course, in real and natural, it is usually more saturated and fragrant. But there are some varieties in which the smell is very weak, and after crystallization it becomes elusive. This parameter should be followed if you know that the selected honey variety should have a bright aroma.
As for the taste, it is always sweet. But the one to which sugar was added is more cloying. Another parameter is the weight of 1 liter of honey about 1.5 kg. If the jar is too light, water has probably been added to it.
Determination of authenticity at home
But how to choose honey, if the check on external characteristics still leaves doubts? It can be done very simply. Before buying a large quantity, buy 100-200 grams and check the authenticity of the product at home.
There are several simple ways that allow you to do this with the help of improvised means. In this case, what is in any home is used - paper, iodine, vinegar, plain water. So how to determine the quality of honey at home, protecting yourself from fake? 
A solution of honey in water
The easiest thing to do is dissolve. After that, the liquid should become cloudy. A precipitate should not form. A transparent solution will remain only after adding sugar syrup. But this experiment alone is not enough.
Checking with iodine or chemical pencil
The quality of honey largely depends on various impurities that are not present in honey. natural product. Among others, it can be starch or flour. Their presence is detected using iodine. To determine the quality in this way, it is better to dilute the sweetness in a small volume of distilled water, to which then add a few drops of iodine. If the solution turns blue, this is a sign of the presence of starch.
Another way to choose good honey without this impurity can be used even on the market. You need to ask to make a test drop on a sheet of paper and smear it with a chemical pencil. The appearance of blue stains after this will also signify the presence of starch, flour, or just water.
Checking with a sheet of paper
For this test, it is better to choose not thick white, but low-grade absorbent paper - thin newspaper, napkin or just toilet paper. Drop some honey on the leaf. If it bleeds like a wet spot or bleeds, don't buy this product. When there is no water in it, there should be no wet spots around.
Checking with Vinegar
Vinegar, which everyone has in their kitchen cabinet, can also help determine if you really bought quality honey. Here, as for the test with iodine, a small amount of the product must be diluted with water.
If, after adding vinegar to this solution, bubbles appear, or even more foam, this is a bad sign. So, in addition to beekeeping products, they also sold you chalk.
Checking with stainless steel
It would seem, how to choose high-quality honey using this item? Everything is quite simple. Heat a piece of stainless steel wire and lower it into a container with honey.
When you take it out, it should be clean. This will mean that there are no impurities in the product. If an incomprehensible sticky mass sticks to the surface, then everything is not as good as we would like.
Checking with bread
Another way to determine the quality of a product is to immerse it in a bowl of honey small piece bread and leave it there for 10 minutes. If the bread has softened, or even begun to spread, then there is sugar syrup. IN pure product piece on the contrary should harden.
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