Bee honey is not only a product with excellent taste, but also a healing agent, since it contains substances useful for the human body. The most popular among buyers are natural flower honey, as well as acacia and buckwheat honey. Unfortunately, these days, no buyer is immune to the purchase of low-quality honey, the so-called counterfeit. Sugar syrup or starch syrup and many other impurities can be added to honey. How to try to avoid buying low-quality honey? There are several ways to test the naturalness of this tasty and healthy product.
Instructions
Step 1
Honey color Each type of honey has its own specific color, characteristic only for it. As a rule, these are all shades of yellow and brown. However, if the honey is of high quality, then it is transparent, whatever the color. If bee honey contains any additives: starch, sugar and other various impurities, then it will be cloudy. If you look closely, you can find sediment in such honey. To determine the presence of impurities, such as chalk, a few drops of vinegar are added to the product. Boiling will occur, as carbon dioxide will begin to evolve. The starch impurity is detected by adding drops of iodine to the sample of honey, diluted with a little distilled water. The solution turns blue.
Step 2
Viscosity Real mature honey is characterized by a certain viscosity. A natural product should not be liquid. To check the quality of bee honey according to the viscosity criterion, it is heated to 20 degrees and stirred with a spoon. Then the spoon is taken out and honey is wound on it in a horizontal position. Too liquid will drain quickly. Well, if honey is smoothly wrapped around a spoon, it means that it is mature and not diluted in any way. In addition, if a drawing is drawn on the surface of honey with a flowing stream, the lines will retain their volume for some time. This fact also confirms the naturalness of the product. If an unscrupulous seller added water and sugar to honey, this is also easy to establish. For this, a sheet of low-grade paper is taken, which absorbs water well, and a drop of honey is placed on it. If it seeps through or smudges on the paper, it’s fake. But the real one will retain the shape of a drop on paper, since there is no water in it. The viscosity of honey is also determined with a small stick. It sinks into honey, and when it is removed, a long continuous thread stretches behind it, which, breaking off, will leave a tubercle on the surface. This is evidence that the product is natural and of high quality.
Step 3
The taste of bee honey All types of honey have a sweet taste, but some varieties have a specific taste. For example, chestnut, willow and tobacco have a bitter taste, and heather honey tastes tart. Various deviations associated with the taste of honey indicate its low quality. If excessive sourness is found in the taste of the product, then this may indicate the beginning of fermentation. Caramel aromas and flavors are a sign of heating, while bitterness indicates improper storage of a low quality product.
