Is there sugar in honey: how much is in 100 grams and how to check the content at home

Many people wonder if there is honey in sugar and how to determine its amount. This is a very important question, since there is always a risk of purchasing sugar syrup instead of a natural bee product. Experienced beekeepers and experts have in their arsenal many informative methods that allow you to evaluate the quality of bee products. However, they can be used at home.

How much sugar is in honey

Even the highest quality and natural bee products contain sugar. The main difference is the nature of its origin and benefits for the body.It differs significantly from the variety of sugar. So, in 100 grams of honey there are 80 grams of sugar. However, this number includes several components:

• glucose;
• fructose;
• sucrose.

The first two varieties predominate in honey. Their content is 70-75 grams. These substances are monosaccharides. Because of this, they are considered harmless to the human body. These foods do not require insulin to be broken down and digested.

The remaining 7-12 grams of sucrose also gradually break down into glucose and fructose. Therefore, such an amount is considered a variant of the norm. That is why many doctors say that natural bee nectar is much he althier than sugar.

Why is sugar added to honey?

Unscrupulous beekeepers seek to maximize the amount of sweet nectar.Therefore, they add additional components to it. The result is a mass that resembles real honey in appearance and consistency, but has nothing to do with it in composition.

Most often, natural bee nectar is faked with syrup, which is made from granulated sugar. This is the easiest way to sweeten unripe honey and significantly increase its amount.

Besides this, the following can be added to the composition:

• sugar syrup, which is made from starch or beets;
• starch with inverted sugar syrup;
• sugar combined with flour.

There are many ways to cook a sweet fake. All of them are very effective. That is why it is so important to know how you can distinguish a fake from a natural product.

How to determine the presence of sugar in honey at home

There are several methods to detect fake honey. But first, it is worth evaluating its appearance and quality characteristics. The following should be taken into account:

1. Rub the honey between your fingers. The natural product is easily rubbed into the skin.
2. Examine the surface of the nectar. It cannot have foam or bubbles. The appearance of signs of fermentation or foaming indicates insufficient maturity or the addition of water to the composition. Natural mass includes pollen particles, wax and other natural substances. Honey that is too pure and transparent is most likely a fake.
3. Do not buy liquid product. The candied mass is more difficult to falsify. The natural product becomes firmer over time. Fake crystallizes slowly or does not sugar at all.It should be borne in mind that at the end of autumn or winter it is almost impossible to find natural honey in liquid form. The only exceptions are linden, acacia, fireweed and May varieties.
4. Assess the taste. A natural product should be moderately sweet and slightly tart. It can provoke a slight tingling and burning sensation in the mouth. For artificial nectar, such properties are not typical. When heated, honey acquires a slight caramel flavor.
5. Pay attention to the smell. The natural product is characterized by a recognizable floral aroma. The fake does not have such a pronounced smell.

To evaluate the naturalness of honey and its sugar content, you can use improvised means.

Yodine

To check the quality of honey, you can use iodine. To do this, it is recommended to take a small amount of sweet nectar and mix it with water.Then add a few drops of iodine there. If there is flour or starch in the product, honey will acquire a bluish tint. A natural product will not change in any way.

Indelible pencil

This device will help determine the presence of foreign liquids in bee nectar. To do this, you need to take a piece of paper, apply a thin layer of honey on it and try to write something with an indelible pencil. If blue or purple marks appear, it means that sugar syrup or water has been added to the honey.

Weighing

The more water in the bee nectar, the less will be its weight. A high-quality ripe product without impurities in a liter glass jar weighs 1.5 kilograms. When conducting an experiment, it is important to take into account the mass of the container in which it is planned to place honey.

Ammonia

To conduct this experiment, you will need a few drops of ammonia. First you need to take some honey and mix it with water. Then add 2 drops of ammonia and shake well. If starch syrup is present in the composition of the product, the mass will acquire a brown tint. In addition, sediment may appear in it.

Also, the use of ethyl alcohol is considered an informative method. In this case, you need to do the same steps. In the presence of impurities, you can see a milky cloudy sediment, which has a sticky consistency.

Vinegar

Acetic acid allows you to detect chalk in the honey product. To do this, you need to make a honey-water solution and add a small amount of vinegar to it. It is permissible to replace it with acetic acid. If there is a hiss that accompanies the release of carbon dioxide, we can conclude that there is chalk in the composition.

Milk

With the help of fresh milk it is possible to reveal chalk, which is obtained artificially or contains a lot of sugar. To do this, you need to take a glass of hot milk and add 1 spoon of bee nectar to it. If the composition curdles, then the honey contains a lot of sugar.

Bread

This method allows you to determine the presence of water, which should not be in quality bee nectar. To conduct the experiment, you need to take some bread, lower it into a glass of honey for 7-10 seconds and pull it out. If the bread gets wet, it can be concluded that honey contains a lot of moisture. If it hardens, then the nectar is natural.

Water

This experiment requires distilled water. In a glass of liquid, you need to add a little bee nectar and mix thoroughly. A natural product without extraneous additives will color the water yellowish and make it cloudy.A fake with impurities will lead to a precipitate. It can stay at the bottom or float to the surface.

Paper

This method helps to evaluate the wateriness of the product. To do this, apply a few drops of bee nectar to a clean sheet of paper. After a few seconds, it is worth looking at the surface. A natural product will leave the paper dry, while a high water content will leave a damp mark.

Honey is a very useful product of beekeeping, which helps to significantly improve he alth. However, this is possible only with the use of natural nectar with an optimal sugar content. To evaluate its quality, special methods can be used.

Recommended