How to choose honey: definition of quality, rules and tips for purchasing a natural product

Mankind has absolutely nothing to do with the production of natural flower honey. All processes of the appearance of a tasty, healing product are controlled by insects. Beekeepers improve the habitat of the hard-working nectar collectors and pump the finished product from the hives at the right time. Further, the delicacy loved by many falls on the shelves of markets and shops. How to choose the right natural honey and not become a victim of deception, we will understand further.

Basic tricks when choosing

When choosing a bee product, you need to know that many sellers of sweets fake natural flower honey by mixing different varieties and adding natural or chemical dyes to them.Also, more and more exotic varieties of nectar appear in stores and markets, which, in principle, are not found in nature.

1. Mixing different varieties of sweets is called blending, and the seller must warn that the product has undergone such processing. After blending, the nectar acquires a pungent smell and aroma, becomes dark shades.
2. In liquid form, the delicacy lasts from 3 to 7 months. The process of crystallization and fermentation directly depends on the plants from which the insects collected nectar, the maturity of honey and storage conditions. Often, beekeepers give out candied sweetness, and then dissolved in a water bath, for fresh nectar. Such honey undergoes heat treatment and loses most of its healing properties.
3. The natural bee gift is forged by the method of producing syrup from fructose and glucose. Such a product is obtained from sugar roots or alcohol production waste. It is clear that fake nectar lacks useful and nutritious substances produced by hardworking insects.
4. Beekeeper for 1 season can get no more than 3-4 varieties of natural flower sweetness. If the seller says that all 20 varieties of nectar are from his personal apiary, then this is not true. Most likely, such a product contains extraneous and harmful additives for the body.

You can detect fake treats at home. To do this, a spoonful of flower honey is placed in a glass of lukewarm water and stirred. Natural nectar dissolves. If foreign matter and sediment are found in the liquid, then the sweetness is fake.

Advice! Experienced housewives add a drop of iodine to a spoonful of honey. If the nectar turns bluish, it means it contains flour or starch.

How to choose a natural product on the market?

Any market attracts buyers with a variety and a large selection of bee gifts. Also in many regions special honey exhibitions, fairs and festivals are held. To choose high-quality nectar, you need to clearly know how it looks, smells and tastes like natural flower honey.

Maturity

You can determine the quality by the maturity of the delicacy. After collecting the nectar, the bees place it in well-ventilated cells to weather excess moisture. Next, the cells are sealed with wax, and the process of honey fermentation begins. After 3-4 weeks the chemical reactions are over and the beekeepers pump out the treat from their hives. The sooner the beekeeper extracts the sweetness from the cells, the more moisture will remain in it.

Important! The permissible composition of moisture in high-quality flower nectar should not exceed 20%.

To taste

The taste of sweetness directly depends on the honey plants from which the insects collected nectar.

Quality honey can be identified by the following taste characteristics:

• after drinking, there is a feeling of tickling in the throat;
• no extraneous caramel or any other aftertaste;
• the nectar should not be bitter and too obvious acid;
• The aftertaste of natural honey is pleasant, does not contain sugary notes.

Chestnut, tobacco and honeydew bee products are allowed to have a natural bitter taste, linden sweetness can also leave a slight bitterness after consumption.

By flavor

A real bee gift always has a specific aroma of flowers or herbs. A tart, slightly harsh aroma is characterized by a chestnut and honeydew variety of the product.But the sweetness of herbs has a pleasant herbal smell. The aroma of linden nectar is dominated by floral notes.

Important! A counterfeit product has very little or no odor.

By consistency

The duration of the crystallization process varies for different varieties of honey. But any of the varieties of natural sweetness forms sugary crystals by mid-autumn. If the nectar remains liquid and viscous throughout the winter, it is most likely dissolved or diluted with foreign ingredients.

According to the advice of experienced beekeepers, in summer and autumn, bee gift is purchased in liquid form. If the product is purchased in winter, it should be sugary in texture and lighter in color.

Visual evaluation of the product

You can also choose a natural delicacy by external signs:

• linden fresh nectar is characterized by a yellow or amber hue and a transparent, viscous consistency;
• bitter varieties and buckwheat honey can be distinguished by their dark brown color, but the clarity of the product remains unchanged if it is not candied;
• May delicacy may have a greenish tint, like the fireweed variety of sweetness;
• floral variety of fresh treat always has a bright yellow or golden hue;
• sunflower nectar has bright amber tones;
• pine bee product contains a large amount of specific enzymes that give it a dark brown color with a greenish tint;
• melliferous sweet clover is characterized by amber nectar;
• delicacy collected in the mountains has a yellow or golden hue;
• Wild bee honey can vary in color depending on the plant from which the insects collected sweet nectar.

Acacia flower honey is considered the lightest. The delicacy is characterized by a very long crystallization and a natural cloudy hue.

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