How to determine the quality of honey?

We will not talk now about the benefits, nor about the harm of the source of the purest glucose and fructose. This has long been heard all about. But how to determine the quality of honey - not everyone knows.

Let's start with honey states: liquid, stone, crystallized.

Stone honey is the rarest. He is going to be wild bees, who settle in the mountains, in hard-to-reach crevices. Honey is really hard, like a stone, because the moisture content in it is scanty.

Liquid honey (fresh "pitching") - is always especially fragrant, viscous and similar to amber. Of course, both taste qualities, and aroma, and color depend on where the collection took place.

Soon honey crystallizes, becomes friable (moisture evaporates). By the way, he does not change the composition and remains as useful. And to fake it is more difficult. That is why do not be tempted in the winter with liquid honey - there is a great chance of unscrupulous forgery.

It may also be that honey seems to be natural, but instead of good it will only do harm. The hitch lies in the heat treatment of this product: to make the "tempting" kind of crystallized honey warm up, as a result you get either destroyed enzymes or carcinogens.

And honey can be both mature and unripe (immature).

How to determine the quality of honey in this case? Actually, the very phrase "immature honey" makes you think: is it worth buying? Bees seal their stocks in honeycombs with peculiar wax lids not immediately. Nature has laid in them the ability to "feel" the moisture content and wait for its evaporation, simultaneously supplying the product with substances killing microorganisms and bacteria, increasing the shelf life of sweet stocks. This process is called beekeeping by ripening. Market conditions (or, more precisely, greed for profit) cause unscrupulous beekeepers to rip the ripening process for the sake of earlier implementation. The quality of honey, of course, suffers. As a result - fermentation, loss and taste, and healing qualities. Therefore, storage times are, of course, minimal. The immaturity of honey is determined after heating to 20 ° C. If you remove and rotate the spoon, honey will not be wrapped (too liquid).

Honey is ripe when the spoon is continuously turned, even slow, it turns and almost does not drain. And with a transfusion it forms a kind of slowly spreading hills, draining with thick, wide bands. But immature honey spreads very quickly.

Any (mixed, mixed, floral) honey can be checked for naturalness and improvised ways. Going to buy, grab water, iodine, vinegar.

Now - the details.

1. How to determine the quality of honey with vinegar? A little honey dissolve in water (by the way, it must dissolve without residue, the presence of sediment already indicates a poor quality) and drip into this solution of vinegar. A chemical reaction will make a verdict: the appearance of foam is an indubitable sign of the presence of chalk.

2. How to determine the quality of honey with iodine? In the same solution, drip iodine, - blueing indicates the presence of starch or flour.

Weight is also very important: a liter pot filled with honey should not weigh less than 1.4 kg (minus the weight of the can itself).

If you do not have at hand vinegar, iodine, or scales, use second-rate paper (for example, a piece of newspaper). Drip honey on it. A blob that has formed a wet border will show the presence of water.

Now take a closer look at the jar of honey. Bubbles, the presence of foam, an acidic odor, a stratification indicate fermentation (and therefore, immaturity).

The most crude forgery - "sugar honey", a few drops of which will make "curdle" boiled milk. Actually, this is the simplest molten sugar with the addition of "garbage": pieces of honeycomb, bee-legs and even the dead bees themselves. For a smell, sometimes add a little natural honey. In any case, this fake you determine immediately (if, of course, at least once tried real honey): no flavor, no taste (just sweet), no color. And the consistency is not the same ...

Honey in forts can not be faked.

Do you want to avoid forgery? Find your "own", permanent seller. Perhaps, even in the market, on a permanent place. It is on a permanent basis. After all, reputation is expensive. So - to forge there is no sense, otherwise the seller will lose the buyer. Avoid spontaneous markets, grandmothers at the entrances, gypsies, etc. Spend time searching, because you buy honey for health.