Honey - diastase number: what it depends on, table, GOST

People have been using beekeeping products since time immemorial. The cave paintings of the honey collection process date back to the Stone Age. It is known for certain that the Egyptian pharaohs were big lovers of sweets, including honey. The first annalistic mentions of honey in Ancient Russia date back to the 9th century.

Useful properties of honey

Since ancient times, honey has been considered not only a delicious treat, but also a cure for many diseases. They were treated for diseases of the bronchopulmonary and gastrointestinal systems, eye diseases, skin ailments and scurvy. Until now, treatment with bee products is one of the effective methods of traditional medicine - they treat colds with honey during the exacerbation season and actively use it in home cosmetology. Today it is scientifically proven that bee nectar contains a huge amount of vital minerals, trace elements and vitamins.

So what is honey?

Honey is a viscous, viscous nectar produced by bees. To accumulate 100 grams of goodies, these hard workers need to collect pollen from almost a million flowers. They collect delicious pollen from various inflorescences, mixing it with their own enzymes produced by the salivary gland. As a result of their life activity, this nutritious and healthy product is obtained.

Product quality

Of course, the healing properties of honey are undeniable, but only on condition that it is truly a natural product. Bee honey is one of the complex organic substances, the quality of which can be determined in several ways. It is believed that the most accurate assessment of the density, maturity and composition of a product can only be ascertained in the laboratory, where specialists determine the diastatic number of honey.

Nevertheless, experienced beekeepers and true gourmets not only know how to distinguish a natural product from fakes, but also guess the place of collection of bee nectar and plants that were pollinated by bees. Connoisseurs determine these parameters by color, density, transparency, viscosity and smell of honey. They do not need a diastase number or the determination of some other indicators.

However, it is very difficult for most ordinary people to determine the true quality and naturalness of honey. Therefore, any beekeeping products on sale must undergo mandatory monitoring in laboratories.

The most important enzymes in honey

Natural bee honey contains many different enzymes produced by the salivary gland of the working bee and which enter the collected nectar. These are biological catalysts that contribute to the regulation of metabolic processes in the body. They play a huge role in the formation of honey from flower nectar. The main enzymes are glucose oxidase, invertase and amylase. If the amount of these elements in honey is less than generally accepted standards, then such products are considered falsified. Perhaps a decrease in enzymes was due to improper storage.

Glucose oxidase in the process of interaction with other components breaks down glucose, forming hydrogen peroxide and gluconic acid. Being an unstable element, hydrogen peroxide is destroyed, but at the initial stage of processing nectar protects future honey from various types of mold, fungi and harmful bacteria and microbes. The remaining gluconic acid affects the acidity of honey and largely determines its final taste.

Invertase breaks down sucrose into glucose and fructose. Amylase destroys starch, turning it into maltose. The activity of this enzyme is determined by the value of the diastase number of honey. What is it, we will now try to figure it out. At the same time, we find out what this indicator of a quality product should be equal to.

Diastatic number of honey - what is it?

Any kind of natural honey, packaged and stored in compliance with the necessary conditions, contain a large number of enzymes. One of the most important protein catalysts is amylase. Another, more familiar name for this enzyme is diastasis. It is this substance that affects the decomposition of starch. The diastatic number of honey is the main indicator of the value and naturalness of bee production. The higher it is, the more qualitative and useful the product under study. This parameter can only be determined in the laboratory.

Definition of a key quality indicator

How to determine the diastatic number of honey? Today, there are several ways to find out the main indicator of quality. In our country, as in a number of other European countries, the Gaute method is considered standard.

The basis of this technique is the special ability of enzymes to break down starch. The diastase number of honey is calculated by dissolving a one percent starch solution for one hour at a temperature of 40 ° C in 1 gram of honey. The amount of dissolved milliliters of starch is the main indicator. The diastase number is expressed in units of Gaute.

This method is quite complicated and long, but it gives the most accurate result. There are special tables for the diastatic number of honey. They are guided by the study.

Table of minimum diastase numbers of honey for some regions:

The optimal amount of diastase number of honey by GOST is regulated in the range from 7 to 50 units. According to UN standards, the minimum number of diastases is 3 Goethe units (while the content of the other component, oxymethylfurfural, should not exceed 15 mg / kg) This is due to the fact that in the world there are various types of honey with a meager content of natural diastase (a product collected from flowering acacia, cotton or citrus).

Undoubtedly, the higher the Goethe indicator, the better and more valuable the product. However, this parameter can also change depending on the place of collection of nectar. Therefore, many experts doubt the effectiveness of this technique.

What determines the diastatic number of honey?

It is proved that the climatic conditions of the area in which the bees collected honey play a special role in the formation of the most important enzymes. It is known that products obtained in the southern regions have indicators much worse than honey collected in the northern regions. This is because the summer in the north is short and the plants bloom for very short time. But the nectar collected by bees from such inflorescences is tasty and fragrant. Therefore, bee production of the northern regions has always been especially revered by honey connoisseurs.

According to the same generally accepted tables, the diastatic number of honey from warm regions has low rates and can vary from 0 to 7 units. While in northern honey, it sometimes reaches 50 units.

Very often, manufacturers offer a bee product, the diastase number of which exceeds the maximum mark. This can be a very successful experiment in a single botanical garden. But, unfortunately, most often this is not natural honey, but a synthetic product, forcibly enriched with amylase.

Erroneous opinion

Many consumers mistakenly believe that diastasis itself is a valuable component of honey. Apparently, the wrong opinion was formed due to the fact that GOST refers to the diastase number. In fact, the amount of this enzyme determines the viscosity of the processed nectar - the higher its content, the more bees introduced it into the composition. There are some types of honey with naturally small amounts of amylase, one of which is collected from white acacia. Nevertheless, this type of product is the most expensive in the world.