Honey has been known for its beneficial properties for a long time. It is used for treatment or just for food. This is a sweet and tasty treat that has a lot of shades depending on the variety. But in the market there are many not-so-honest sellers who are trying to pass off fake and low-quality honey as real. The disappointment of such a purchase will be long. Therefore, you should know how to check the quality of honey.
There are many ways to determine the naturalness of this product. The first thing to do is check it with a spoon. We lower it into a container with honey, and then, having pulled it out, we begin to rotate. If the honey is ripe, then it will not drain from the spoon, but will wrap around it. Moreover, each new turn forms a new layer, as when winding the tape. This procedure can be carried out directly at the counter.
If a thin stick is lowered into high-quality honey and then pulled out, the product will be pulled by a thin thread. And when it breaks off and falls into the tank c, then a slide forms on the surface, which disappears after a short period of time. An unnatural product will drain, drip, and form a spray.
Natural honey never foams, because it is bactericidal and does not tend to ferment.
A high-quality product has the ability to change its consistency, that is, to sugar. It becomes cloudy and thick. Honey is pumped in the summer and at that time it is liquid. After a maximum of two months, it crystallizes. Therefore, you can check the quality of honey by paying attention to its appearance and comparing it with the season. In winter or spring, a natural product can be liquid only if it is heated. But at the same time, its useful properties are lost.
Before checking the quality of honey, you should pay attention to its smell and taste. The natural product has a fragrant aroma. The falsified one has no pronounced smell, and its taste resembles sugar or caramel.
More ways to check the quality of honey. To determine whether it contains starch, dilute a small amount of honey with boiling water, mix thoroughly and cool. Then drop a little iodine into a glass. If starch is present in the product, the mixture will turn blue.
The presence of starch syrup in honey is determined as follows. Dilute it with distilled water and add drops of ammonia to this mixture. If this component is present, the mixture will turn white with a shade of brown.
You can also determine the presence of chalk. In the same solution of honey and distilled water, add vinegar dropwise. If chalk is present, a quenching reaction will occur due to the release of carbon dioxide. This action can be done without diluting honey with water.
You can check for sugar in this product in this way. We place honey in water (distilled or boiled) to make a liquid solution. It should not have any impurities. It should be transparent and without sediment. After this, a little silver nitrate solution should be dripped into it . If the product is natural, the solution will remain clear. If sugar has been added, a slight turbidity will be observed.
You can also check honey for impurities. When dissolved in boiled water, the liquid remains clear.
And the last way. It is necessary to drip a little honey on the paper, and then set it on fire. Natural delicacy does not burn, does not melt, does not change its color. Otherwise, it was diluted with sugar.
To buy a real product, you need to know how to check the quality of honey. Buy it only from reliable sellers or beekeepers. If you are not sure about its quality, then take a small amount for the sample. Do not buy this product along the tracks. In this case, there is a high probability of the presence of substances harmful to the body in it.