The value of natural honey lies, first of all, in its healing qualities. However, buyers often encounter counterfeit products. Therefore, many lovers of the delicacy are concerned with the question of how to determine the naturalness of buckwheat honey. When buying sweets, you need to pay attention to several parameters: taste, shade, aroma, consistency.
What is buckwheat honey and what does it look like?
The product belongs to the monofloral species, since it is collected only from flowering buckwheat.Real nectar exhibits a wide range of benefits: improves digestion, strengthens the immune system, normalizes the activity of the cardiovascular system, promotes blood formation, and is used as an element of cosmetics. Honey contains many vitamins (group B, C) and microelements (cobalt, iron, manganese, zinc), antioxidants. Due to its antiseptic properties, the product is included in treatment regimens for gynecological diseases (endometriosis, fibroids, erosions).
In appearance, the sweetness has a rich dark amber hue. Buckwheat honey is a delicacy for everyone because of its unique tart taste with hints of bitterness.
How to distinguish from a fake
The product differs significantly from other types of honey in color, taste and aroma. In order not to make a mistake when choosing sweets, you need to know the popular types of testing.
Per color
A peculiar rich dark brown hue is a feature of buckwheat nectar. Thanks to the crystallization process, the sweetness becomes lighter, but its shade does not change significantly. To check the naturalness of a product at home, several methods are used.
A popular method is to slightly dilute a small portion of the treat with water. Then iodine is dripped into the sweetness. The appearance of a blue tint in nectar means the presence of foreign impurities (starch, flour).
Taste
Buckwheat honey is easy to recognize by its characteristic bitter taste. Many lovers of the delicacy note that the aftertaste is accompanied by a “throat-tearing” sensation. Not all sweet lovers like the pronounced taste. However, because of this feature, no one doubts the healing properties of the product.
For aroma
Usually the quality of honey is difficult to assess by aroma.Because over time, the sweet product loses its unique smell. In addition, if nectar is stored open, any aroma gradually disappears. Fresh buckwheat honey smells richly, sometimes you can detect light notes of a nutty dessert.
How to distinguish from other varieties
The aroma of buckwheat can be considered exotic, since it is not familiar to everyone. A well-known feature of any honey is to absorb extraneous aromas. Therefore, when evaluating nectar, it is better to focus on shades and taste.
How do they fake it?
Counterfeiting of medicinal sweets is common. Unscrupulous sellers often dilute nectar with various substances to give it more weight. Common methods of falsification:
- To increase the volume of the product, starch is added to it. The presence of an impurity can be easily checked using iodine (a few drops of iodine turn the sweet solution blue);
- A common option is diluting honey with sugar syrup. To ensure the presence of syrup, use a special chemical pencil. To check, dip the tip of a pencil into honey. Then draw a line on paper. A purple or blue tint to the pencil mark indicates the presence of water in the nectar;
- The natural product is almost completely soluble in water. If flakes appear in the solution or a precipitate forms, it means that there are foreign impurities in the nectar;
- Sometimes chalk is added to the product to increase viscosity and weight. To identify it, use table vinegar. A small portion of the treat is placed in a vinegar solution (the chalk reacts with the vinegar, forming small bubbles).
When purchasing sweets, it is recommended to evaluate not only the aroma or shade, since the color of nectar may change during crystallization, and the smell becomes faintly distinguishable over time. To make sure the product is natural, it’s easy to do several tests at home.
Natural sinful honey is a proven folk remedy for the treatment of various diseases. However, the therapeutic effect is observed only if a real product is used that does not contain foreign impurities. Even at home, it won’t be difficult to check the naturalness of a sweet delicacy.
