How to choose the right natural and high-quality honey - tips

Humanity 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 hardworking nectar collectors and pump the finished product out of the hives at the right time. Then the beloved delicacy ends up on the shelves of markets and shops. We’ll look into how to choose the right natural honey and not become a victim of deception.

Basic tricks when choosing

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

1. Mixing different types of sweets is called blending, and the seller is obliged to warn that the product has undergone such processing. After blending, the nectar acquires a pungent smell and aroma and becomes dark in color.
2. In liquid form, the treat lasts from 3 to 7 months. The process of crystallization and fermentation directly depends on the plants from which insects collected nectar, the maturity of the honey and storage conditions. Beekeepers often pass off sweetness that is candied and then dissolved in a water bath as fresh nectar. Such honey undergoes heat treatment and loses most of its healing properties.
3. The natural bee gift is counterfeited by producing syrup from fructose and glucose. This product is obtained from sugar roots or alcohol production waste. It is clear that fake nectar lacks the beneficial and nutrients produced by hardworking insects.
4. A beekeeper can get no more than 3-4 varieties of natural flower sweets in 1 season. 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 additives that are foreign and harmful to the body.

Advice! Experienced housewives add a drop of iodine to a spoon with honey. If the nectar takes on a bluish tint, it means it contains flour or starch.

How to choose a natural product on the market?

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

Maturity

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

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

Taste

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

High-quality honey can be identified by the following taste characteristics:

• after consumption, a sore feeling appears in the throat;
• absence of extraneous caramel or any other taste;
• the nectar should not contain bitterness or too obvious acidity;
• The aftertaste of natural honey is pleasant and does not contain any cloying notes.

Chestnut, tobacco and honeydew bee products may have a natural bitter taste; linden sweetness may also leave a slight bitter taste after consumption.

By aroma

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

Important! The counterfeit product has a very slight odor or no odor at all.

By consistency

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

Visual assessment of the product

You can also choose a natural delicacy based on external features:

• fresh linden 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 unless it is candied;
• the May delicacy may have a greenish tint, like the fireweed variety of sweets;
• The fresh flower variety of the delicacy always has a bright yellow or golden hue;
• Sunflower nectar has bright amber tones;
• the pine bee product contains a large number of specific enzymes, which give it a dark brown color with a greenish tint;
• The sweet clover honey plant is characterized by amber nectar;
• the delicacy collected in the mountains has a yellow or golden hue;
• Honey from wild bees can vary in color depending on the type of plant from which the insects collected sweet nectar.

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