Are you often concerned about the quality of honey when you buy it?
It is difficult to distinguish adulterated honey easily. Since it is one of the most famous natural products in the UAE, there are many places and refining areas that manufacture it, and there are many types of it: such as royal and luxury Sidr honey, wild mountain honey, and countless other types, which vary according to The flowers the bees are feeding of. Furthermore adulterated honey loses the therapeutic properties of the original honey.
So, here are the most important ways to distinguish original honey and detect adulterated honey.
How to Find Pure honey?
The original honey, which is bees produce naturally without any additives, has a heavy, sticky texture. This is because it contains a large proportion of glucose, and a small amount of water, which is approximately 0.6%.
You can also store the original Honey for long periods without spoiling or bacterial growth in it.
The original bee honey is one of the complete nutrients because it contains a large proportion of vitamins, sugars, minerals and fibers, in addition to some antioxidants and many nutrients necessary for the health of the body and the growth of cells.
The original honey is the main component in the kitchen and the confectionery industry.
What is adulterated honey? Does it harm the body?
Cheating honey harms the health of the body and reduces its benefits. Pure honey is an expensive food and may take a long time to produce.
The greed of merchants makes them cheat in its production, by adding cheap sweeteners to increase the volume and reduce costs, in order to obtain a quick profit, and it is also sold at a low cost.
To speed up the production process to extract it prematurely, bees are fed sugar syrup from corn or sugar cane. Or add sugar syrup directly to the finished product.
The process of accelerating the production of honey leads to harvesting it before maturity, which leads to a high percentage of water, and beware, eating it at that time is unsafe and unhealthy for the body. It may cause several health problems, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
How to distinguish between original and adulterated honey??
The original Sidr honey has several features, including:
- It has a distinct odour different from odour-less adulterated honey.
- Its colour is dark and does not change despite the temperature difference.
- It does not freeze even if it is put in the freezer. it does not clump and maintains its texture, When kept in tightly closed bottles, for many years, it retains its quality and composition.
How to detect adulterated honey?
You can detect adulterated honey through some of the following methods:
Fire test: Place a quantity of honey on a large spoon, then bring it close to the fire, where the rapid ignition of honey indicates that it is Pure, but when it ignites slowly, and it smells of burning sugar, or smoke appears, it is cheated.
Water test: Adulterated wild mountain honey is detected by placing a simple drop of it in a cup or bowl of water, and waiting for minutes, as if a drop of honey is fixed at the bottom of the cup, this indicates that it is original, but if the drop of honey is hidden in the water This means that it is adulterated.
Through the taste test, which tasting honey with a spoon, if that sweet taste of honey disappears within minutes, this may indicate that the honey is original, but if the sweet taste continues inside the mouth for a long time, it means that it is adulterated.
Spill test to detect adulterated premium honey The quality of honey can be detected by observing the general shape of its spill inside the container, as a spill that is in the form of a continuous thread or in the form of a snake may indicate that the honey is pure, but if the spill is intermittent, it may indicate that it is adulterated.
Does original honey freeze?
You may see honey in your kitchen frozen! But scientifically it is crystallization, not frozen.
Under certain storage conditions, it obtains crystallization. a process that makes it a dense substance, with impurities in some cases.
There are several factors that play an important role in the crystallization process, including:
Honey storage temperature:
Cold temperatures have a large role in the crystallization process. The coldness helps the sugars in the honey to clump together as well as to form clumps.
But this may not mean that these high temperatures are good for storage, as hot conditions can cause honey to decompose. This makes it susceptible to bacteria and yeast that may lead to rotting. Therefore, experts advise storing it at a temperature of 21 degrees Celsius.
Honey type:
As we mentioned earlier, the type of honey varies, according to the source, from which the bees brought the nectar. and since the components of honey differ, from one type to another. the crystallization process, its time and the temperature, at which the process occurs varies according to the type.
Pure honey:
Raw, unprocessed honey is extracted from the honeycomb and is resistant to crystallization for a longer time than processed.
pollen: Honey may contain pollen that bees carry from the flowers they feed on. This pollen may lead to the appearance of impurities, which facilitates the agglomeration process.
How to treat honey crystallization?
If the honey has gone through the crystallization process, don’t worry about it. To treat Crystallization, place the jar in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes, but not frequently.
Even if it has a long shelf life. But Don’t repeatedly heat and cool the honey, it will lose its smell and colour. And it is better to get rid of them if exposed to this process more than once.
In conclusion, we can say that in our store we are keen on the quality of honey and do not make it subject to fraud, so do not hesitate to buy the best types of honey from Qaenat.