Liquid honey, what should be the real honey
Why honey is liquid or too thick, what color and consistency the product should be, how to distinguish fake? Quality and natural bee sweetness is not so easy to detect at a glance. This can only be done by a professional beekeeper with many years of experience. Cunning swindlers have long learned to counterfeit honey and sell ordinary sugar syrups with dyes and flavors for a valuable product of bee production. In order not to get to the reception, you need to know, what does natural honey look like.
Timeliness of purchase
Honey should be bought in spring or summer. It has to do with that, that hard-working bees start work in early spring and continue it until the last warm days. During this period, "sweet amber" is definitely rare: thus it is extracted from honeycombs. Over time, excess moisture evaporates, the liquid thickens. If you want to sell a liquid product in late winter, you should be wary. Probably, it's a fake.
How to identify a fake
The natural product is definitely sugared. This is a natural process. Most varieties are in a "viscous" state before 2 months. The record holders are acacia and sunflower honey. The first is considered the most stable, it is in a liquid state before 3-4 months. Second, vice versa, turns into a thick mass already through 3 weeks after collection.
"Chemists" all fraudsters in different ways. Someone produces a unique product with a honey scent and an amber-golden hue from plain water and sugar, and someone sells natural, however, poor quality honey substitute. About him, apparently, mentioned the hero of the cartoon "Winnie the Pooh": "These are the wrong bees! …they, definitely, make the wrong honey!». This is a product, produced by bees, which are regularly fed sugar syrup.
Vitamins in honey are a source of health
All beekeepers sometimes resort to feeding insects with sugar. On "non-flying" days, when it is raining or strong wind outside, sharp cooling or abnormal heat, bees do not have enough nectar and pollen. The lack of the main power supply must be filled with sugar. However, many "grief-beekeepers" feed insects with artificial sweetness day after day. This has a bad effect on the health of insects, but leads to a significant increase in the amount of product. This does not mean at all, that its quality will remain the same. The floral aroma disappears, over time, such honey flakes and coagulates.
Thick or liquid
Answer to the question, why honey is liquid, very simple. In the fresh, freshly pumped product has a high water content (to 22%). Over time, the liquid evaporates, there is a process of crystallization of glucose (sugaring). This does not affect the quality and does not reduce its nutritional value. The consistency may be less thick or thicker. It depends on:
- varieties (acacia honey is considered to be the most watery);
- outdoor or indoor temperatures.
It is better to buy bee sweets not from resellers, and the manufacturer. Specialized fairs or exhibitions are often held in large cities, where beekeepers from all over the county gather. They will help you make the right choice, will give the necessary advice on the use and rules of storage of the purchased variety. The most popular are buckwheat, linden and flower honey (weeds).
Buckwheat
This variety is best bought in late July, since buckwheat blooms occur in early to mid-month. It has a dark amber hue and an original scent. It is popularly called the "elixir of youth". It is considered the most useful due to its high content of amino acids; useful in skin diseases, stomatitis, gastritis, hypertension, promotes immunity.
Lime
Linden blooms in late June - early July. Fresh linden honey can be bought in mid-July. It has a bright fragrant aroma, thick consistency and light yellow hue. In eastern countries, linden honey has a delicate taste, and the product made in the European countries differs more sharply, "Delicate" aroma and high sweetness. Used to treat sore throat, diseases of the upper respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract.
A convenient spoon for honey - in every home
Herbs
Fresh flower honey can be purchased from early summer to early autumn. It has a general strengthening effect on the body, increases the protective function. Color and consistency depend on the region, in which the apiary is located. The product may be a little cloudy, beige. It is used to prevent viral diseases.
How to melt honey
To return a pleasant liquid consistency, the product can be heated. The heating temperature should not exceed 40 degrees. Otherwise, the useful elements cease to operate. During melting, a substance dangerous to the human body called oxymethyl furfural is produced.
There are three ways to heat honey:
- Put it next to the stove or fireplace.
- Heat on gas (do not forget, the product will lose its useful properties and turn into a poison).
- Heat in a water bath. The water must be heated to temperature 38-39 degrees. Put a jar of thickened honey in warm water. After a while, it will become transparent and fluid again.
What is more useful
What should be the "right" honey - liquid or thick? Someone claims, that the product is useful only in liquid form, and someone is convinced otherwise. Actually, the quality does not decrease after crystallization. The exception is violation of storage rules (honey can flake or flirt). Homogeneous mass with large sugar crystals is the norm for product thickenings.
In the liquid state, sweetness is useful only if, if it has not been heated to temperature 40 degrees and above.
One piece of advice can be given to those who like to replace sugar with honey: it is better to eat honey as a snack, and do not stir in boiling water.
Does not matter, in what form is honey - thick or liquid. How useful it is, depends on the colors, from which nectar was brought. It is also important, that during its collection and storage all necessary rules were observed. Buy the product only from proven manufacturers and be healthy.
Which honey is the most useful?