Is it true that honey is sweet?

Honey is obtained by the evaporation of water from nectar, so the output of natural honey is generally low and relatively precious. Honey is made up of monosaccharides such as fructose, so it tastes relatively less sweet. But this does not mean that honey is not sweet, nor does it mean that honey that tastes too sweet is fake honey. To identify the authenticity of honey, it is still necessary to judge it based on its texture and other aspects, rather than simply defining it based on taste.

There is no standard to judge whether honey is sweet or not. For example, honey is very sweet when drunk pure, but it feels less sweet than sugar when soaked in water. However, if you add more, it will be too sweet.

Also, low-concentration honey will be sweeter if you put more of it, while high-concentration thick honey will be sweeter if you put less of it.

Generally speaking, fake honey made from white sugar is sweet directly without any twists and turns, and the sweetness lasts for a short time. Real honey is sweet and greasy, feels sticky in the mouth, and has a long aftertaste. However, the sticky feeling in the mouth and the aftertaste duration of low-concentration products are not as strong as those of high-concentration products.

1: Smell: Single-flower honey has the unique floral fragrance of the plant, multi-flower honey has a natural floral aroma, and fake honey may have a sucrose flavor or a spice flavor.

2. Eye Observation

1. To check the concentration of honey, insert a chopstick into the honey and lift it vertically. Honey with high concentration flows down slowly, is very sticky and can be drawn into threads, and can shrink into a honey ball after breaking. Fake honey or honey with low concentration is the opposite. Even if it can be pulled into long threads, the broken threads are inelastic and will not shrink into honey beads.

2. You can drop a drop of honey on a newspaper. Pure honey with high concentration is hemispherical and not easy to penetrate the newspaper. Low concentration or fake honey can easily penetrate the newspaper.

3. Take a glass of water and add a little honey. Real honey will sink to the bottom of the cup quickly and is not easy to melt. When you stir it slowly with chopsticks, it will form strings. If it is fake honey, it will dissolve in water quickly.

4. Look at the crystallization. The crystallization of honey is related to the type of plant and temperature. Generally, pure natural honey is easy to crystallize at 13-14 degrees Celsius. Honey that can be completely crystallized generally has low water content, high concentration, and is not easy to deteriorate, so it is high-quality honey. Crystallized pure honey feels smooth and has no gritty feel when rubbed with hands. Fake honey is not easy to crystallize, or some of it will precipitate. The precipitate is hard and not easy to crush.

3 : The taste of pure natural honey is sweet and slightly sour, soft and delicate, refreshing and soft, slightly spicy in the throat, and has a long and fragrant aftertaste. Adulterated honey tastes sweet but is mixed with sugar or spice, has a weak throat feel, and a thin, short aftertaste.

4: Chemical test: Honey mixed with starch will turn blue when added with iodine solution. Honey mixed with maltose will produce white flocs when added with high concentration of ethanol. Honey mixed with other impurities will have sticky substances attached to it when a red-hot iron wire is inserted into the honey.

Refrigeration crystallization test: Honey will become solid after being stored in an environment of 4 to 14 degrees Celsius for a period of time. This is a physical phenomenon of honey. The crystals of real honey are very soft and can be pierced with a chopstick, while fake honey cannot be pierced. When real honey is squeezed by hand, its crystals melt quickly. Fake honey feels rough to the touch and melts slowly or not at all. Real honey crystals make a soft sound when bitten by teeth, while fake honey crystals make a crisp and loud sound. Pour out the honey and wait for it to solidify slightly. If it is real honey, it will form a hexagonal structure like a honeycomb, but fake honey will not.

In short, when identifying the authenticity of honey, using only one method may result in certain errors. You can use multiple methods at the same time to identify a type of honey. Generally speaking, you can determine the authenticity of the honey.