What kind of white sugar is mixed in honey

Honey is a very common thing in people's daily life. In addition to being used directly, honey can also be made into many foods. As many of us know, a lot of honey sold on the market is fake. In order to make huge profits, some people mix some white sugar into honey to make it look like the amount is extra large. If it’s so convenient, what kind of white sugar would you sing? What adverse effects will it have on people's health?

1. The main components of honey:

Honey has been studied to contain more than 180 components, mainly water, carbohydrates (sugars), acid compounds, vitamins, minerals, proteins (biological enzymes), aromatic compounds, etc. Therefore, honey has a unique flavor, pleasant aroma, and is complex and varied.

The crystallization property of honey causes many consumers to mistakenly believe that it is fake honey, adulterated with sugar, etc., and they think they have been cheated.

In fact, honey that is actually mixed with white sugar is not easy to crystallize. Honey that is easy to crystallize is pure honey.

2. Why does honey crystallize?

Honey crystallization is a physical change phenomenon, similar to the freezing of water. It will not cause any changes to the nutritional components of honey, and it is not something that beekeepers do intentionally. Honey crystallization is actually caused by the glucose in honey.

As long as the ratio of glucose to fructose in honey is right, and the temperature and moisture are appropriate, most honeys will crystallize naturally.

When the temperature drops to 13-15 degrees, most honeys begin to slowly crystallize. When the temperature is 4-6 degrees, the crystallization speed of honey accelerates. The degree of crystallization varies depending on the source of honey. Some honeys are not easy to crystallize, and only semi-crystallize or become viscous under low temperature conditions.

For example, rapeseed honey and lime honey are particularly prone to crystallization. Sophora japonica honey and longan honey are particularly difficult to crystallize.

In addition, the crystal size of different honeys will be different. Some honeys have very fine particles after crystallization, as smooth as lard. Some honey particles are coarser and may even make people mistakenly think that they are mixed with white sugar.

For example, the crystals of wild osmanthus honey are fine, while the crystals of loquat honey and tung oil honey are relatively coarse.

3. How to identify true and false crystallized honey?

In order to make profits, some unscrupulous vendors artificially create crystallization in low-quality honey (such as immature honey with low Baume degrees). This crystallization usually comes from sucrose.

How to easily identify whether crystallized honey is mixed with white sugar:

Take a little crystallized honey, put it on the tip of your tongue, and then hold it in your mouth. If you can feel it gradually melting naturally, then it is natural crystallization of honey. If it melts very slowly and has a hard, gritty feeling, remember it is a hard, gritty feeling, then it may be problematic honey.

4. Will honey melt on its own after crystallization?

Some people think that honey will not melt after it crystallizes. In fact, it is not true. As long as the conditions are right, the crystallized honey will still melt. But there are several situations:

1. If the temperature gradually rises, the crystallized honey will gradually melt.

2. There are not many crystal nuclei in honey, and they may all melt eventually.

3. There are too many crystal nuclei in the honey, or the temperature is not high enough, so the honey can only be semi-crystallized, with liquid on the upper layer and solid on the lower layer.

But as long as it’s real honey, we really don’t need to care whether it melts or not. Anyway, whether it melts or not, it’s still delicious and nutritious!