How to tell if honey is real

Honey is a common food in our daily life. Honey is particularly rich in nutrients. Regular consumption of honey has the effects of nourishing yin and moistening dryness, replenishing the lungs, detoxifying and moistening the intestines. Therefore, honey is loved by many people. Some of the honey currently sold in the market is fake or has other substances added to it. Eating such honey will have some effects on the body.

Look at the color

Real honey is transparent or translucent in color. Because real honey contains some proteins, biological enzymes, minerals and pollen, it does not look very clear. It is white, light yellow or amber in color, with light colors being preferred. Fake honey is made from white sugar or syrup, so it is bright in color, usually light yellow or dark yellow.

View Status

Real honey is a viscous liquid. When you pick it up, you can see long flexible filaments that flow continuously. Fake honey has suspended matter or sediment, has low viscosity, and drops when picked up, with intermittent flow. After exposure to the sun, real honey becomes thinner, while fake honey remains unchanged or becomes more viscous. If the honey is very thin and flows easily, it may be mixed with water.

Smell

Real honey smells pure and natural, with a light plant-like floral scent, while fake honey smells like pungent foreign odors or fruit candy.

Taste

Real honey is sweet and delicious, with a sticky feeling in the mouth, a slight sour taste, and a long aftertaste. When you taste the crystal blocks, they are crispy when you bite them and melt in your mouth. If you taste fake honey carefully, you will find it tastes bitter or has a strange chemical smell. It has no aroma, and the crystals taste like sugar when you chew them, making a crisp and loud sound.

See instructions

Check the product label carefully. Some honey products have sucrose, white sugar, fructose syrup, high fructose syrup, etc. in the ingredient list, which are not allowed for real honey products. The label of honey can only say honey from certain flowers or pure honey. It is impossible to be fake honey such as honey paste, honey drink, etc.

Impurities

Honey mixed with flour, starch or corn flour has a turbid color and does not taste sweet enough. Put a small amount of honey into a cup, add appropriate amount of water and boil it. After cooling, add a few drops of rice wine and shake well. If the solution turns blue, red or purple, it means that starch is mixed in the honey.

Look at the bubbles

In summer, real honey will have a lot of bubbles in it after being shaken, making it easy for the honey to overflow from the honey bottle. But after leaving it alone for 1-2 days, the bubbles will disappear automatically, but gas will rush out when you open the honey bottle! This is mainly because pure natural honey contains hydrogen peroxide, a bactericidal agent. Hydrogen peroxide easily decomposes into oxygen at high temperatures, resulting in a layer of white bubbles on the surface of the honey! It is also very simple in winter. Put the honey in 30-40 degree hot water for 4-5 minutes, then stir the honey 10-20 times with chopsticks, and then let it stand for a while. There will be bubbles on the surface of pure natural honey.