To obtain a large amount of natural honey, high costs are required, which is why honey falsification often occurs. When products are counterfeit, a large amount of flour, starch syrup, sugar syrup can be added to honey, mixed with artificial honey, starch. When the honey is just beginning to crystallize, a large amount of granulated sugar is added to it. So add the fact that the product, like natural, is sugar-coated.

Methods for calculating falsified honey

Most often, he uses the microscope method with the help of it, you can quickly find out if honey contains granulated sugar, powder, yeast, mushrooms, pollen of a certain type of plant.

To find out if there are impurities in granulated sugar:

1. A thin honey smear is applied to the glass.
2. The smear is enlarged using a microscope.
3. If the product contains sugar, large lumps in the form of squares, rectangles will be visible. When the product is natural, the crystals will be star or needle shaped.

In the event that the round components have a black border, which then form a sediment, this indicates that honey was falsified, they took a liquid product and added a large amount of granulated sugar to it.

Chemiluminescence is often used, with the help of it honey impurities are determined, when luminal is used and an active glow appears, this indicates that biologically active substances are in the product.

It is impossible to determine, using laboratory methods, tampering, when honey is first heated, then sugar syrup is added. You can try to do it yourself:

1. Pay attention to the color, it will be light.
2. The taste is unusual and distinctive aroma.
3. The consistency is liquid.
4. Low diastatic number.
5. The product contains minerals, invert sugar and sucrose.

The value of the enzyme diastase in determining the falsification of honey

If the product is natural, it will necessarily contain the diastase enzyme; in the case of sugar syrup, it will be absent. The enzyme is found in honey after the bees have collected nectar and excreted it with the help of their saliva glands.

The diastase number indicates the activity of a given enzyme, measured in Goethe. When a large amount of sugar is added to the product, the number drops sharply. It is important to take into account the type of product, low enzyme in the following types:

• Cloverne.
• Belo-acacia.
• Sunflower seed.
• Cypriot.

If the product is stored and heated for a long time, diastasis may completely disappear.

Diastasis is the main indicator that speaks about the quality of the product, whether the product is really natural.

The following detection methods are used, for this:

1. A dry test tube with a reagent, starch is taken.
2. Buffer solution, sodium chloride, dinitrophenol are added.
3. You need to take a rubber stopper, close the test tube with it.
4. Everything should stand for about 10 minutes.
5. Then a little copper solution is injected.
6. Mix everything, boil for 10 minutes.
7. A small amount of the mixture is placed in a separate flask, iodine is added, diluted with water and closed with a stopper.

Determination of the diastasis number makes it possible to know exactly about the quality of honey. The deviation should not be more than 0.5 Goethe.

Determining falsification of a method using expert methods

1. You need to take 11 test tubes with components for analysis and honey solution.
2. Close the tubes.
3. Mix everything, boil for about an hour.
4. Remove and cool by placing them under cold water.
5. Iodine solution is added.

Please note that where the starch is not decomposed, the mixture will be blue, if not, it will be dark in color. When the starch is slightly decomposed, it turns purple; if the test tube turns yellow, this indicates that it contains diastase and is a natural product.

Methods for detecting honey quality

1. Scanning under a microscope makes it possible to find out about the naturalness of honey, if the beekeeper fed the insects with sugar syrup, the analysis shows that the product contains a large number of small crystals, glucose in the form of a game, crystals can form lumps, pollen residues are also noticeable. When products are counterfeit, there are many crystals, they are small in size, you can only notice different chemical impurities.
2. Determination of glucose components, they are resistant to high temperatures.
3. Analysis for the composition of fructose and glucose.
4. With the help of the ferricyanide method, the inversion of sugar is determined; for this, oxidized sugar and an alkaline solution are taken.
5. Whether there are additives in honey, you can find out on the basis of sucrose, flower honey should have only 5% sucrose, honeydew - 10%. The amount is increased if inverted sugar is added.

Traditional methods for determining the falsification of honey

Most often, a chemical pencil is used, first a small amount of honey is taken, you can take it on your finger, it is best to apply it on a blank sheet of paper, then a line is drawn with a chemical pencil. In the event that honey is falsified, it contains a large amount of additives - sugar, candied product, water, you will notice that a trace will remain on the leaf. Some consider this method to be ineffective and not always true.

You can conduct a test at home, on blotting paper. To do this, a little product is applied to it, when you notice a stain on the back side, this indicates that the product is fake. The sample can show 100% result, in some situations natural products are also confused with counterfeit, because the sample shows positive results.

Determination of adulterated honey using external characteristics

1. The scent should be honeyed.
2. When you notice that a product is white, you should suspect that it contains a lot of sugar.
3. In the event that the honey is dark brown, this indicates that it is honeydew.
4. When a caramel aroma emanates from the honey, it may indicate that it is melting.
5. The consistency of the honey is also important, it should have the density appropriate for the variety.
6. Natural products are always screwed onto a spoon without any problems, liquid flows from it. This may indicate that the honey is not completely ready yet, it cannot be stored for a long time, it can become watery and can ferment.
7. In winter, honey should always be thick, when it is not like that, this suggests that it is being diluted with something or heated.
8. Please note that the beekeeping product does not ferment. To do this, stir it, if it is not viscous, there is a large amount of foam, gas bubbles, it has an unusual sour smell, an aftertaste of alcohol, burning, this indicates that it has already fermented.
9. It is important to familiarize yourself with the label, it should indicate where and in what place the chalk was collected, if the label is white, this indicates its high quality. In the event that blue is a signal that the product is falling, it is of poor quality.
10. You cannot buy products that are near the road. Such honey is dangerous to health, it contains a large amount of lead elements that are collected in flowers.

Determination of impurities in honey

The methods are very simple and accessible to everyone, with their help you can find out about falsification in time. To do this, you need to take a jar with the product, add distilled water to it, if the honey dissolves and a precipitate forms at the bottom, this indicates that there is a large amount of impurity in it.

To find out if honey contains flour, starch, you need to take a glass container, add an aqueous honey solution there, add iodine. If starch is added to the honey, the solution will turn blue.

You can learn about starch syrup if the honey is sticky and not sugar-coated. Some test it by adding alcohol, if there are different impurities, the solution will turn milky. After the mixture has stood, a precipitate may form in it, when there are no impurities, the solution will be transparent.

You can learn about sugar molasses using lapis. When a white precipitate appears, we can say that honey contains a large amount of sugar. In the event that a precipitate does not appear, one can speak of a pure product. You can check for falsification with methyl, the precipitate will turn yellow after adding.

Importance of identifying honey in case of counterfeiting

To accurately determine the quality of a product, identification of species is necessary; it takes into account factors such as taste, color, odor, features of consistency, turbidity.

Color identification matters most. Honey can be different - white, amber yellow, brown. Please note that the color depends on the type of product. Check out the table which color is typical for each variety.

Table "Colors of different varieties of honey"

Identification of taste, aroma is important. With the help of these qualities, you can learn about the type of product. The aroma should be honey, caramel only for honeydew products. It is difficult to distinguish a natural smell from a fragrance on your own.

Color identification is also important. Natural products will be transparent in color, a little unclear, falsified products will be clean and transparent. Turbidity is needed for the product, this indicates that it contains such useful substances as dextrin, minerals, nitrogenous elements, they are necessary for crystallization. The falsified nectar does not have these substances, therefore it is not sugar-coated.

Identifying by consistency is a rather difficult process, it is important to remember that if you notice a liquid product in the form of syrup, this indicates its poor quality.

It is also additionally necessary to identify sucrose, fructose, and the presence of pollen. Some experts are sure that identification should be based on the ratios - sugar and fructose, different acids, enzymes. Only then will it be possible to accurately check whether the product is of high quality or falsified.

So, there are different methods by which you can find out about the naturalness and quality of a product, it is necessary to choose an effective check so as not to acquire a fake, it will not only not be beneficial, but can also negatively affect human health.

The changes in honey with the addition of starch and flour are similar to the changes observed with the addition of sugar beet molasses. Qualitative reaction: 5 ml of an aqueous solution of honey in a ratio of 1: 2 is heated in a test tube to boiling, cooled to room temperature and 3-5 drops of iodine are added. The appearance of a blue color indicates the presence of starch or flour in honey.

Determination of gelatin impurity

Gelatin is added to honey to increase viscosity. At the same time, the taste and aroma deteriorate, the enzymatic activity and the content of invert sugar decrease, and the amount of protein increases. Qualitative reaction: to 5 ml of an aqueous solution of honey in a ratio of 1: 2 add 5-10 drops of a 5% solution of tannin. The formation of white flakes indicates the presence of gelatin in honey. The appearance of a slight haze is assessed as a negative reaction to gelatin.

Definition of honeydew honey

Honeydew honey is determined by organoleptic indicators (see table. 1) and using chemical reactions. The main difference between the chemical composition of honeydew honey and flower honey is a large amount of minerals in it. When making quality samples, drop substances (mainly dextrins) precipitate as a result of the action of the appropriate reagents.

Calcareous reaction. In a test tube, one volumetric part of an aqueous solution of honey in a 1: 1 ratio is mixed with two volumetric parts of lime water and heated to boiling. In the presence of honeydew honey, brown flakes are formed, precipitating. To prepare lime water, take one part of quicklime and one part of water; the solution is kept for 12 hours (during this time, it is stirred 2-3 times). The upper transparent liquid layer is decanted and used for the reaction. The lime reaction is the most accurate. 2.1 g of honey is weighed into a beaker and 3 ml of distilled water are added. The resulting solution is heated to boiling, then 15 ml of lime water is added and again heated to boiling. After cooling, the contents are stirred with a glass rod, poured into two graduated conical test tubes and centrifuged for 3 minutes at 1.2-1.5 thousand rpm or for 5 minutes. The clarified liquid is decanted from both tubes, the sediment in one tube is mixed with a stick and transferred to another tube. In order for the entire sediment to be transferred to another test tube, the walls of the Cup and the first test tube are washed off with a clarified liquid. After that, the total solution is centrifuged for another 3 min and the volume of the sediment is measured by divisions of the centrifuge tube.

Reaction with lead acetate. Pour 2 ml of an aqueous solution of honey in a 1: 1 ratio into a test tube, then add 2 ml of water and 5 drops of a 25% solution of lead acetic acid, mix thoroughly and put in a water bath at a temperature of 80-100 ° C for 3 minutes. The formation of loose flocs that precipitate indicates a positive reaction to pad. Turbidity of a liquid of any degree without flakes and sediment is considered a negative reaction.

Alcohol reaction. 1 ml of a solution of honey in distilled water (1: 2) is poured into a test tube, 10 ml of 96% ethyl alcohol is added thereto and shaken. Flower honey grows slightly cloudy, honey with an admixture of honeydew becomes very cloudy and turns milky white. Pure honeydew honey becomes cloudy and gives a flocculent sediment. To set up a reaction, you cannot take a smaller volume of alcohol or another concentration. The quantitative content of honeydew in honey can be determined by three methods: staging a lime reaction; drip method (according to Temnov); electrometric method.

The amount of paddy is calculated by the formula:

X \u003d y x 100 / 1.5

Determination of the toxicity of honeydew honey for bees. Take about 100 intrahive young bees (preferably of the same age). For this, a honeycomb frame with a printed brood is removed from the bee colony at the exit of young bees. Adult bees (of different ages) are shaken off into the hive, and the honeycomb frame is inserted into a glazed or mesh cassette, which is placed in a thermostat (temperature 35-36 ° C and relative humidity 70-80%). Then bees of the same age, emerging from the printed brood, are taken with an exhauster and placed in entomological cages. In the upper opening of the cage, a glass jar, tipped upside down, tied with gauze, filled with test honey is placed, in the control - benign floral honey or sugar syrup (1: 1). Bees feed on honey through a gauze bandage. Dead bees are removed from the bottom of the cages and counted daily. The maximum life span of the experimental bees is 2 times less than that of the control.

Why has not humanity learned to counterfeit! And diamonds, and banknotes, and picturesque canvases ... Against this background, fake honey seems like sheer nonsense. But just such a fraud can turn out to be the most dangerous: a fake jewel will only hit your wallet, and fake honey will also harm your health.

The buyer will have to play the role of Sherlock Holmes. After all, fraudsters are very cunning and mix their goods with a variety of substances: sugar syrup, molasses, starch, chalk, flour, even powdered sawdust.

Quick, useful and simple instructions: how to test natural honey

You can start the "investigation" at home. Scoop up a spoonful of honey (preferably from the very bottom of the dish), stir it in a glass of clean water and wait a little. High-quality honey will dissolve completely, and if it contains solid impurities, they will go down, forming a precipitate.

Starch (it is mixed into honey for density) is also easy to identify: a little iodine should be dropped into the water-honey solution. In the presence of starch, iodine will turn blue.

If chalk was mixed with honey, it is enough to add a few drops of vinegar to the solution, and the liquid will "boil"releasing bubbles of carbon dioxide.

To determine the moisture content of honey, our grandmothers dipped the tip of an ink pencil into a drop of a sweet treat. If the lead softened and began to write, it means that water or sugar syrup containing it was mixed into the honey.

True, these days such a pencil is a real antique rarity. So just drip honey on soft porous paper blotter and see if there is a wet spot on the back.

For several months of storage honey most varieties crystallize - "shrinks", "candies", becoming very thick or very hard. And this - an excellent sign of naturalness! True, some rather rare varieties (chestnut, acacia, as well as honey collected from mountain herbs) thicken slowly and can remain liquid for almost a whole year. How to be?

We use the deductive method!

If it is January, the honey that is offered to you is of the most common variety, for example, simply “floral”, and at the same time it retains fluidity and transparency - most likely, they are trying to “sell” you a fake. Real honey at this time of year should have been "candied" for a long time.

However, it is possible that this is a natural product that was simply melted over a fire to a liquid state, so that it would be more convenient to pack in jars. Unfortunately, such "Hot" honey loses most of its medicinal properties and becomes not much more useful than a fake.

Another clever way of deceiving is to pass off a cheap, "mass" variety of honey as expensive and rare. This happens at honey fairs. For example, sunflower honey can miraculously turn into buckwheat, sweet clover or linden honey beloved by the people - or whatever! It is only necessary to pour a bottle of food coloring and a bottle of penny flavoring into a large jar of "sunflower".

This kind of deception can be detected, alas, only in the laboratory. There, under a microscope, they will check whether the purchased honey contains pollen of the flowers from which it was allegedly collected.

To convince customers of the naturalness of their goods, dishonest sellers sometimes show remarkable inventions. Dead bees can even be thrown into a container with a counterfeit to give the impression that this is definitely a natural product.

Buyers, on the other hand, often have to expose tricks and show the insight worthy of a real detective to buy, for example, a real one. But the reward is also great here: health and pleasure that natural bee honey brings.

specially for EcoLife - Psychology of a healthy life.

»Beekeeping products» Honey

Many honey producers sell not very high-quality goods, as they try to make money on it. But how to understand if honey is natural?

Above all, carefully choose the person you are buying from. Perhaps one of your friends or relatives has an apiary and makes high-quality honey. You can also buy honey at the fair, be sure to ask the seller for a quality certificate.

Real honey has a unique smell that cannot be confused with anything. If honey is unnatural, or contains additives, it will not have a pronounced aroma.

Take a close look at the structure of the honey, there should be no wax or bees in it. If this is not visible with a naked eye, then use this method - dilute a small amount of honey in warm water. There should be no dark particles.

Take a large spoon and scoop the honey from the jar with it. Drain it slowly. If the honey flows down not in a trickle, but in drops, it is not very high quality.

Turn the spoon over and leave it that way for a while. High-quality honey does not drain onto the table, but spreads over the spoon.

If you have a kitchen scale, weigh the honey. A liter jar should weigh at least 1.3-1.4 kg, since a liter of honey is much heavier than water.

Take a piece of paper, pour a teaspoon of honey on it and wait a couple of minutes. Monitor the reaction of the paper - if it becomes too wet, it means that the honey is diluted with water. Also pay attention to the drop, it should not spread. Real honey retains its shape.

The honey should not taste like a caramel, as this is a sign that it has been heated. Old honey crystallizes, and sellers want to pass it off as fresh, so they heat it up, which gives it a pleasant color.

In order to understand whether there are mechanical impurities in honey, you need to dilute it in water. If there is no gray or black sediment, the honey is pure.

How to test honey for water and starch?

Also, some vendors add water and starch to honey, which makes it thicker. It is best to take honey from the very bottom of the jar for testing, then dilute it with water and add a couple of drops of iodine. If the resulting solution turns blue, it means that the honey contains starch.

Today we will learn a few more ways - whether we are holding a jar of real honey, or is it an ordinary sweetened syrup, and also talk about different types of natural honey.

First, let's figure out how to understand whether there are any impurities in honey or not.

Unfortunately, very often various foreign substances are added to natural honey, such as flour, starch, sugar and even chalk. At first glance, it will be impossible to notice this, however, if you strain a little, it will not be difficult to determine them.

For this work we need:

• Some water;
• Vinegar essence;
• Lapis.

In order to determine if there is sugar in honey, we will need to add a little lapis to a 5-10% aqueous solution of honey. If after that a white precipitate falls out, then there is definitely sugar.

In order to determine if the honey contains starch or flour, add a drop of iodine to honey diluted with water. If iodine turns blue, starch and flour are also present.

And finally, we use vinegar essence to determine the presence of chalk. Everything is quite simple here: if the honey solution hisses, then there is chalk.

It will not be superfluous to know that most often I use simple and cheap sugar syrup to fake our sweet treat. You can find out whether your doctor has been subjected to such a doping by adding an ordinary piece of bread to it. The fact is that in good and high-quality honey the bread will harden in 5-10 minutes. If syrup was added to the honey, it would soften on the contrary.

Also, the quality of liquid honey can be determined by rubbing it on your fingers. If your honey is well ground and absorbed, honey is not fake.

Often people ask questions about the crystallization of honey. Someone, for example, believes that if this process lags behind, then honey, most likely, came to you with additives, someone, on the contrary, has the opposite opinion.

To dot the i's, I'll tell you what it depends on. Crystallization is influenced by glucose and fructose contained in honey. If your specimen is dominated by glucose, it will crystallize much faster in the first months after harvest. If it contains more fructose, crystallization can take more than a year. It's all about the solubility of these two substances - fructose is a much more readily soluble substance (this process takes 5 times less time for it than for glucose).

Thus, it is safe to say that the crystallization of honey is actually natural and does not in any way affect its quality. But what high-quality honey shouldn't have:

• sour smell or vice versa, complete absence of smell
• signs of fermentation
• surface outgassing
• foaming
• wings and other parts of insects (a sign of poor filtration).

And here are three more methods that I have not yet used, but the rumor of people brought them to my ears. First: if you hold a spoon with honey on the fire, then a high-quality one will never burn with a blue flame, but will begin to char. Second: if you dip a raw egg into good, natural honey, it shouldn't sink there. Sank - it means diluted. And the third: if you dissolve a little honey in milk (hot, cow milk), then the milk should not curdle, and if curdled, then the product contains ordinary syrup.

All these, I think, are the most interesting facts about honey that we all need to know. Now we will definitely not make a mistake with the choice!