The physical properties of honey (color, texture, aroma, taste, smell, as well as the presence of impurities and fermentation) are evaluated organoleptically and by laboratory methods. The grade of honey, its quality and the possibility of its use for medicinal purposes are determined based on physical signs and laboratory data.
Color
By color, you can assume its origin, that is, the plant from which nectar was collected. The gamma of honey coloring is very wide – from transparent, like water, to dark brown and even black.
Spring honey is lighter, autumn honey is darker. After extraction, the honey gradually darkens, and after crystallization, it again becomes lighter. The most healing properties have light honey varieties. Dark honeys, with the exception of buckwheat, belong to the less valuable varieties, as they often contain forest honey. However, from a medical point of view, forest honey gives additional beneficial qualities due to its higher mineralization and antibacterial properties.
Viscosity
The viscosity of honey depends on the variety of honey, the degree of its water content, the percentage of sugars, dextrins, colloids, degree of crystallization, time of extraction, honey temperature.
Transparency
Honey remains transparent only for a short time after extraction. Then it thickens, and after a few days it begins to turn cloudy, which indicates the beginning of crystallization. The crystallized honey is completely opaque.
Crystallization
Every honey crystallizes over time, which does not impair its qualities and healing properties. Crystallization indicates the good quality of honey. Falsified honey does not crystallize.
The time of onset of crystallization and its rates depend on the variety of honey, and temperature at which it is stored. The more fructose in honey, the longer it remains liquid. The honey does not crystallize at all above 40° C.
Aroma
For a consumer aroma is the most important quality of honey, although from a medical point of view this quality may not be the main one.
The aroma of honey might be categorized as strong, weak, thin, delicate, or it may be absent. Just after extraction the aroma of honey may be absent or be very weak, but after a period of time, as the honey ripens (3-5 months) due to the fermentation of honey, it becomes well perceptible.
If the honey aroma is very faint or absent it should undergo a heated test: 30-40 g of honey is placed in a glass, closed with a lid; the glass is placed in a water bath and heated at 45° C for 10 minutes. Then the lid opens and the odor is evaluated. The absence of honey smell is a sign of honey falsification.
If you identify an odor unusual for honey (the smell of onions, petroleum, chemicals), as well as an unpleasant smell – the product should be rejected.
Taste
The taste of honey is determined at the temperature 30° C when it is ripe. Natural honey is 1.8 times sweeter than sugar. One of the sweetest is the honey of white acacia. Natural honey has a light acidic taste.
Density
The density of honey reflects its quality – the higher the density, the better honey, and vice versa. For good quality honey, it ranges from 1.41 to 1.51 g/cm3. The density of honey depends on its water content and maturity. It can be determined by weighing or by using a hydrometer.
Signs of Increased Moisture
- honey is very liquid, easily poured;
- after crystallization, the honey is split in 2 layers – the upper – liquid, the bottom – dense, crystallized;
- it is not possible to “roll up” honey on a spoon, it quickly flows down;
- honey ferments – it smells and tastes sour, it starts to foam;
- the density of honey is below 1.41 g / cm3.
If Honey Was Heated…
Some honey buyers falsely believe that liquid honey is more fresh and better in quality. For that reason some beekeepers heat the crystallized honey in order to liquefy it and make it more “presentable”. Sometimes liquid honey is also heated up to prevent crystallization and to keep it in liquid form for a longer time. Another goal of honey warming up is the elimination of the fermentation which might began due to its high water content, which is often caused by the immaturity and/or improper storage of the product.
To eliminate the crystals formed and melt them, the honey is heated in a water bath at a temperature of 35-60° C for 30 minutes. This procedure not only leads to the melting of honey crystals, but also to the destruction of many biologically active substances, enzymes, which undoubtedly reduce the therapeutic effect of such honey. It is undesirable to use heated honey for treatment. Heating the honey above 60° C leads to a complete loss of the naturalness and healing properties, as well as disappearances of the aroma, enzymes, volatile essential oils and antimicrobial substances; honey turns into an ordinary mixture of sugars and tastes like caramel.
Chemical Composition
The chemical composition of honey is very complex (up to 400 different substances) and largely depends on the type of plant from which nectar was collected.
Water is 15-20%. Carbohydrates – 65-80%, they contain many types of sugars, up to 90% of which are glucose and fructose (that is, inverted sugars or monosaccharides). The content of fructose (38 to 40%) and glucose (32 to 35%) determines the basic qualities of honey: viscosity, crystallization, hygroscopicity, sweetness, nutritional value.
Sucrose – the regular sugar manufactured from beets and sugar cane, is also contained in nectar and is inverted into monosaccharides – glucose and fructose due to the impact of the produced by bees enzyme invertase. Good quality floral honey usually contains 1-5% of sucrose.
The more glucose and fructose in honey, the higher its quality. If the honey is falsified or bees are fed with sugar syrup, the honey will contain a low percentage of inverted sugars (glucose and fructose).
In addition to sugars, honey contains disaccharides (maltose, turanose and other), as well as 3-4% of dextrins (a mixture of polysaccharides).
In addition to carbohydrates, honey contains important enzymes – invertase, diastase, catalase, peroxidase, acid phosphatase, and lipase. They enter honey with plant pollen and bee saliva.
Minerals are present in honey in a large assortment – salts of calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, sulfur, chlorine, iodine, phosphorus, etc. Their amount is close to the content of those in human blood. Of the trace elements in honey present cobalt, manganese, silicon, aluminum, boron, chromium, copper, lithium, tin, zinc, fluorine and others. The presence of minerals and trace elements in honey, albeit in small quantities, is extremely beneficial for both healthy people and the sick. Darker varieties of honey are richer in minerals, they have a high potential alkalinity, which is important to consider when treating diseases of the stomach with high acidity of gastric juice.
Nitrogenous compounds are present in honey in an amount of 0.1-1.0%. Organic acids (malic, lactic, citric, succinic, tartaric, oxalic) are found in honey in small quantities.
Honey always has an acidic reaction – pH = 3.26 – 4.36.
Testing Quality and Naturalness
- Determination of diastase. Its content in honey reflects its quality and naturalness.
- Microscopic examination. Evaluated – the nature of the crystals and the presence of plant pollen in honey.
- Laboratory tests for presence of forest honey, inverted sugar, regular sugar (sugar syrup), molasses.
Preserving Properties
The uses of honey as a preservative have long been known. In Egypt, Assyria, Ancient Greece, honey was used for embalming corpses. In Rome, to maintain freshness and taste, rare game was delivered from distant places in vessels with honey. After death, the body of Alexander the Great was delivered to Macedonia in a barrel of honey.
High preserving and antibacterial properties of honey are due to a combination of such factors as:
- high concentration of simple sugars
- the presence of the enzyme inhibin, decomposing glucose with the release of hydrogen peroxide
- the presence of benzoic acid and organic acids
- the presence of phytoncides
- the presence of mineral salts, especially potassium.
Only mature honey has conservative and antibacterial properties. Unripe honey with a density of less than 1.409 g/cm3 does not have this ability and quickly sours. After heating above 40° C, the antibacterial properties of honey are reduced, and after warming to 60° C and above, they disappear completely.
Good quality honey stops the growth of bacteria – E. coli, paratyphoid and dysenteric bacteria die instantaneously, typhoid bacteria dies in 48 hours, paratyphoid – in 24, dysentery stick – in 10 hours. A tubercle bacillus placed in honey retards growth and reproduction. This does not mean that one has to start curing these infections with ONLY honey, and WITHOUT CONSULTATION with a medical professional.
To test preservative and antibacterial properties of honey a meat product should be immersed in honey. In high quality honey with a density of 1.45 g/cm3 and above, meat products are preserved for up to a month.
The antibacterial properties of honey have been used in the treatment of wounds, oral pathology, gynecological diseases, that is, where undiluted, whole honey with a long exposure can be used. The forest honey and dark grades of honey possess the strongest preserving ability.
How to Store Honey
Honey can be stored for a long time without losing its qualities. At the same time while it thickens, grows cloudy and turns into a dense mass due to the crystallization of glucose its taste, nutritional, healing qualities are not significantly reduced.
It is best to store honey in hermetic, enameled, dark glassware or in wooden barrels (barrels) made of linden, beech, aspen, poplar. It is necessary to avoid, direct sunlight (even through glass) or any other colored light exposure as it destroys its antibacterial properties.
The tightness of the vessels is necessary because honey is very hygroscopic, and an increase in the moisture content of honey (more than 18-20%) can turn it sour.. The crystallized honey is less hygroscopic.
Honeycombs can be stored for decades.
In the room where honey is stored, the temperature should be from 0 to + 10 ° C, humidity – not more than 60%. Due to its high absorbing ability, honey should not be stored in the same room with onions, cabbage, oil products and other odorous chemical compounds.
Nutrient and Dietary Properties
Bee honey has unsurpassed taste and high nutritional qualities. The main nutritional components of honey (about 80%) are easily digestible, high-energy carbohydrates – glucose and fructose (also called simple sugars).
During absorption glucose and fructose does not require much effort from the body. Glucose passes through the walls of the stomach and intestines and quickly moves into the blood; in tissues it is oxidized to form water and carbon dioxide, and releasing a large amount of thermal energy. Fructose (fruit sugar) also penetrates through the wall of the gastrointestinal tract, in the liver it turns into glycogen, and later, if necessary, into glucose. Cane and beet sugars, before being utilized by body, must be broken down in the small intestines into simple sugars with the help of enzymes.
The protein content in different varieties of honey is different and ranges from 0.3 to 3.3%. While the daily human need for proteins is 1 g per kg of weight, this content, taking into account the daily amount of honey consumed, cannot substantially replenish the body’s needs for protein.
The content of vitamins, mineral salts and trace elements in honey is small and it is impossible to rely on good replenishment of their needs in the human body due to honey.
Vitamins, minerals and trace elements contained in honey will be beneficial for a healthy person or one who has a light pathology. By entering the body in combination with other biologically active substances, even in homeopathic doses, after long-term use of honey they have a positive effect on human health.