"No" to heating or What can be prepared from honey? Honey: benefits and harms, application, description, types Our holiness is above all.

“In honey, nature has provided us with one of its most precious gifts, the significance of which for the human body is currently too insufficiently known or very little known.” ///E. Zander

More than half of all energy produced in the human body is formed due to sugary substances introduced with food. However, different sugars are absorbed differently by our body. While glucose enters the blood without any transformations (it can be injected directly into the blood, which, as you know, is widely practiced in many diseases), ordinary sugar (beet, cane) must first be hydrolyzed (cleaved) by enzymes.

Fruit sugar (fructose) is absorbed much more slowly than glucose, but it is 2.5 times sweeter than glucose and 1.75 times sweeter than cane or beet sugar.

Honey almost entirely consists of a mixture of glucose and fructose and, in addition, contains a number of enzymes necessary for the vital activity of cells, tissues and organs. The composition of honey also includes calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, iron, chlorine, phosphorus, sulfur, iodine, and some varieties of honey even contain radium.

Interestingly, the amount of some mineral salts in honey is almost the same as their content in human blood serum. In the spectral analysis of honey, it was found that honey also contains salts of manganese, silicon, aluminum, boron, chromium, copper, lithium, nickel, lead, tin, titanium, zinc and osmium.

There are also organic acids in honey - malic, tartaric, citric, lactic, oxalic - as well as proteins and vitamins. Honey also contains biogenic stimulants that increase the vitality and resistance of the body.

Honey contains vitamins B2, B6, H, K, pantothenic acid, folic acid. And although there are very few listed vitamins in honey, they are of great importance, as they are combined with other substances that are very important for the body.

Bee products are widely used in folk medicine. People who lived many centuries ago were well aware of the healing qualities of honey, propolis, wax, royal jelly. Various tinctures, ointments, extracts were made from them.

And now bee products are used in the pharmaceutical industry for the manufacture of various drugs.

Honey is used for liver diseases, rhinitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, tonsillitis. It gives a positive result in gastritis, colitis, stomach ulcers and many other diseases.

Propolis has antimicrobial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory effects.

Bee venom affects the central and peripheral nervous, cardiovascular systems, the pituitary gland, and hematopoiesis processes.

Bee pollen provides the body with vitamins, enzymes, proteins, carbohydrates and other substances. Helps to increase the body's resistance.

Wax is used to treat ulcers, boils, burns, wounds.

Royal jelly - improves the functioning of the heart, hematopoiesis and blood circulation, strengthens vision, hearing, memory, relieves fatigue, increases physical and mental performance.

The antibacterial properties of honey are very important.

There is reason to believe that the ancient Egyptians and Greeks used bee honey to preserve corpses. The Arab doctor and traveler of the 12th century, Abdal-Latifa, found in one of the Gizeh pyramids a tightly sealed vessel with honey, in which there was a completely preserved corpse of a baby.

As you know, the body of Alexander the Great, who died during the campaign, was immersed in honey during transportation to the capital of Macedonia for burial in order to prevent decomposition during the long journey.

The same method was used in the preservation of the corpses of the ancient kings of Agesipolis and Agesilaus and the Jewish king Aristobulus.

The ancient Greeks and Romans used bee honey to preserve fresh meat. At the same time, the meat not only remained fresh, but did not even change its natural taste. Only gradually lost water, giving it to honey.

The antibacterial properties of honey were studied on white mice that were infected with streptococcus. Experiments have shown that the application of honey bandages stops the growth of bacteria and kills them.

These phenomena have received various explanations. Some attribute these properties to a high concentration of sugar, others believe that they depend on the combination of enzymes and sugar in honey. Some researchers have discovered antibacterial substances in honey - inhibitors (from the Latin word "ingibio" - to stop, oppress), the presence of which explains the disinfecting properties of honey.

Interestingly, unlike many foods, honey never gets moldy. Despite the fact that honey contains proteins and carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and other substances necessary for the life and development of any living cell, mold fungi, which were specially infected with honey, died in it.

Based on the above beneficial qualities of honey, we certainly need to understand its quality, which we will do now!

Methods for determining the quality of honey:

1. In order to determine the maturity of liquid (candied, fresh) honey, a spoon is lowered into it and they begin to rotate it. Unripe honey flows from the spoon, and mature honey is wound, lying on the spoon in folds, like a ribbon.

2. Take liquid (non-candied) honey for testing by dropping a thin stick into the container. If this is real honey, then it stretches after the stick with a long continuous thread, and when this thread is interrupted, it will completely descend, forming a turret, a pagoda on the surface of the honey, which will then slowly disperse. Fake honey, on the other hand, will behave like glue: it will flow abundantly and drip down from the stick, forming splashes.

Fresh ripe honey flows from the spoon in thick continuous ribbons. Normal density of mature fresh honey when dripping from a spoon (at +20o C).

3. Quality honey should not foam. Foaminess indicates fermentation, i.e. spoilage of honey. Natural honey cannot ferment because it is bactericidal. (To obtain alcoholic beverages from honey by fermentation, it is either dissolved in water and brought to a boil. When heated, honey loses its bactericidal properties and can be fermented.)

4. Over time, honey becomes cloudy and thickens (candied) - this is a sure sign of good quality. Liquid honey happens, as a rule, in the summer (July-August) during its pumping. After a maximum of 1-2 months (depending on the variety), it crystallizes. Therefore, if liquid honey is sold in winter or spring, it means that it is either warmed up or falsified. It should be remembered that when heated to a temperature of + 40 ° C and above, honey loses its main beneficial properties, turning into a simple sweet fructose-glucose syrup.
In candied natural honey, all useful properties are preserved, and it is undesirable to heat it up or add it to hot dishes and drinks. Most often, real honey is candied 2-3 weeks after harvest. Given that the last harvest is taken in late September - early October, by October 20, natural honey can only be candied. The exception is white acacia honey (acacia honey), which does not crystallize for a long time (sometimes until spring), and heather honey, which turns into a jelly-like mass.

Once upon a time, Catherine II issued a Decree to flog merchants with “sparse” honey in November and later. Unfortunately, this Decree is not currently being implemented, and therefore, before the New Year, and even in spring, the shelves in Russian stores are completely filled with transparent, unsweetened "honey", i.e. known forgery. It happens that during storage, honey forms a crystallized layer from below, and a syrupy layer from above. This indicates that the honey is immature and contains an increased amount of water.

5. Check smell and taste. Fake honey is usually odorless. Real honey has a fragrant aroma. This scent is incomparable. Honey with an admixture of sugar has no aroma, and its taste is close to the taste of sweetened water.

6. Determine if there is starch in honey. To do this, put a little honey in a glass, pour boiling water over it, stir and cool. After that, drop a few drops of iodine there. If the composition turns blue, it means that starch has been added to the honey.

7. The addition of starch syrup can be determined with ammonia, which is added dropwise to a sample of honey previously dissolved in distilled water (1:2). The solution turns white with a brown precipitate.

8. An admixture of chalk can be detected if a few drops of vinegar are added to honey diluted with distilled water. In the presence of chalk, the mixture boils up due to the release of carbon dioxide. Or you can just drop vinegar or some other acid on the honey. If the honey “boils”, then there is chalk.

9. Determination of additives in honey sucrose (sugar). Dissolve honey in hot distilled water (in extreme cases, boiled) in a ratio of 1: 2 until an easily flowing (rather liquid) solution is obtained. Inspect for the detection of mechanical impurities - a solution of natural honey (without insoluble additives introduced) will necessarily be transparent, without sediment and without foreign impurities on the surface. Then gently drop a few drops of silver nitrate solution there, observing the reaction. If honey is without added sugar, there will be no turbidity. If sugar is added to honey, a distinctly noticeable whitish turbidity will immediately begin around the drops.

10. The presence of mechanical impurities. We take a sample of honey into a small test tube, add boiled or distilled water and dissolve it. Natural honey dissolves completely, the solution is transparent. In the presence of insoluble additives (for falsification) on the surface or in the sediment, a mechanical admixture to it will be found.

11. Traditionally, light varieties of honey are considered the best. However, this is not always fair. For example, dark-colored honey, say, buckwheat, may contain more iron, copper, manganese and other important substances and be more valuable to the body than light honey.

FOR INFORMATION: In general, all varieties of natural honey are almost equally very useful and necessary in a healthy diet. The difference in different types of honey is more in their varied taste and appearance, and the benefits are approximately the same and always excellent. The main thing is that honey is not adulterated and is not collected in areas with a high content of toxic substances. It should be taken into account that the toxic substances that get on the plants are concentrated in the honey collected from them (i.e., they are in a much higher concentration). Bees are insensitive to many toxic substances, and for people such honey can be very harmful, up to massive severe and even fatal poisoning (such cases are very common, because it is simply unrealistic to check honey in the laboratory for the presence of all possible toxic substances - there are too many of these.) Honey collected from honey plants at military ranges, near chemical industry enterprises, large airfields, thermal power plants, in areas of increased radioactive contamination, as well as in areas of agriculture that uses enhanced chemicalization of fields with highly toxic pesticides is undesirable.

Fake honey and how to identify them

The falsification or forgery of bee honey has been known since ancient times, especially in connection with the development of the sugar industry. Amos Root, in his Encyclopedia of Beekeeping (1876), reports on Hassel's book "The Detection of Falsification" (1855), where, in his opinion, information about the falsification of honey is given for the first time.

He cites a quote that is topical even in our time: “Fake and adulterated honey is quite common in our markets. The commonly used substance is ordinary sugar diluted with water in the form of syrup and flavored with various aromatic substances. This preparation is usually mixed with real honey.” Among the impurities in the fakes, even alum, which is harmful to health, was found.

Over the past century, the techniques of falsification have improved. They began to use molasses, invert sugar and sucrose. For fakes, various substances containing carbohydrates were used, for example, potato and corn starch, and other products.

Forged honey has become difficult to distinguish from natural, not only organoleptically, but also in laboratory studies. Protection of honey consumers from the purchase of counterfeit products in the trading network was undertaken by the state, but often honey, in addition to markets and shops, is purchased from private individuals. Consumers should be aware of the existence of counterfeit honey and be able to recognize them. To date, the known fakes of honey can be summarized in three large groups: natural honeys with the addition of foreign products to increase their mass and viscosity, honeys made by bees from sweet products of non-nectar origin, and artificial honeys.

Honey going on sale must always comply with GOST. The label must indicate GOST. Any deviation from it indicates unnaturalness and falsification. To assess the quality of natural honeys, 43 indicators are proposed in the scientific literature: maturity, stability, water content, sucrose ... But, unfortunately, these requirements are often violated. How to identify benign natural bee honey? Regardless of where you buy honey, you should always ask where and when it was harvested.

When buying honey in a specialized store, read its label carefully. She will tell you what kind of honey it is. A white label will indicate high-quality honey, blue - that honey is of poor quality or honeydew. The label must contain the standard, variety, botanical type of honey, the time and place of its collection, the name and address of the supplier.

Methods for determining the quality of honey

The people have their own methods of how to determine the quality of honey, for example, using a chemical pencil. The essence is as follows - a layer of honey is applied to paper, a finger or a spoon and a chemical pencil is drawn over it, or a pencil is dipped into the honey itself. It is assumed that if the honey is falsified, i.e. contains all sorts of impurities (sugar, sugar honey, as well as an increased amount of water), then a colored pencil mark will remain. However, the researcher V. G. Chudakov in 1972 tested 36 samples of honey of different quality, including 13 falsified ones, and believes that this folk method for determining the naturalness of honey and assessing its quality is absolutely wrong.

There is another folk method to determine counterfeit honey, it consists in a test on blotting paper. A small amount of honey is placed on blotting paper. If after a few minutes a watery spot appears on the back of the paper, this is considered a sign of falsification. Again, V. G. Chudakov conducted laboratory studies of this sample, which led to the conclusion that the sample actually allows you to determine almost 100% of counterfeit honey, but besides, some natural honeys also fall into the category of counterfeit.

If you buy honey, then look in the reference books for how it should look. The main thing is that it must have a certain aroma, honey taste, that is, a bouquet corresponding to a certain variety of natural honey; the color must match.

If the honey is too white, this should raise the suspicion that it is not sugar?
If the color is dark brown - is it not honeydew?
If its aroma is blunted, the taste of caramel is felt - it means that it is melted honey.
Also pay attention to the consistency of honey - it should correspond to the density of the variety, at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius it should be wound on a spoon, like a ribbon, with sweet threads that break at a certain moment.
Liquid honey should arouse suspicion. Most likely, this is unripe honey. It will not be stored, it will ferment, as it contains a lot of water. Such honey will not “wrap” on a spoon, but will simply drain from it. If you buy honey in the winter, it should not be liquid, and if it is, then it has most likely been warmed up or diluted.

When buying, check the honey for fermentation. If, with stirring, it is felt that it is not viscous, it foams actively and gas bubbles appear on the surface. A specific sour smell emanates from it, and also has an alcohol or burnt aftertaste.

Before buying a large amount of honey, buy 100-200 grams for a sample. Beware of buying honey from apiaries located along highways with heavy traffic. In such honey, there may be an increased amount of lead compounds and other substances that fall on flowers with car exhaust. With nectar and pollen, lead gets into honey, and this is dangerous for the health of those who use it. Very harmful honey and collected in areas with unfavorable ecology.

How to identify impurities in honey

To determine the various impurities in honey, the following methods are recommended. Pour honey into a transparent jar, then add distilled water - the honey will dissolve, an impurity will settle at the bottom.
In order to detect an admixture of flour or starch in honey, pour 3-5 ml of an aqueous solution of honey (1: 2) into a jar or glass and add 3-5 drops of Lugol's solution (or tincture of iodine). If honey contains flour or starch, the solution will turn blue.

An admixture of molasses (a mixture of cool water and starchy sugar) can be recognized by its appearance, stickiness and lack of crystallization. You can also mix one part of honey with 2-3 parts of distilled water, add a quarter of the volume of 96% alcohol and shake. If there is starch syrup in honey, then the solution will take on a milky color. After settling this solution, a transparent semi-liquid sticky mass (dextrin) will settle. If the impurity is absent, the solution will remain transparent.

You can detect impurities of sugar (beet) molasses and ordinary sugar by adding a solution of silver nitrate (lapis) to a 5-10% solution of honey in water. If a white precipitate of silver chloride falls out, then this indicates the presence of an impurity. If there is no sediment, then the honey is pure. There is another way: to 5 ml of a 20% solution of honey in distilled water, add 22.5 ml of methyl (wood) alcohol, with the formation of an abundant yellowish-white precipitate, honey contains sugar syrup.

To detect an admixture of inverted sugar, there is a rather complicated way: grind 5 g of honey with a small amount of ether (in which the products of fructose breakdown are dissolved), then filter the ether solution into a bowl, evaporate to dryness and add 2-3 drops of a freshly prepared 1% solution to the residue resorcinol in concentrated hydrochloric acid (sp. weight 1.125 g). If the impurity turns orange (to cherry red), then there is invert sugar.

An increased percentage of sucrose in honey, which can be established in the laboratory, indicates its poor quality: in natural flower honey, sucrose is not more than 5%, not more than 10% - in honeydew. The better the quality of natural honey, the less sucrose it contains. "Sugar" honey has its own organoleptic characteristics: the smell of old honeycombs, insipid inexpressive taste, liquid consistency (if it is fresh), during long-term storage it becomes thick, sticky, sticky. "Sugar" honey, like all non-natural honeys, is distinguished by the absence of vitamins, organic acids, protein and aromatic substances, mineral salts. Silicon is the main element in sugar honey, and other salts are practically absent, there are only traces of them. In natural honey - on the contrary.

If honey does not crystallize, then it can be assumed that there is an admixture of potato molasses.
In order to detect an admixture of honeydew honey, pour 1 part of an aqueous solution of honey (1: 1) into a glass and add 2 parts of lime water, then heat the mixture to a boil. If brown flakes are formed that precipitate, then this indicates the presence of an admixture of honeydew honey.

A SET OF EXPRESS CHECKS OF HONEY FOR QUALITY AT PURCHASE

Can I buy honey from my hands? Only if you are sure what you are buying. Selling honey in a store is also not a guarantee of its quality. The only true guarantee of the quality of the purchased honey is a personal acquaintance with the beekeeper, confidence in his integrity and the knowledge that his apiary is located in a safe area. Therefore, it is best to buy honey from a familiar beekeeper right in his apiary.

The most common honey adulterant is sugar syrup. The same syrup is often diluted with unripe honey to give it the missing sweetness.

First, the honey must be mature. After all, bees work on nectar for about a week: they evaporate water, enrich it with enzymes, break down complex sugars into simple ones. During this time, honey is infused. The bees seal the finished product with wax caps - it is this honey that has all its useful properties and can be stored for a long time (but not more than one year).
Very often, beekeepers pump out honey during the honey harvest, without waiting for it to ripen, due to the lack of combs. The water content in such honey is sometimes twice the norm, it is not enriched with enzymes and sucrose, and quickly turns sour.

To determine the maturity of fresh unsweetened honey, its temperature is adjusted to 20 g. C, stirring with a spoon. Then the spoon is taken out and rotated. Ripe honey wraps around her. From time to time, honey can become sugary, this is normal and does not affect either the taste, or the aroma, or the healing qualities of honey.

With the help of simple tests, you can determine if honey is falsified.
- Flour and starch are determined by adding a drop of iodine to a small amount of honey diluted with water. If the solution turns blue, honey with flour or starch.
- If the solution sizzles when adding vinegar essence, there is chalk in honey. - If in a 5–10% aqueous solution of honey, when a small amount of lapis solution is added, cloudiness forms around the drops and a white precipitate forms, sugar has been added.

How can you determine the quality of honey to a stranger

1) By color. Each type of honey has its own unique color. Flower honey - light yellow, linden - amber, ash - transparent, like water, buckwheat has different shades of brown. Pure honey without impurities, as a rule, is transparent, no matter what color it is. Honey, which has additives in its composition (sugar, starch, other impurities), is cloudy, and if you look closely, you can find a sediment in it.

2) By flavor. Real honey has a fragrant aroma. This scent is incomparable. Honey with an admixture of sugar has no aroma, and its taste is close to the taste of sweetened water.

3) By viscosity. Take a sample of honey by dropping a thin stick into the container. If it is real honey, then it follows the stick with a long continuous thread, and when this thread breaks, it will completely fall, forming a turret, a pagoda on the surface of the honey, which then slowly disperses. Fake honey, on the other hand, will behave like glue: it will profusely drain and drip down from the stick, forming splashes.

4) By consistency. In real honey, it is thin, tender. Honey is easily rubbed between the fingers and absorbed into the skin, which cannot be said about a fake. Fake honey has a rough texture, and lumps remain on the fingers when rubbed. Before buying honey in the market in reserve, take the product you like from 2-3 regular sellers. To start with 100 grams. Do the recommended quality tests at home and only then buy it for future use from the same sellers.

5) Check if water and sugar are added to the honey. To do this, drop honey on a piece of low-grade unglued paper (for example, ordinary newsprint or toilet paper), which absorbs moisture well. If it spreads over the paper, forming wet spots, or even seeps through it, it is fake honey.

6) Determine if there is starch in honey. To do this, put a little honey in a glass, pour boiling water over it, stir and cool. After that, drop a few drops of iodine there. If the composition turns blue, it means that starch has been added to the honey. This is fake honey.

7) Find out if there are other impurities in honey. To do this, take a red-hot stainless steel wire (you can heat it in the flame of a lighter) and lower it into honey. If a sticky foreign mass hangs on it, then you have a fake honey in front of you, but if the wire remains clean, honey is natural or, in other words, full-fledged.

8) What should I pay attention to when buying honey? Honey, incl. and when sold, it cannot be stored in metal containers, since the acids contained in its composition can give oxidation. This will lead to an increase in the content of heavy metals in it and to a decrease in useful substances. Such honey can cause discomfort in the stomach and even lead to poisoning. Conscientious sellers store honey only in glass, earthenware, porcelain, ceramic and wooden utensils. If you see that honey is being sold from metal containers, immediately step aside.

9) How else can you distinguish a fake? In a cup of weak warm tea, add a little of what you bought under the guise of honey. If you are not deceived, the tea will darken, but no sediment will form at the bottom. Over time, honey becomes cloudy and thickens (candied) - this is a sure sign of good quality. And not, as many mistakenly believe, that honey has deteriorated. Sometimes honey during storage is divided into two layers: it thickens only from below, and remains liquid from above. This suggests that it is immature, and therefore it must be eaten as quickly as possible - unripe honey only lasts a few months. Careless beekeepers do not take out bees to collect nectar, but simply feed them sugar. Sugar honey is not natural. There is nothing useful in it.

Such "sugar" honey is unnaturally white. In real honey, there is no free water - in mature honey, water (about 20% of it) is completely bound in a true saturated solution. Honey with sugar syrup has high humidity - this can be checked in the following way. Dip a piece of bread into honey, and after 8-10 minutes remove it. Bread will harden in high-quality honey. If, on the contrary, it softened or completely spread, then in front of you is nothing more than sugar syrup. But no one on the market will allow you to conduct such experiments, but they will give you a try. Often honey is dripped onto a small piece of paper for tasting. This is quite enough to conduct another experiment. When going to the market for honey, take a chemical pencil with you. Smear honey on a piece of paper with a pencil, you can smear it with your finger, and try to write something on the “honey” strip with an indelible pencil. If after a few seconds an inscription or blue stains appear, you can confidently and loudly inform the seller (so that other buyers can hear) that starch or flour is present in the product. If there is no chemical pencil, a drop of iodine will do. The same blue hue of the proposed honey will unmistakably determine the starch and flour in the product.

10) What kind of honey is better - mountain or, let's say, plain? Do not fall for the bait when they try to convince you that mountain honey is better than the one that bees collect in our open spaces. Mountain honey has no special advantages over “plain” honey. The quality of honey and the concentration of useful substances in it depends only on the decency and knowledge of the beekeeper, as well as on the ecological situation in the honey collection area. Here, however, there is a difference between honey collected in a clean environment, and what the bees collected from the beds of an industrial enterprise. But here it all depends on the beekeeper. Conscience should not allow him to earn on "industrial" honey.

11) Honey sellers have several tricks designed for gullible buyers. First, plug your ears and don't listen to what they tell you. Check everything yourself. Of course, one honest seller can fall for a bunch of liars, but how do you know that the one who is standing in front of you is honest? Try honey not only from above, but also from the bottom of the jar. Feel free to put your spoon in the jar and don't listen to the salespeople who start yelling, "Don't ruin the product!" Unheated honey - both fresh transparent and candied - is an effective antiseptic, and a clean spoon in a jar cannot spoil it. Another thing is if there was not honey at the bottom, or this honey was previously heated, which led to the loss of its antiseptic and all other healing properties. Do not buy honey on the market without checking or rolled up. The fact that honey is better stored rolled up with a tin lid is a myth. A simple screw-on or tight polyethylene lid is sufficient. Crystallization (saccharification) is a natural process for honey, which does not affect its quality and composition of nutrients. Don't let crystallized honey fool you. Do not come the next day to the seller who promised you uncrystallized honey. They will bring the same, but warmed up. And in no case should you heat honey, because. this turns it into a simple sweet substance, devoid of so many useful properties!

12) Real honey has the following features:
Quality honey does not roll off the spoon too quickly. Take a tablespoon of honey and turn the spoon over several times in a quick circular motion. Honey will wrap around it, almost not flowing into the jar. Immerse the spoon into the honey container. Pulling out a spoon, evaluate the nature of the flow of honey. A good one will form a ribbon, sit down in a hillock, and bubbles form on its surface.
All types of honey have a sweet taste, but some of the varieties have a specific taste. For example, tobacco, chestnut and willow varieties have a bitter taste, while heather is astringent. Any deviations in the taste of honey indicate its poor quality. Other taste defects may be due to the presence of impurities.
Excessive acidity may be associated with the onset of fermentation, the aroma of caramel is the result of heating, obvious bitterness is incorrect storage conditions for a low-quality product. The color of honey depends solely on the variety. It can be all shades of brown and yellow. Do not be afraid of pale yellow, slightly cloudy honey - this is normal for acacia honey that has stood for a while, because. it is candied very slowly and for a long time - sometimes completely only by the end of winter (but be sure to try it and determine for yourself that it is acacia honey).
Turbidity is not inherent in other types of non-candied honey, because. the process of their sugaring (turbidity and hardening) occurs quickly - it was just transparent and suddenly (2-4 weeks after the bribe - the period depends on the type of honey) it was all sugared at once.

Another very simple express check: you need to drop honey on paper and set it on fire. The paper around burns, but real high-quality honey does not burn, does not melt and does not turn brown. If the honey began to melt, it means that the bees were fed with sugar syrup, and if it turns brown, it means diluted with sugar.

Storage of honey

Honey should be stored in complete darkness, because. many useful substances quickly break down under the action of light. (This applies to all foods.)

It is best to store honey in a tightly closed glass container (for example, in glass jars with screw caps) in a cool place and always in complete darkness. During long-term storage, loosely closed honey can greatly change its specific gravity, its own weight, and water content. If it is stored in a dry place in an open container, then the water content in it can decrease to 14%, and the weight will decrease by 4-5%. And if stored in a humid room, honey is able to absorb the surrounding moisture from the air. At a relative humidity of 60%, mature honey becomes watery, and as the humidity increases, the wateriness increases (honey absorbs moisture from the air). In this case, as a rule, honey sours. In a dry room, closed mature honey is well preserved at any temperature. And at high humidity, it is better to store at a temperature below +10 degrees Celsius (for example, in a refrigerator) or above +27 (but not more than +30-32). Honey is able to absorb odors, so the dishes and the room must be clean. Do not store sauerkraut, herring, vegetables, kerosene, etc. in it.

Honey should be stored in tightly closed glass, enamel or ceramic dishes (but in no case in iron, copper or galvanized). Galvanized and copper utensils are strictly prohibited! Honey enters into a chemical reaction with zinc and copper, filling with poisonous salts. Non-enamelled metal utensils can only be made of stainless steel or aluminum, but in any case, non-enamelled metals are undesirable. Honey can be successfully stored in wooden barrels or boxes. The most suitable material for barrels is linden. Beech, cedar, poplar are also suitable. In coniferous wood barrels, honey gains a resinous smell, in aspen barrels it becomes bitter, and blackens in oak barrels.

The shelf life of honey in optimal conditions is one year. After that, it loses its antimicrobial properties. The amount of glucose and fructose decreases by 10-20%. Vitamins B1, B2 and C begin to break down. The amount of sucrose and acids increases.
Sometimes there are statements that “the best honey is 5 years old” or “the best honey is 10 years old” - here we are talking about a banal confusion of honey and drinking honey (an alcoholic honey drink).

For set honey (this is the oldest and best type of nourishing honey), consisting of two-thirds (or more) of honey and one-third of the natural juice of berries (mainly raspberries, lingonberries or cherries), without the slightest admixture of water, the shortest period for ripening considered a period of 5-8 years. But such honey was regarded as “bad”, “raw”, “young”. Usually this honey was aged in tarred barrels buried in the ground for 15-20 and even 35-40 years.

For hop honey, to which the so-called oxymel, that is, pre-prepared honey vinegar, as well as a by-product plant additive - hops, was added to speed up the process, the finished product was obtained already in the third year. Five-year-old hop honey was considered average in quality, and 10-year-old was considered excellent.

If you want to turn thickened honey into liquid, put a container of honey in a pot of hot water and heat while stirring (it is not recommended to heat the honey itself directly over a fire). However, remember, when heated to 37-40 degrees Celsius and above, honey inevitably begins to lose many of its useful (healing) properties, turning into the usual sweet fructose-glucose mass. For this reason, you should not add honey to hot tea and other hot drinks. In addition, when honey is heated over 45 gr. Part of fructose forms hydroxymethylfurfural, a substance harmful to bees. If it is necessary to dissolve crystallized honey, then it is necessary to heat it only in a water bath and make sure that the water temperature does not exceed 50 degrees. WITH.

To give an exhaustive answer to the question that concerns many people, whether there is sugar in honey, it is necessary to study its composition. And having understood what both substances are, it will be possible to determine with confidence which of these products is preferable to eat and which will be more beneficial.

What are sugar and honey?

Sugar is the common name for sucrose. An ordinary substance belongs to the category of carbohydrates necessary to provide the human body with energy. Sucrose is broken down into glucose and fructose and then absorbed into the bloodstream. Everything seems to be great, but why then was sugar dubbed “white poison”? And the reason lies in the way it is produced.

Everyone knows that sugar is produced from plant materials (sugar cane and beets), but in the process of its manufacture, organic acids, protein, nitrogen elements, and enzymes are destroyed. There are practically no vitamins and minerals left in sugar, which is why it is called “empty calories”, as they are consumed by the internal reserves of the body. When these reserves run out, the metabolism of "bad" cholesterol and fatty acids is turned on, which results in weight gain, liver and pancreas problems.

What is honey?

Honey is a valuable food product that bees produce from the nectar or sweet juice of plants and trees. The content of trace elements in the bee product is high due to its plant and animal origin. It contains iron, magnesium, chlorine, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, lead and many other macro- and microelements. And, of course, there is sugar in honey: a natural product consists of carbohydrates, the amount of which reaches 75% - these are glucose, fructose and sucrose. The volume of water is up to 20%, and the remaining 5% are proteins, vitamins, organic acids, enzymes and minerals.

Honey or Sugar - Which Do You Prefer?

These 2 products are united by the fact that they are both sweet, made from natural raw materials and contain glucose and fructose - carbohydrates necessary for the body. So, can sugar be replaced with honey? Of course, because the benefits of the latter are huge and known to almost every person on earth: the glucose and fructose contained in honey are simple carbohydrates, they are very quickly absorbed by the human body without unnecessary energy costs.

Sucrose (cane sugar) refers to complex carbohydrates, but its content in a mature bee product is insignificant (1-6%). This is due to the fact that sucrose, under the influence of invertase enzymes, gradually breaks down into fructose and glucose. Thus, when they enter the body, they do not involve insulin for their processing, as is the case with sugar, as a result of which there is no load on the pancreas.

Benefits of eating honey

What to choose - honey or sugar? Definitely, the bee product will be a good alternative to sugar, because its properties and difference from the latter are not only easy to digest and rich in useful substances. Honey is also characterized by antioxidant and antimicrobial properties that sugar does not have, which makes it more harmful than its opponent. Replacing sugar with honey is recommended for anyone who cares about their health, diets or wants to lose 2-3 kg.

Why does eating amber sweet bring fewer calories to the body than using sugar? It is no secret that honey is more nutritious than white powder (1 teaspoon of honey contains 22 kcal, and a teaspoon of sugar contains 16 kcal), it is much sweeter than its bulk counterpart. Accordingly, it is impossible to eat a lot of this sweet product. So it turns out that the amount of calories consumed with honey is less than when eating granulated sugar.

These properties are important for those who are trying to keep their figure in shape. For health conscious people, sweet honey has a lower glycemic index (55) than sugar (61). The high GI of commonly eaten foods can lead to the development of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and excess weight. As a result, it becomes clear that the lower the GI level in the product, the less stress on the pancreas and the health problems. So, the amber product is better than sugar.

Those who want to really lose weight (for example, choose an individual calorie content for weight loss and, based on it, enter the necessary portion of BJU (protein, fat, carbohydrate) into the menu, calculating their correct ratio), you need to take into account that the calorie content of honey is 328 units . per 100 grams of product. From the foregoing, the conclusion suggests itself: using a bulk product is harmful to the body, it will be beneficial if you use honey instead of sugar for food. This delicacy not only has a lower calorie content, but also has a positive effect on metabolic processes in the human body, as it contains all the elements necessary for this.

How much honey should you eat per day? A good and important question, but there is no unambiguous common opinion in its solution. It largely depends on the lifestyle of a person and his personal preferences. Some believe that eating 4 tbsp. l. a treat per day is quite enough for an adult (a tablespoon of honey contains 30 g of a thickened product, and if it is liquid, then about 5 g more). For children, this amount should be reduced by 2 times - a teaspoon is quite suitable. You can, of course, eat honey in its pure form, but it would be better if 1 tsp. dissolve in a cup of tea (milk or water). It is only important that the liquid to which the substance is to be added is not hot.

In order to enjoy the taste of a wonderful product and benefit from it, it is necessary that it be of high quality. Some dishonest sellers fake natural honey by adding sugar syrup to it, for example.

Here are some tips on how to test honey for sugar:

1. Rub a small amount of product between fingers. High-quality honey melts easily and is absorbed into the skin. If the product is hard and leaves lumps on the fingers, it is a fake. It is necessary to immerse a spoon into the container with the product to be checked, and then slowly remove it. Real honey should flow from a spoon in thin, viscous threads, forming “turrets” on the surface.
2. Brew weak tea, remove the tea leaves, add 2 tsp. honey. If the added product is of high quality, then the tea will darken, and if a precipitate falls out, this is a fake.
3. You need to carefully consider the purchased product. Cloudy honey with sediment indicates the presence of sugar in it. The natural product is distinguished by a transparent color of any shade.
4. Take a sheet of stiff absorbent paper, place a few drops of sweet liquid on it and follow. If sugar is added to the honey, the droplets will spread and seep through the paper.

There are ways to help identify impurities added to honey (chalk, starch, saccharin and even wood chips) at home:

1. The main method of working with honey is to dissolve a small amount of honey in water. The presence of a precipitate indicates a fake. To find out about the starch content in honey, you need to add a few drops of iodine to the aqueous solution of the substance. The color may differ from the original, for example, blue will indicate the presence of starch.
2. If, when vinegar or citric acid is added, the solution begins to foam, then there is chalk in the honey.

Check the quality of goodies will help in special laboratories. Experts know how to determine any impurities using a general method:

1. Moisture content (a product with an increased amount of water will quickly begin to ferment).
2. Reducing sugars (primarily glucose and fructose). Their content is important in assessing the maturity and good quality of the product).
3. The amount of sucrose (its increased amount may mean falsification of honey by adding sugar).
4. Presence of pesticides and antibiotics.

Armed with these tips, you can safely go and buy a healing product.

The conclusion is this: sugar destroys our body, and an amber delicacy is very useful for a person, because a spoonful of honey does not contain a single harmful element. Everything related to this natural product brings an improvement to our health and mood. That is why honey can be a great alternative to sugar.

Honey- the most famous of the products of beekeeping. In addition to being used as a sweet for tea, honey is widely used in healing. Honey normalizes the work of many internal organs, improves blood composition, is a powerful source of energy, protects the body from premature aging, improves immunity (read more about immunity in the topic).


The beneficial properties of honey are due to the biological nature of honey and its complex chemical composition. The main properties of honey include crystallization, fermentation, hygroscopicity, heat capacity, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, viscosity, density, optical activity, thixotropy and others. In addition, honey has bactericidal, medicinal and dietary properties. Due to its medicinal properties, honey is widely used in folk and traditional medicine, used to treat ailments and prevent diseases.

Honey has antibacterial, bactericidal, anti-inflammatory and antiallergic properties. The therapeutic effect of honey is facilitated by its rich composition: honey contains minerals, trace elements, vitamins, enzymes, biologically active substances, vitamins, chlorine, zinc, aluminum, boron, silicon, chromium, lithium, nickel, lead, tin, titanium, osmium, etc. necessary for the body. Of the vitamins in honey, there is a relatively large amount of vitamin B2 (0.05 mg%), PP (0.02 mg%), C (2 mg%). According to the latest data, it also contains vitamins B8 (pyridoxine), pantothenic acid, vitamin H (bnotin), folic acid, vitamin K and E.
Honey is used as a tonic, tonic, rejuvenating agent. Honey is an excellent medicine, it is used to treat wounds and burns, in diseases of the cardiovascular system, kidneys, liver, biliary tract, and gastrointestinal tract.
Natural honey has unique taste properties.
Honey is often used in cosmetic preparations, as it softens the skin well, improves its tone, and eliminates dryness and flaking.


Honey is a good nutrient. The main nutrients of honey are carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, vitamins, enzymes, etc. When glucose and fructose are broken down, a large amount of energy is released, which is necessary for the vital processes of the body. Daily consumption of honey at 20-50 grams throughout the year significantly improves blood composition and metabolism. Read more about blood in the topic Honey contains mainly fructose, as well as minerals such as potassium, magnesium, proteins and vitamins, which are very rare in other products. These components of honey strengthen the walls of blood vessels and the heart muscle.
Honey has a beneficial effect on the course of inflammatory processes in the large intestine, in the treatment of certain forms of gastric and duodenal ulcers, hemorrhoids. Read more about hemorrhoids in the topic. The antibacterial properties of honey are explained by the presence of specific substances in it - inhibitors. There are more of them in light varieties of honey than in dark ones. This useful property of honey does not depend on the duration of its storage in optimal conditions.
For hemorrhoids, insert a candle of candied honey into the anus.

For medicinal purposes, it is recommended to take honey mainly dissolved, since in this form it is facilitated by the penetration of its components into the bloodstream, and then into the cells and tissues of the body. When prescribing honey treatment, a strictly individual approach to each patient is needed, the selection of the appropriate type of honey and its strict individuality of dosages in order to avoid the adverse effect of a large amount of easily digestible carbohydrates on the autonomic nervous system and general metabolism.
The dose is individual (from 50 to 100 g per day). With anemia, buckwheat honey is especially useful. It should be taken for therapeutic purposes within 2 months. Improves blood composition, headache, dizziness, fatigue disappear, well-being increases.
Rinsing the mouth and throat with a solution of water and honey relieves inflammation of the tonsils, in addition, cleans the teeth, making them white: 1 tbsp. Dilute a spoonful of honey in 1 cup of warm water.
The beneficial properties of honey allow it to be used as an excellent harmless sleeping pill. Honey has a calming effect, causes sound sleep, regulates bowel function: 1 tbsp. Dilute a spoonful of honey in 1 cup of warm water. Drink at night. Give the child 1 teaspoon of honey at night. Honey strengthens the child's nervous system and retains moisture in the body during a night's sleep.
With consumption, prolonged cough, pneumonia, bronchitis: honey (preferably lime) - 1300 g, finely chopped aloe leaves - 1 cup, olive oil - 200 g, birch buds - 150 g, lime blossom. Before cooking, put the aloe leaves plucked and washed with boiled water for 10 days in a cold and dark place. Melt honey and add chopped aloe leaves, steam the mixture well. Separately, in 2 glasses of water, brew birch buds and lime blossom, boil for 1-2 minutes, pour the strained and squeezed broth into the cooled honey. Stir and pour into 2 bottles, adding olive oil equally to each. Store in a cool place. Take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day. Shake before use.
For constipation: 1 tbsp. a spoonful of olive or linseed oil, mix thoroughly with egg yolk and 1 tbsp. spoon of honey and dilute with 3/4 cup of water. Take 1 tbsp. spoon every 2 hours.

To lower blood pressure in hypertension:
a) mix 1 glass of honey, carrot juice, horseradish juice with lemon juice. Store in a glass jar with a tight lid in a cool place. Take 1-2 teaspoons 3 times a day 1 hour before meals or 2-3 hours after meals.
b) mix 1 glass of honey, carrot and beetroot juice, horseradish juice with the juice of one lemon. Take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day one hour before meals. Duration of treatment - 1.5 - 2 months. Grated horseradish pre-infuse in water for 36 hours.

Which honey to choose?

Linden honey: golden, crystallizes easily, has a characteristic smell. It is used for diseases of the respiratory tract, including in the form of inhalations. It has a good effect on the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys.

Acacia honey: transparent, lighter, more liquid, with a slight aroma of acacia. Crystallizes slowly. Recommended for diseases of the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, female inflammatory diseases.

Fruit honey: light amber, with a delicate smell and taste. It has exceptional nutritional qualities.

Buckwheat honey: bright, almost brown in color, with a characteristic odor and slight bitterness. Used in confectionery, treats diseases of the stomach, blood and skin.

Dandelion honey: with a characteristic color and smell, slightly bitter, thick. It has a wound healing and anti-inflammatory effect.

How to store honey

Natural honey is stored in glass or plastic containers, tightly closed with a regular plastic lid. In a dark and dry place in such containers, honey can be stored for decades. Direct sunlight is harmful to him. Experts also do not recommend storing honey in the refrigerator. Cooling negatively affects nutrients. It is especially not worth believing that honey is most useful only for the first year. It has practically no expiration date and does not lose its medicinal and taste qualities.
The environment for honey must be chosen carefully. It instantly absorbs the smells of fish, cheese, sauerkraut. Dishes with honey (preferably a jar of dark glass) must be hermetically sealed, otherwise it will turn sour. If you keep honey in a wooden barrel made of softwood, it absorbs the smell of resin. In an oak barrel - darkens. If the barrel is already linden, birch or aspen. Honey can be stored in food plastic containers for no more than a week. All other polymers are strictly prohibited. Nickel-plated and enameled are suitable for metal utensils, but without any chips. But galvanized and copper utensils are strictly prohibited. Honey enters into a chemical reaction with zinc and copper, filling with poisonous salts.

Which honey is better - mountain or lowland?
Do NOT get hooked when they try to convince you that mountain honey is better than the one that bees collect in our open spaces. There are no special advantages of mountain honey over “plain” honey. The quality of honey and the concentration of nutrients in it depends only on the decency and knowledge of the beekeeper, as well as on the ecological state of the honey collection area.

How to distinguish fake honey?

In a cup of weak warm tea, add a little of what you bought under the guise of honey. If you are not deceived, the tea will darken, but no sediment will form at the bottom. You can dissolve a little honey in a small amount of distilled water and drop 4-5 drops of iodine into it. If the solution turns blue, then starch was used to make this product. And interspersed with the same solution instead of iodine, a few drops of vinegar essence, you will check the honey for the presence of chalk. If it is, the solution hissed.

The most common honey counterfeiter is sugar syrup. Unripe honey is often diluted with the same syrup to make it sweet. Honey with syrup has a high moisture content. Dip a piece of bread into honey, and after 8-10 minutes remove it. Bread will harden in high-quality honey. If, on the contrary, it becomes soft, then in front of you is nothing but sugar syrup.

If over time your honey does not thicken, then it contains a large amount of fructose and, alas, does not have healing properties. Sometimes honey during storage is divided into two layers: it thickens only from below, and remains liquid from above. This indicates that it is immature and should be eaten as soon as possible - unripe honey only lasts a few months.

When and how to use honey?

If the acidity in the stomach is normal, you can take honey at any time, but not immediately after eating. If the acidity is low, honey is taken ten to fifteen minutes before meals with cold water. If the acidity is increased - an hour or two after eating, drinking warm water. Taking honey on an empty stomach is not recommended. Honey mixed in tea is no longer a medicine, but just sugar.

Determining the quality of honey

By viscosity. Dip a thin stick into a container of honey. If this is real honey, then it reaches for the stick with a long continuous thread, and when this thread is interrupted, it will completely fall, forming a tubercle on the surface of the honey, which will then slowly disperse. Fake honey is like glue: it will drip profusely and drip down from the stick, forming splashes.

By tint. Each variety of honey has its own color, inherent only to him. Flower honey - light yellow, linden - amber, ash - transparent, like water, buckwheat has different shades of brown. Pure honey without impurities is usually transparent, no matter what color it is. Honey, which contains additives (sugar, starch, etc.), is cloudy, and if you look closely, you can find a precipitate.

By aroma. Real honey has a fragrant aroma. Honey with an admixture of sugar has no aroma, and its taste is close to the taste of sweetened water.

By consistency. In real honey, it is thin, tender. Honey is easily rubbed between the fingers and absorbed into the skin. In falsified honey, the structure is rough; when rubbed, lumps remain on the fingers. Before buying honey on the market, take it to 2-3 regular sellers. To start with 100 grams. At home, do the recommended quality tests and only then buy it from the same sellers.

Check if water and sugar are added to honey. To do this, drop honey on a sheet of low-grade paper that absorbs moisture well. If it spreads over the paper, forming wet spots, or even seeps through it, this is poor-quality honey.

Nectar is a sweet liquid produced by special glands in plants called nectaries. The sugar content in the nectar of various plants is not the same and ranges from 8 to 74%. The qualitative and quantitative composition of nectar in flowers is not the same. For example, a sweet clover flower contains 0.2 mg of nectar, a linden flower - 02-0.7 mg, a raspberry flower - 4-20 mg. At one time, a bee can bring about 20-40 mg of nectar to the hive. To get 100 g of honey, a bee must collect nectar from almost a million flowers.

In order to collect 100 grams of honey, a bee needs to fly forty-six thousand kilometers.

To get a spoonful of honey (30 g), 200 bees must collect nectar during the day. The same number of bees should be engaged in taking nectar and processing it in the hive. At the same time, some of the bees intensively ventilate the nest so that excess water from the nectar evaporates faster.

In ancient Greece, the immortality of the gods was explained by the fact that they ate ambrosia, consisting of milk, nectar and honey. Pythagoras, Hippocrates and Aristotle believed that the consumption of honey contributed to the prolongation of life.

The beneficial properties of honey are widely known. It is used not only as a sweetener, but also as a remedy for colds. It has an antibacterial, antiviral, soothing and healing effect, it helps to strengthen the immune system and increase vitality.

The high cost of a natural product is a direct consequence of the complexity of its production. But even having paid a considerable price for this product, one cannot always be sure of its quality. Fake is not a new phenomenon.

The mention of unscrupulous traders is contained in the Encyclopedia of Beekeeping, published by the American entrepreneur and great enthusiast of this field of agriculture, Amos Root in 1876.

Unnatural honey

The current fakes can be divided into three groups:

• Natural with addition foreign substances designed to increase the total volume and density of the mass;
• Products, obtained from a mixture sugar and water, with the addition of dyes and flavors;
• Sugar.

The method of falsification described by Ruth in the 19th century is still used today.

A mixture of sugar and water is boiled down to a thick syrup, after which flavors and dyes are added to it. To heighten the effect, the final product can be mixed with a small amount of real honey.

Since the days of Amos Root, honey adulteration techniques have improved. Now artificial mixtures are prepared from invert sugar and sucrose and thickeners are added to them, among which one can find corn and potato starch. High-quality fakes can be difficult to detect even with the help of professional expertise. Fortunately, they are rare.

Another method of obtaining honey is used by unscrupulous beekeepers. Instead of waiting for the bees to collect flower nectar, the insects are fed regular sugar syrup. Sugar honey obtained in this way has no useful properties.

How to distinguish a quality product from an artificial one

Good taste

The taste of natural honey is sweet with a tart note, which is especially noticeable in buckwheat and chestnut. This product leaves a pleasant aftertaste. Counterfeits will have an unremarkable sweet taste., in some cases a little cloying.

Natural color

Color can vary from white to dark brown. Each variety has its own characteristic color. Honey collected from white acacia flowers is almost transparent in liquid state.

Buckwheat honey has a rich brown color with a reddish tint. The white product may well not be from plant pollen, but from sugar syrup.

Before buying, you should find out what kind of honey is in front of you. This will make it easier to relate the description to the product you are offering.

Correct consistency

The structure of natural and artificial honey is strikingly different. Rubbing a drop of it with your fingers, you will notice that it has disappeared without a trace, quickly absorbed into the skin. After doing the same with a fake, you will feel that small lumps remain on the skin.

Honey tends to crystallize after several months of storage. If in the middle of winter they try to sell you a liquid product, then this is an alarming sign. Such a product was either made from sugar syrup or heated before being sold. Honey, heated above a temperature of 40 degrees, loses its beneficial qualities.

Viscosity test

An important indicator and condition in determining the authenticity of naturalness is its viscosity. Dip a clean spoon into the honey container, and then slowly remove it. The real product should follow the spoon continuous thread. When the substance drains from the spoon, it forms a visible mark on the surface, which slowly dissolves.

Aroma

The smell is the hardest to fake. The aroma of the natural product is thick and fragrant, you can distinguish notes of honey plants in it. A product made from sugar does not have a pronounced aroma. How to check? If you find it difficult to catch the smell, then you have a fake.

Define sugar

Whether there is sugar in the product can be determined using thin paper. To do this, drip honey on a paper napkin or a sheet of blotting paper.

The appearance of wet spots will indicate that the product is artificial.

The natural product can remain on the paper surface for several minutes without seeping through to the back of the sheet. The longer the trace does not appear on paper, the better it is.

How to test real honey at home?

If you still have natural honey or not, then you can dispel them with a few simple procedures. How can you distinguish honey and know its quality?

drop of iodine

Dilute a small amount of honey with water, add a drop of iodine to the resulting mixture. If after that the solution turned blue, then this means that it contains starch or flour.

With the help of bread

Place a piece of bread in a bowl and leave for 5-10 minutes. If after this time the bread has retained its shape, then you have a natural product. If the bread is softened and spread, then this is a clear sign that the product was made on the basis of sugar syrup.

Pencil

On the back of your hand or a piece of paper, drip honey and spread it in a thin layer. Swipe with a regular chemical pencil on the surface. A thick line will indicate the presence of water in the product. The absence of a noticeable trace will mean that you have undiluted honey in front of you.

Vinegar

Dissolve a teaspoon of honey in water, add a few drops of vinegar to the resulting mixture. If this is followed by a hiss, then this is a sure sign that the product contains chalk.

Identify fake with water

Put the spoon into a clear glass of warm water and stir. The natural product will dissolve without residue, slightly coloring the water. If impurities are present in the product, they will either precipitate or float to the surface.

The best way to protect yourself from fakes is to buy homemade honey from a beekeeper you know. In order to choose a trustworthy person, ask if he sells honeycombs.

If the answer is yes, you will definitely know that the seller has access to natural honey. Such people highly value their reputation and will not risk it by offering fakes.

Buy honey in season, because real beekeepers sell it as it is made. If you buy honey in a store, check and pay attention to the correct label. A fake product can harm your health.

Honey is a sweet and viscous liquid, a gift from bees, produced by nature. It is difficult to find a natural product that would fit in itself so much useful. After all, honey contains a storehouse of medicinal substances, and its properties are very positive. Even our ancestors used this product for healing. Why is honey useful?

First of all, it is an excellent home adaptogen that can tone the body in a state of weakness and increased fatigue, as well as strengthen the immune system and other vital functions. It is also an excellent culinary remedy, a rich source of glucose and fructose, on the basis of which many dishes and even alcohol are prepared. Those who have been drunk on mead know the wonderful taste of this drink.

The beneficial properties of honey are so wide that they are used not only in folk or alternative medicine, but also in official practice. So, any honey preparation can be seen in the list of remedies for the treatment of diseases of the respiratory tract, digestive tract, nervous diseases, etc.

Many people need to be sedated at night because they cannot sleep. A product like honey does this very well. Take a teaspoon before bed with water, milk or tea for a healthy sleep.

What does honey contain

Natural honey contains quite a lot of useful substances, which together give a very positive effect. Here are just a few of them:

• carbohydrates;
• a complex of trace elements similar in composition to blood plasma (iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc.);
• vitamins (group B, C, E, K);
• enzymes (catalase, amylase, phosphatase, diastase).

Honey is very sweet, in this indicator it is better than sugar, so it can be used for baking in the oven or microwave, for preparing various desserts, drinks, etc.

Calorie content of honey

Good honey has a fairly high calorie content, so it can be used to strengthen the body or, for example, by athletes in need of special nutrition.

The calorie content of this product is 320-360 kcal, of which:

• 81.5 g - carbohydrates;
• 0.8 g - proteins;
• 0 g - fats.

Information for diabetics: The glycemic index of the product is 80-90, which is slightly lower than that of sugar (97-99), but this does not mean that the honey product is not harmful for diabetics.

What is honey

There are several classifications of honey, which are listed below.

• First of all, monofloral honey, which is collected from one plant species, and polyfloral honey are distinguished. In the first case, the name of the product refers to the plant (hawthorn, blueberry, acacia, hemp, manuka), and in the second, to the place of collection (forest, meadow, mountain, etc.). They also distinguish between honey collected in different areas, because depending on the climatic zone and the characteristics of the local flora, the taste of honey also changes (Charysh, Burzyan, Altai, Bashkir, etc.).
• According to the method of production, centrifugal honey, pumped out with a honey extractor, and honeycomb honey, which is more useful due to impurities of beeswax and other components that do not fall into a large three-liter jar during the pumping process, are distinguished. As a rule, containing various useful substances (milk, perga, wax), honey has more pronounced healing properties, which allows us to separate it into a separate category of bee products.

Varieties of honey: description and application

There are many types of this product:

• Acacia is honey that has one of the best compositions. It practically does not crystallize and retains a liquid consistency for a long time, does not thicken. It is used to treat hypertension, fight microbial diseases, treat vision, nerves.
• Hawthorn honey is a product that can treat the heart, high blood pressure, and also the thyroid gland. The properties of honey are characteristic: it is slightly bitter, has a special smell and dark color.
• Mountain is popular as a 100% eco-product. It also has bitterness and a strong smell.
• Ivan-tea honey differs in color and taste, it is used exclusively for medicinal purposes.
• Field - an excellent tool that helps in the treatment of the nervous system (insomnia, headache), as well as infectious diseases.
• Sweet clover honey contains substances that help fight atherosclerosis, heart disease, liver and kidney diseases. The healing properties of honey are quite high, because it allows you to cure many diseases at home. The taste of honey is delicate, the color is light, and the aroma is similar to vanilla.
• May - one of the most useful species, which is made by bees from early flowering plants. It has pronounced antibacterial properties, so it should be in the diet of everyone who often suffers from colds and other infections.
• Lime. The taste of linden honey is very pleasant, and there are many benefits from it. It is indicated for most heart diseases, it also has antibacterial properties. If the product is used correctly, it can bring tremendous benefits to anyone in the treatment of various diseases with honey at home instead of official drugs.
• Forest and meadow honey from herbs, wheat, flowering trees has the same properties as May honey.
• Mint is honey that has a pronounced mint smell, yellow color. The product contains a lot of ascorbic acid. For such honey, this automatically means a vascular-strengthening effect, immuno-strengthening, antiseptic.
• Clover is a colorless and transparent product. The smell of honey is very weak. Not all bees can collect it, but only those with long proboscis, Caucasian, for example. But the beneficial properties of clover honey are very pronounced, if not unique. It is used to treat women's diseases, which is not the case with many other bee products.
• Raspberry is a very rare product that bees extract from raspberries. It is golden in color both liquid and solid. Among the medicinal properties of raspberry honey are antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, it can also be used to treat the reproductive system.
• Buckwheat. Buckwheat has a high honey productivity, which is why it is the most popular honey on the market. You can get it almost everywhere. The characteristics of the product are very positive. It is used to treat anemia, various vitamin deficiencies, to strengthen cell membranes (it has an effect similar to soy lecithin), to treat the heart. The product has a pronounced tart taste and pleasant aroma.
• Rape in properties does not differ from mustard and other classic ones, like wings from each other. Rarely causes allergies, contains a lot of glucose, which is why it thickens quickly. Recipes based on rapeseed honey in everyday life will be useful for the treatment of respiratory diseases.
• Chestnut is a dark product with a faint smell of chestnut flowers and a bitter taste. Useful properties of honey are in the treatment of diabetes, vascular diseases, kidneys, digestive tract.
• Heather has a rather specific color and tart taste, which is due to the presence of salts and a large amount of protein. This greatly affected the taste of heather honey - it is included in the list of low-grade varieties. But this is the only drop of tar. If it is not taken into account, honey is very useful.

There is also fruit, maple, cornflower blue, apple, sage and other bee products. It is quite typical for honey to have many different species, because there are many plants on the planet, and they can form extensive thickets, where it is enough to set up an apiary to collect a monofloral product.

artificial honey

How to cook honey? To do this, you just need to take sugar beets, melon and watermelon juices, corn and carry out acid hydrolysis or evaporate them. You will get a mixture of glucose and fructose, but not containing beneficial enzymes. It is diluted with a natural product and so it is faked.

Therefore, it is better to buy beekeeping products from trusted beekeepers and companies, such as Tentorium, or ask for a quality certificate. Thanks to these measures, the likelihood of buying a fake will decrease significantly, although it cannot be completely ruled out.

What is useful honey

This bee product has quite a lot of phytoncides - natural antibiotics that have a bactericidal effect. It also exhibits the following properties:

• anti-inflammatory;
• regenerating;
• tonic;
• normalizing the work of the gastrointestinal tract, the nervous system;
• immunostimulating;
• anti-sclerotic, etc.

It can also be of benefit to those wishing to overcome alcoholism. It is enough just to give a tablespoon of honey to a drinker every 30 minutes until an aversion to alcohol appears. The product is also an excellent energy drink, it is useful for athletes, students and people with an intense load.

Honey can also be used externally, because in this case it has an antimicrobial, disinfecting effect, for example, it treats cataracts when applied topically, cleansing. Since it contains many calories, it will be useful for recovery after surgeries.

Use in cosmetology

Bee products and sugar with honey are widely used in cosmetology, especially at home. So, you can make a mask with them:

• take 1 tbsp. a spoonful of dried chamomile and pour half a glass of boiling water;
• insist half an hour, after which they add to the mixture of art. a spoonful of honey;
• moisten the hair with the resulting preparation and wrap it for half an hour;
• after treatment, the head is washed with plain water without using shampoo.

The mask can be used to treat dry (2 times a month) and oily hair (once a week).

You can also simply rub about 10-15 g of the product into clean and wet hair for half an hour, after which everything is removed with water.

Treats the product and problematic facial skin. To do this, it is taken in the amount of one tablespoon, egg yolk and a tablespoon of vegetable oil are added. Everything is mixed and applied to the face gradually, in layers. The mask is removed from the face after 20 minutes. The procedure will contribute to a good mood and skin rejuvenation.

Bee products and weight loss

Bee nectar is such a healthy type of food that it can be used for dietary purposes to combat excess weight. And this despite the high caloric content of the substance. To do this, 15 minutes before a meal, drink a mixture of 1 tsp. substances and 0.5 cups of water, which will dull hunger and allow you to eat less food.

Application in cooking

Who doesn't have things like a honey spoon or honey container made of ceramic or wood? It is such a popular product that it has been used by everyone at least once, except perhaps for those who have allergies. Cupcakes, gingerbread, cakes, creams, cookies, desserts - all this is done with it.

In addition, everyone knows boiled mead, which is made from honey. There are many recipes for this alcoholic product: with turmeric, not composed of honey, but with other types, with different technologies, for example, it is customary somewhere not to dissolve in hot water, but to infuse for a longer time at natural temperature, etc.

Application during pregnancy

Many believe that pregnant women should refrain from a number of non-standard products, but bees are clearly not included here. If they are used wisely, without excess, there will only be benefits. If an overdose occurs, the child may be born with a congenital allergy. When would it be beneficial to use:

• to improve immunity;
• to normalize blood circulation, including the fetus;
• to relax the uterine muscles (prevention of miscarriage);
• to combat various types of inflammation.

Also, the bee product effectively eliminates the effects of toxicosis, fights vomiting if it is eaten in small quantities every day. It can be used externally to eliminate stretch marks. Therefore, in the early stages, it is recommended to take it every day both on its own and in a mixture with other beneficial substances.

But you should not make the decision to take it yourself, as honey products are not always safe. It is better to ask your doctor and follow the recommended dosage - no more than a teaspoon per day.

Harm of honey and contraindications for use

Although this is a very useful product, sometimes there are conditions in which the harm of honey is obvious. This is an allergy to the product, personal intolerance, increased acidity of the stomach, as well as children under 3 years of age.

The harm of honey can still be felt when using a low-quality product, for example, if you heat it, drink it with hot tea. Diabetes, stomach diseases, and also caries are possible. In other cases, this substance will only be useful and will not bring significant harm, so the bulk of the population may not worry and use it regularly.

How to choose a quality product

Bee products are quite often counterfeited. But fortunately, there are quite a few ways to check how much natural honey is in a jar. These are photographs of the real product, and the use of improvised means, and checking by external signs, and even laboratory control.

The natural substance is 100% flower nectar that the bee brought and processed. There is also pad, which resembles a natural product in properties, but is considered only partially natural. It has many useful properties, in some it even surpasses classic honey. But its disadvantage is that it quickly sours, has the worst taste, ferments, is poorly stored, and has no aroma.

Also on the market you can find artificial (mentioned above), sugar (obtained by bees from sugar syrup) and diluted product, as well as heated (thickened substance is turned into a liquid), sick (when the bees are sick and stuffed with drugs), with various kinds of additives and environmentally dirty.

General principles for choosing a quality product from a beekeeper

1. Find a reliable supplier who is guaranteed to produce high-quality and natural products.
2. If you need to change the beekeeper to a new one, you should take only a small amount to check the products. After all, not everything can be checked on the spot, and throwing a lot of money down the drain is not the most reasonable decision.
3. If the quality of honey is very important, it is better to order a professional analysis in the laboratory to get a guaranteed result.

1. Take a small amount of liquid honey on a stick and watch how it drains. If it stretches continuously and springs, then everything is fine, but if it drips, it is diluted or fake.
2. The consistency of the substance should be gentle, not rough, without any kind of inclusions, it is easily rubbed with fingers and absorbed.
3. In a real product, a piece of bread hardens.
4. If the product in the jar has stratified in color, consistency or size of crystals, it is not natural, because honey does not stratify.
5. It should also be uniform, without spots, of the same degree of density.
6. To simply check the product, it is enough to dilute it in milk - it should not curdle.
7. The smell of the product should be pleasant, fragrant, not have any impurities.
8. Real honey substance does not react with iodine.
9. Also, no precipitate should form when mixed with an equal amount of water.
10. If you turn the jar upside down, no more than one air bubble should pop up.
11. If the real product is rubbed over the surface, the chemical pencil will leave a normal mark without any color reactions.
12. Paper smeared with bee nectar will not burn, but only melt.
13. When the natural product is added, the tea will darken slightly, but there will be no sediment.
14. No foam or bubbles should be observed on the surface of liquid honey, as they indicate fermentation.
15. Also, nectar crystals should be star-shaped or needle-shaped and as small as possible. If they are large, it may be impurities of sugar or other components.
16. Well, the weight of this product should be at least 1.4 kg, excluding glass.

In stores, as a rule, the product is heated, stuffed with preservatives, and in general, under the guise of natural, they can sell something artificial. In addition, due to the sale in a packed state, it is impossible to check its condition before purchase.

Principles of storage of natural honey

How to store bee products so that they retain their quality as much as possible over time? It is not so easy to do this. To do this, it is necessary to exclude standard storage in the refrigerator, and the place of storage should not be under constant sunlight, in humidity, and should not be too warm.

It is better to store the product for no more than a year at 5-10 degrees Celsius and humidity no more than 65%. Failure to comply with the conditions will lead to fermentation and other undesirable processes.

From dishes it is better to choose something clay, glass, and preferably wooden (from linden), but in no case metal, as it will further contribute to fermentation. It is impossible to heat the product, because all the useful properties disappear, and the risk of fermentation increases. The maximum recommended temperature is 40 degrees.

The honey that has begun to ferment is heated, turning it into a liquid, and is also used as soon as possible. It is also strictly forbidden to mix different varieties, types of honey, as well as products of different collection times.