Which honey is the best?
Each species has its own taste and useful properties. Buckwheat considered good for anemia, hawthorn – at increased pressure, linden honey – with a cold … It’s already a matter of taste, which honey to choose. You can take a little of each variety – and decide. Many believe that the best honey – the first pumping, sold since the middle of summer, it is also called May. But in fact, such honey is quite rare. It is mainly harvested in the southern regions during the flowering period of acacia and other spring honey plants. In the central regions and, moreover, in Siberia honey first pumping collect a little, and it is very expensive. This is as rare as monofloral honey (the one that bees get from one plant species).
When buying, remember that unscrupulous sellers can sell under the guise of fresh May honey of the first pumping – a warmed up old one, and under the guise of a monofloral – forbs with a predominance of any plant-melliferous plant. After all, in order for bees to collect honey from one flowering plant, its “plantations” around the apiary should occupy hectares.
How to choose the right honey?
It is worth buying honey at official points of sale – in specialized stores, at equipped places in markets and honey fairs, where the goods comply with GOST, and the quality of each variety is confirmed not only by the seller’s words that this honey is the best, but also by a certificate that the seller must present upon request.
Coming to choose honey, you can be smart. For example, say that you are from some beekeeping support society, ask for certificates, pollen analysis protocols, say that you are purchasing samples for analysis – and see the reaction of the sellers.
Also, in order to choose the “right” honey, it is worth paying attention to the average price: any product offered at an ultra-low price should raise suspicions of falsification. And here find good honey only professionals can taste, smell and look. For example, honey may smell like linden blossom and taste like linden, but it will contain only 10% linden pollen. The most innocuous deception of buyers is “misgrading”, when cheaper varieties are passed off as expensive ones.
Quality honey, what is it?
Mature honey thicker and weighs more, if you scoop it up with a spoon, it flows down slowly, forming a slide, and when the spoon rotates, it winds around it. Unripe honey liquid, it flows easily from a spoon and spreads quickly.
Many people believe that if honey is liquid, then it is good, but candied and thickened – not. In fact, how quickly honey crystallizes has nothing to do with its quality. If it contains a lot of fructose, even the best honey begins to exfoliate quickly. Some species (for example, rape) crystallize within a week after harvest. And the only honey that does not crystallize in principle is surrogate, made from sugar, corn, melon juice and other sugary substances, and then colored.
Liquid honey it also may not always turn out to be good – here it is more worth trusting the certificate, which the seller must have, than the consistency. If the old honey was melted or the bees were fed with sugar syrup, such honey will also be liquid and beautiful in appearance, but you cannot call it high-quality.
How to choose good honey and recognize bad honey
Dissolve a teaspoon of honey in a glass of water – if it becomes cloudy, then this is most likely a fake.
You can drop a few drops of iodine into honey diluted in water: the solution should turn yellow, in any other case, you should be on your guard.
If the purchased honey is not sugared and remains liquid for more than 6-8 months, this may indicate its falsification.