Did you know that there is real honey and fake honey? Without knowing how to check purity of honey, it will be difficult to tell and identify the difference. You can do this at home, but how? Here’s a guide on how to test the purity of honey at home using simple tests.
Without distinguishing the difference between pure and fake honey, you will end up buying bad products. There are a lot of adulteration of honey, which makes it not real yet sold as the real thing. In 2001, the American FTC imposed stiff tariffs on what we know as Chinese honey as an aftermath of the scandals to do with cheap adulterated Chinese honey on American food markets. So, what is pure honey?
What is Pure, Real Honey?
As you would expect, real honey should not come from a factory but from bees. The most common references to real and pure honey are organic and natural honey. It is not an easy task to know that this or that is fake or real. You will need tests to distinguish between the two since it has been found out that most of products you see in stores are not really the organic product you are looking for.
How to check purity of honey at home
How to check purity of honey at home – thickness test
What is Fake Honey?
On the other hand, what you are likely to be consuming could be fake honey. So, what is fake? Also called adulterated, impure or artificial honey, this one has been added sugar syrups, molasses, corn syrup, dextrose, and other flavors and additives.
In one of the tests postulated by GHgeochem, it is suggested that “If a pure honey has been adulterated with corn syrup, the isotope ratio will fall some way between the two values and hence adulteration will have been proved.” This clearly proves that most of the honey products that are claimed to be pure have corn syrup added to them.
How to Test Purity of Honey
From determining the isotopic composition in laboratories to testing for pure honey at home, there are quite a number of methods you can use to determine or know if honey is fake or pure. In this section, we will describe simple tests to help you distinguish what is organic from nectar and what is not to help you know identify falsified honey.
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| The Bread Test |
The Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis
One of the commonly methods used to test the purity of honey is the carbon isotope test. The process is complex and may be used at an industry level for people who want to sell in large quantities. However, if you want to know how to check purity of honey at home, use the methods described below.
In the carbon isotope analysis method, the FlashEA Elemental Analyzer or the DELTA V Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer methods are used. See the method here.
Simple properties such as thickness can easily tell if honey is fake or real. In fact one of the ways to check the purity of honey is to look at its density or thickness. Pure honey is visibly thick and will take noticeable time to move from one side of a container to another while fake honey will simply run, though not as quickly as water does.
How to Check the Purity of Honey at Home
According to Natural Nigerian, most producers will dilute nectar-made honey with molasses and sugar syrup in order to boost their profits. To boost the thickness of the honey, some will add to it flour, sand, sawdust or even ground chalk. In order to check the purity of honey at home, here’s what to do:
There have been many revelations about the honey sold in supermarkets.
There have been many revelations about the honey sold in supermarkets.
Thumb Test
Here’s the procedure to do a thumb test:
Put a small drop of the honey you have on your thumb
Check to see if it spills or spreads around
If it does, it is not pure
Pure honey will stay intact on your thumb
The Water Test to Spot Fake Honey
Here’s how to do the water test:
The bread test
The bread test
Fill a glass with water
Add one tablespoon of honey into the glass
Adulterated or artificial honey will dissolve in water and you will see it around the glass
Pure honey on the other hand will settle right at the bottom of your glass
The Flame Test to Know Pure Honey
Did you know that organic honey is flammable? Here’s a test to know 100% pure organic honey.
Take a dry matchstick
Dip its tip right into the honey
Strike the stick on the matchbox as if to light it
If the honey is pure, the matchstick will light with ease
The flame will also keep burning off the honey
However, if it is with impurities, it will not light because fake honey contains moisture as one of the impurities
These are some of the simple and common ways to test pure honey at home. Another common method to tell the difference is as follows: add some water and 2-3 drops of vinegar essence into the honey and mix well. If the solution becomes foamy, that is definitely adulterated honey.
How to Tell the Difference between Pure and Fake Honey
By examining the physical qualities of honey, it is very easy to know whether this is pure or impure honey. Below are some of the main differences in properties that will help you distinguish between the real and unreal thing. It is very easy to notice the impurities although this may require some practice first. These differences will help you know how to identify fake honey, or how to tell if honey is pure and real.
Fake Honey Properties Pure Honey Properties
Foams Does not foam under any circumstance
Impure honey is runny and will drip easily Is quite thick and only trickles in a stream
Will have a rough texture and clumps Soft texture – think filament-like
Separates easily into layers Never separates into layers
May smell sour, or have no smell Has the aroma of honey
Without knowing how to check pure honey, it is easy to fall for any product that does not have the real qualities you are looking for. As most of us may not be knowing yet, artificial honey is one of those foods with so many side effects and shortcomings. It is normally a synthetic preparation that is fast absorbed in the body.
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