Why did the honey freeze? Reasons for rapid crystallization of honey and its connection with product quality

Ecology of consumption. Beekeeper Volodya (who is also an AI instructor) talks about how to protect yourself from counterfeit honey, which honey is better, what “May” honey is, how to dry pollen collected by bees, biologically active substances in honey and pollen, and many others bee products

It is remarkable how many prejudices and misconceptions there are about honey and other beekeeping products. For example, as a beekeeper, I was under the table laughing when I heard in a National Geographic documentary about insects the phrase that bees collect pollen from flowers and turn it into honey. This statement is equivalent to saying that sugar is made from meat!

I will try to clarify the true state of affairs in some of these cases.

Flower honey

Natural honey comes in flower and honeydew varieties. Flower honey is produced by bees from the nectar of flowering plants. Bees collect nectar consisting of water (from 50 to 80%) and sugars (up to 25% monosaccharides and up to 25% complex sugars, mainly sucrose), treat it with enzymes of the jaw glands and evaporate excess water from it. Under the action of enzymes, complex sugars are broken down into monosaccharides, and the acidity of honey also changes. These processes are called honey ripening.

The main components of honey: glucose and fructose - monosaccharides, which make up 80% of the mass of honey and are directly absorbed in the digestive tract, starting from the oral cavity, since they do not require previous treatment with digestive juices. On average, honey contains fructose - 38-44%, glucose - 31-36% and water - 17-21%, the energy value is 3150-3350 kcal, which is lower than the energy value of sugar (sucrose) - 4000 kcal. But it is sweeter than beet sugar due to fructose, which is 1.7 times sweeter than sucrose. Honey contains: sodium, potassium, magnesium, iron, chlorine, phosphorus, sulfur, iodine...

It is interesting and significant that the amount of some mineral salts in honey is almost the same as in human blood serum (!). Honey also contains biologically active low molecular weight ingredients (vitamins, amino acids, etc.). And although they are few, they are of great importance. When consumed, they help normalize the functions of the digestive tract, are quickly absorbed, and provide vital organs and tissues with valuable energy and plastic compounds. Honey also contains stimulants that increase the vital activity of the body, enzymes, macro- and microelements, hydrogen peroxide, herbal antibiotics, lysozyme, acetylcholine and other substances.

Honeydew honey: good or bad?

Honeydew honey is produced by bees not from nectar, but from honeydew, sweet secretions of insects such as aphids, mealybugs and psyllids, as well as from honeydew (there are plants that, in extreme heat, like some indoor flowers, secrete droplets of sweetness on their leaves and/or stems juice). Compared to flower honey, honeydew contains much more minerals and residual polysaccharides.

Here we immediately encounter the first misconception: honeydew honey is harmful and/or poisonous. This is not entirely true, not even true at all! The poisonousness or toxicity of honey depends on the type of plant from which the nectar or honeydew was collected. For example, nectar from rhododendron (azaleas), a beautiful park plant that blooms with yellow flowers in spring, contains very potent alkaloids.

Likewise, honeydew from belladonna or datura will be somewhat toxic. This honey will make your eyes pop out of your head. On the other hand, well-known researchers of beekeeping products, such as N. Yorish and S. Mladenov, in their clinical studies of the medicinal properties of honey, established that some varieties of honeydew honey, precisely due to the high content of mineral elements and other biologically active substances, are superior in therapeutic effect to many varieties of flower honey !

Liquid or crystallized honey

There are surprisingly many superstitions around whether honey should be liquid or crystallized. Honey can be either liquid or thick, crystallized. Liquid honey is usually available in the summer (July - August) during the period of its pumping. After 1 – 2 months it crystallizes. Moreover, the tendency to crystallization varies among different types of honey. And it depends, firstly, on the ratio of glucose and fructose in honey. The higher the percentage of glucose, the faster the honey crystallizes.

Secondly, it depends on the percentage of sugar such as melicitose, which falls out in small white, unsweetened-tasting crystals that serve as crystallization centers.

Thirdly, the faster the crystallization, the more pollen grains get into the honey.

Fourthly, on the percentage of minerals: the more there are, the faster the honey thickens. Complex sugars, especially dextrins, on the contrary, reduce the ability of honey to crystallize. The rate of crystallization also depends on temperature: in warm conditions, honey crystallizes more slowly and the crystals are smaller. Sometimes honey crystallizes evenly, and sometimes, especially if it has been sharply cooled, for example, transferred to a cellar, it “stratifies”: glucose falls out in crystals, and the fructose solution remains liquid. And this is normal for natural honey; this often happens with buckwheat honey.

Here it should immediately be noted that crystallization of honey can be prevented by pasteurization, i.e. heating to 57-63°C for 10-25 minutes. After this treatment, honey remains liquid for a long time, but its biological activity is sharply reduced. Therefore, if liquid honey is sold in winter or spring, there is a high probability that it is either pasteurized or adulterated. The exception is white acacia honey, which does not crystallize for a long time, and heather honey, which turns into a jelly-like mass. When rapeseed honey crystallizes, it acquires a consistency reminiscent of lard (rendered pork fat).

May honey

As a beekeeper, it’s funny for me to watch how people create a stir around some kind of “May honey”. Judge for yourself: honey can be buckwheat, linden, herbs and, suddenly, “May”. Why not June or August? After all, you don’t think that bees collect this cunning “May” honey from a calendar sheet! At best, this may mean that such honey was pumped out at the end of spring, and spring honey can be so different! After all, from the end of March to May, so many things bloom, and in each area it’s different. And bees, by the way, fly for nectar within a radius of a maximum of 4.5 km, and in general the productive radius of honey collection is considered to be 2.5-3 km. So it turns out that in one apiary spring honey can come from orchards, and in another from forest trees and dandelions. And the myth of “May honey” itself, as for me, is simply a mass delusion, supported by commercial interest: after all, such honey can be sold at a higher price.

Honey should be stored in the shade!

But no one at the market will ever, ever tell you that honey should not be exposed to sunlight! Meanwhile, this is perhaps the most important point: even scattered sunlight destroys almost all enzymes and biologically active substances in honey within 4-6 hours! And direct rays of the sun in just 10-15 minutes reduce to zero all that super biological activity and usefulness of honey, which should be appreciated. And you will buy a beautiful thick syrup made from monosaccharides, which, of course, is better than sugar, but not what you wanted. Therefore, it is extremely important to store honey correctly! Honey should be pumped under artificial light without ultraviolet light and preserved in the dark. Even on the table it should be served in an opaque container with a lid.

Honey for treatment

For treatment, honey should be chosen especially carefully, because when collected from different plants it has different medicinal properties. For example, acacia honey is a sedative, and chestnut is an excellent antiseptic, promotes good blood circulation, has a beneficial effect on the liver and prostate gland.

Rapeseed honey gives a high therapeutic effect for varicose ulcers, dandelion replaces diuretics and laxatives.

Sage honey It is effective for gastrointestinal diseases, helps regulate the menstrual cycle, and also has diaphoretic effects.

Linden honey recommended for colds, bronchial asthma, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Honey from yellow acacia (Japanese) strengthens capillary vessels and increases blood clotting. Apple berry has a beneficial effect on the heart muscle.

Mint has a choleretic, sedative and analgesic effect. Although in fairness it should be explained that purely monofloral honey, that is, collected by bees from one type of plant, is only found somewhere in Arizona on orange plantations, where except for orange trees nothing blooms to the horizon. Nature has provided for the health of bees in such a way that they always strive to diversify the species composition of honey. And about 20% of the honey will always come from some alternative sources, even if the apiary is located in the middle of some kind of honey-bearing plant, for example, a buckwheat field. Therefore, when we name a type of honey after a certain plant, we mean that this honey contains more than 50% nectar from this plant. And in Arizona, by the way, bees are fed vitamin supplements to prevent them from getting sick.

How to distinguish natural honey

Everyone is always interested in the question of how to determine the naturalness of honey and identify a fake. Well, firstly, there are many ways of falsification and, accordingly, many methods of testing honey for one or another method of falsification. I recommend that anyone interested read about this in Stoimir Mladenov’s book “Honey and Medical Treatment.”

And I won’t dwell on all these methods for this reason: the cheapest, easiest to implement and most common method of falsification is to feed sugar syrup to the bees. They will process it in the same way as they process nectar, and it will seem like honey, but not the same: such counterfeit does not contain those biologically active substances and microelements that make natural honey healing. In addition, there is an opinion in scientific circles, although controversial, that the monosaccharides of such honey, like white sugar itself, have an electron spin (roughly speaking, the electron spins in the opposite direction), opposite to the sugars of nectar, fruits, berries and honey. This is what makes white sugar “inedible” at the subcellular level, which is why it is “white death.”

But such counterfeit can only be determined in a serious laboratory; this cannot be done by any organoleptic (sight, taste and smell) methods.

Therefore, there is only one answer to the question of how to purchase guaranteed quality beekeeping products: you need to buy them from a beekeeper you can trust. That is, simply put, it all depends on the decency and moral principles of the beekeeper: there are many moments in the technological processes of beekeeping where it is easier and cheaper to cheat than to do everything right.

How to use honey

It can be done in different ways. There are different estimates of whether honey can be added to hot tea. Of course, at high temperatures the tea loses some of its properties. For example, I eat honey as a bite with tea, Goltis says that it bothers him, and he adds honey to tea - it’s not fatal, here everyone decides for himself what’s more convenient for him. Honey dissolved in water or tea at room temperature is most fully and quickly absorbed.

About the benefits of pollen

Why is pollen mixed with honey healthier? There are two nuances here. Firstly, you can mix dried pollen with honey, or you can mix fresh pollen. Here it should be clarified that pollen in the form in which it is familiar to the buyer (something like multi-colored cereals) is dried bee pollen. Bees, collecting pollen, moisten it with nectar and put it in lumps on their hind legs. Cunning beekeepers came up with this thing:

When the bees “squeeze” home through these small holes, part of the pollen from the hind legs clings to the edges and falls through the grate into the box. This pollen has high humidity and rubs between your fingers like damp powdered sugar. In this form it is not stored for a long time, so it is dried. But in such a fresh form it has all its 100% activity and usefulness.

For long-term storage for ourselves, we always prefer to mix fresh pollen with honey. The gain here is double. Firstly, honey prevents the oxidation of pollen by air oxygen, and thus extends the shelf life of its usefulness. And, secondly, it makes it easier for the body to absorb pollen.

The fact is that each pollen grain is a microscopic capsule containing two cells, simply “pumped” with highly concentrated biologically active substances, vitamins, amino acids and microelements. This capsule looks like something like a round basket woven from cellulose, and all the holes in this basket are covered with starch. Cellulose, as is known, is not digested by the human body, and the capsule itself is so small that we cannot bite through it. The entire digestion of pollen consists of the breakdown of starch “plugs” by salivary amylolytic enzymes and diffuse absorption of the contents of the pollen grain. That is why Goltis prescribes the absorption of pollen.

When mixed with honey, the breakdown of pollen starch begins to occur immediately in the mixture due to the amylolytic enzyme of honey, diastase. And the pollen BAS gradually goes into solution.

It should also be noted here that different types of honey contain different amounts of diastase: the most in buckwheat and the least in acacia. Therefore, the choice of honey variety for pollen preservation is not the least important.

Bee products

Here is just a small part of what can be told about beekeeping products. But in addition to honey and pollen, there is also propolis, dead bees, drone homogenate, wax moths and, of course, royal jelly. It has been experimentally proven that a person can eat only beekeeping products indefinitely - and they will more than provide all needs even with super-intense physical activity.

I myself spent 2 and 1 month twice in the spring-summer period, eating only honey, pollen and berries. Before starting AI classes, these were the periods of the best health in my life. After attending the seminar, I started an experiment on myself: the bulk of my current diet consists of products from our apiary. I'm sure the results will be great. With all my heart I wish all practicing students perseverance and perseverance in mastering this wonderful technique! published

The liquid consistency of honey does not always mean that it is natural and fresh. If in the middle of winter you are offered to purchase a liquid product, then at best it is honey, preheated to give it a marketable appearance, and at worst it is counterfeit, made from something unknown. Although there are exceptions to this rule: certain varieties can retain a liquid consistency for a long time without losing their beneficial properties.

Experienced beekeepers know when real honey should be candied, and therefore can easily identify fake honey.

Conditions for candiing natural honey

The natural sweet substance is candied from two weeks to two months, with rare exceptions. The product consists of 90% fructose and glucose, the ratio of which determines the speed of its sugaring - if glucose predominates in the composition, honey becomes solid very quickly, and if the fructose content is increased, then the sweet substance can maintain a liquid consistency for a year or even more .

In addition, the rate of crystallization may depend on the influence of certain external factors:

product storage temperature;
processing before packaging;
air humidity;
degree of maturity.

As a rule, it begins to crystallize at temperatures from 4 to 27 degrees Celsius (optimal - 15 degrees). If the temperature falls below or above these limits, sugaring is suspended until favorable conditions occur.

Too rapid crystallization may be an indicator of an increased content of pollen and solid impurities in the product. A high concentration of liquid due to immaturity or absorption of excessive moisture from the air, on the contrary, slows down the crystallization process.

There is one simple way to distinguish a natural product from a counterfeit: you need to rub a small drop of it between your fingers. The real product applies evenly, melts and is absorbed into the skin, while the fake product rolls up in lumps.

Product properties and reasons for crystallization

The crystallization process does not affect the healing properties of the sweet mass at all - it remains as healthy as fresh. Sugaring does not affect the shelf life in any way - on the contrary, the harder the product, the less likely it is that it will spoil, since crystallized honey is much less exposed to air and light.

Regardless of the variety and storage conditions, any real honey sooner or later changes its structure and crystallizes. If the sweet mass remains liquid for three or more years, it is probably a fake.

So, a natural product must be candied during storage. But sometimes it happens that a sweet substance, purchased just the other day, begins to show a tendency to crystallize. Noticing this process, the buyer begins to worry, wondering if he really purchased a real and fresh product.

If recently purchased honey has begun to crystallize, there is no need to worry too much about this - perhaps it is a variety with a high glucose content, or its storage temperature was favorable for the sugaring process. However, rapid sugaring can also mean that an old product that has already thickened has been added to a fresh, recently pumped out product.

It is impossible to give a definite answer to the question of when honey should be candied, since the rate of crystallization is associated with numerous factors - in particular, storage temperature and variety. Buckwheat, rapeseed and sunflower thicken the fastest, while acacia, heather and chestnut thicken the slowest.

Why doesn't honey crystallize?

Varieties in which glucose predominates tend to remain liquid for a very long time. This is a natural condition and should not cause concern. However, it also happens that the sweet mass loses its ability to be candied due to external intervention.

Honey is a very healing viscous liquid. In recent years it has become especially popular. This unique product is used by medical specialists, cosmetologists and chefs. Mainly in the spring, it enriches the tired human body with necessary and essential vitamins. But in the spring this product becomes quite thick. Most people believe that crystallization is not a natural or fresh product. It was as if sugar syrup had been added to it or the bees had been fed sugar.

Crystallization is a natural and very subtle process. Fresh honey, containing a large amount of sucrose, can thicken quickly. Real honey crystallizes, but fake honey does not, or very poorly. In fact, crystallization does not lose its beneficial properties at all. Therefore, people should wonder if the product has not thickened. Natural floral honey product usually begins to thicken after pumping out after two to three months. Honey that is too liquid is a property of unripe nectar, that is, the product has not been kept sufficiently in the combs.

In spring, last year's nectar is most useful. Since during this time the fermentation processes have come to an end. This product is most easily absorbed by the human body. Those who know about this do not buy it in the summer, when they are just pumping it out of the hives, but last year’s product. This aged honey is especially valued, just like aged wine. Last year's bee product is much less likely to cause allergies than fresh and liquid honey. The candied bee product does not burden the pancreas and does not upset the intestinal mucosa.

Video: Crystallization and thickening of honey

Why is the bee product liquid?

Density is determined both by the amount of water concentrate in the content and by storage conditions. Want to know how to make honey runny? If desired, it can be melted, but when heated, it may lose its beneficial qualities. They will simply evaporate during the heating process. It is very important to keep the container of honey over low heat, which will eliminate the loss of some valuable enzymes.

It is impossible to answer unequivocally; honey should have a thick consistency or liquid. It depends on the variety in front of your eyes. The liquid variety should not be cloudy, and the crystallized variety should not contain heterogeneity or stratification.

Liquid honey

Fresh honey, in most cases, is a viscous liquid. It is normal for the recently pumped product to become denser after 2 months. Such a viscous liquid will become solid over time. Liquid honey contains more than 30% moisture. The most liquid mass is a sign of a low-quality and counterfeit product.

The solidification of the liquid variety depends on its carbohydrate content. Sucrose and glucose undergo the solidification process, while fructose remains in liquid form. The more fructose it contains, the longer it will remain liquid. Also, the rate of crystallization is influenced by botanical occurrence.

thick honey

Thick honey contains liquid within 15%. This product contains a lot of sugars and glucose. This type is characterized by heavy weight and high viscosity. Some types of honey crystallize most quickly. The opinion that liquid honey is better is erroneous. The beneficial properties of liquid and thick honey are identical in quality. Consistency does not affect the positive effects of honey on the body. Solid honey is of high quality if there are no peelings on the surface.

Varieties

There are different varieties that have different colors. Bee product can be brown, black, white, yellow. The secret of color directly depends on which plants the bees collected nectar from. But the most common color is yellow in various shades. Why does honey have a yellow tint? Yellow is the most common color, as a significant proportion of plants produce this color. Varieties of meadow grass also give honey a yellow color. A real bee product must be transparent in consistency and have a typical aroma, color and taste.

If the color of the product is dark, it means that the nectar was collected by bees from flowers that give this shade. Most species with a brown tint are floral. In the case when the honey has become very dark, therefore, the product has been stored for a long time. These varieties contain more iron, which makes them very useful. Of course, the dark variety can also be faked by feeding the bees tinted or burnt sugar. However, such a fake is easy to recognize and difficult to make. When purchasing a dark variety, you can be sure of the presence of a small proportion of sugar in it.

Regardless of color, each variety of real bee sweetness has a very good effect on human life. Almost every type affects the performance of the heart, improves immunity, enhances potency and encourages the intestines to function normally.

With all its diversity, real honey must be of high quality.

The main reasons for crystallization

Honey is a very healthy solution containing a lot of glucose. After some time, glucose itself turns into crystals under the influence of other components of the viscous liquid. The formation of these crystals gives rise to the sugaring of nectar. The bee product begins to be candied from the bottom of the container, since a huge number of crystals, due to their heaviness, settle at the bottom.

But the crystallization process often does not occur in exactly the same way. If there is a large amount of fructose rather than glucose, honey can remain liquid for a long time and should not thicken. On the contrary, the nectar should become very thick in a short time, and this dense mass will also acquire a yellow color. We list the three main reasons for crystallization:

Presence of large amounts of glucose
Minimum water content
Honey maturity

The main thing that the buyer must take into account is that natural nectar must undoubtedly thicken. When you see liquid honey on the shelves in winter, you know that it has either been heated or is not natural. Treat this product with caution. Nowadays, real honey product has become a rarity.

How to store correctly

The melted bee sweetness is stored in a closed container in a cool and dark place. Under such conditions, the beneficial properties will be preserved. Nectar should not be kept at high temperatures, or in places below 5 degrees, otherwise this storage will contribute to the destruction of beneficial enzymes, as well as the appearance of a toxic substance. If the product has become darker, this was due to improper storage in a warm place. Pay attention to the photo below. It follows that if stored improperly, the product will lose its taste and healing properties. If the nectar begins to have a weak odor and lose aromatic substances, it means that it is stored without being tightly closed.

Video: The myth of honey crystallization

Health Benefits

Bees collect flower nectar containing formic acid. This acid is also present in the nectar content. It is thanks to her that it is used for medicinal purposes for diseases of the throat and bronchi. This sweetness can have a calming effect. Warm milk with honey has a beneficial effect on human sleep. But you should take into account the fact that this nectar, like sugar, can develop dental caries.

If the purchased product has delaminated, you should find out the reasons. Why is this happening? Often, after purchasing nectar, people notice that it splits into two parts of different consistency and color. Most people believe that if a product is peeling, it is a sign of a fake. There are several factors for layering:

Overheat
Tricks to increase quantity
Extremely early pitching
Merger of several varieties

If fresh honey begins to separate, as shown in the photo below, you should mix in a little of last year’s shriveled variety and beat the whole mass until it has a white consistency, then place it in a cool place.

What consistency and color should a natural product be, why is honey runny or too thick, and how to distinguish a real product from a fake? It is not so easy for a beginner, and even people who are not involved in beekeeping professionally, to understand these issues. In addition, more and more often you can encounter scammers who offer counterfeit products instead of this valuable product. Let's try to find out which honey is liquid and remains so for a long time. So let's get started.

A little about honey

Natural honey is a product with exceptional taste and nutritional qualities. This is a fairly high-calorie product (about 328 kcal), and its composition is close to blood plasma. 200 g of honey is equivalent in nutritional value to 480 g of fish oil. Honey improves metabolism, enhances digestion, stimulates appetite, and increases hemoglobin. Helps with cardiovascular diseases, as well as liver and stomach. This product contains folic acid, which has a beneficial effect on the growth and development of children. It is even called the elixir of youth. You should pay attention to the fact that one liter of mature honey should contain 1.4 kilograms.

When to buy?

Just buy in summer or fall. It is during this period that the working bees begin their work, which will continue until the last fine days. At this time, fresh liquid honey is obtained, which is how it is collected from bee honeycombs. Over time, the moisture evaporates and it begins to thicken.

What influences the choice?

Let's take a closer look at the quality of the natural product. This will help you not make a mistake with your choice.

Consistency

This is the first sign of a quality product. The mass must be homogeneous; no separation or precipitation is allowed. The consistency of the product directly depends on the time of year and air temperature. In the summer, when they start pumping it, the honey is liquid; closer to winter, the consistency becomes thicker. Usually, with the onset of cold weather, a process begins - it becomes thicker, lighter and more cloudy. The exception is acacia honey, which crystallizes much later. Natural honey cannot have a liquid consistency in winter. If in winter the honey has a liquid consistency, this indicates that it was heated on the stove or the bees were fed sugar.

Fluidity

The following method is used to test only young liquid honey: you need to scoop it into a jar with a spoon and lift it up; natural honey lasts a very long time and flows down in a continuous stream. If you put it on a plate, it lies in a heap, and only then spreads over the surface. You can take a spoon with nectar and twist it around its axis, a high-quality product will wrap around it, and unripe honey will flow right away. If you take a little honey and rub it between your fingers, the natural one will be immediately absorbed, and the fake one will turn into a lump.

Taste

The taste of real honey is not only sweet, it should also be slightly bitter, cause a slight sore throat and have a tart taste.

Aroma

Natural honey has a pleasant, unobtrusive scent of flowers. A counterfeit product either has no aroma at all, or it can be sharp and reek of caramel.

Color

The color of the finished product directly depends on which honey plant the bees collected nectar from. Linden honey is amber, buckwheat honey is brown, and flower honey has a light shade. The white color indicates that the bees were fed sugar.

How to make honey liquid?

Making honey liquid is not difficult; to do this, you can melt the crystallized product. However, it should be remembered that when heated above 40°C, all useful substances disappear from it, which is not so scary. When this product melts, a substance is formed - oxymethylfurfural, which is a real poison. You can heat honey in three ways:

The most popular way is to heat the honey in a water bath (in water up to 40°C).
Leave the honey in a room with a fairly high temperature (for example, in a bathhouse).
And the last thing you should consider is melting on the stove; do not forget about the poison content.

Why is honey liquid?

The answer is quite simple - fresh, just pumped honey contains about 22 percent water. After some time, the liquid evaporates and the crystallization process begins. The consistency of the product may vary, depending on the variety and storage temperature.

Which honey is better - thick or liquid?

Honey lovers often wonder which honey is better and healthier - thick or liquid? The answer is simple: crystallization does not impair the quality of honey in any way. If the mass is homogeneous with sugar crystals, this is considered the norm for such a product. The benefits of honey depend on which honey plants it is collected from.

Unripe honey

Sometimes purchased honey with a liquid consistency exhibits stratification, the thick fraction settles at the bottom, and the liquid fraction, on the contrary, rises to the top, there are no sugar crystals. This means that the purchased product is immature, most likely the temperature regime has been disturbed, as a result of which the honey has high humidity. Therefore, aging honey is very important. A low-quality product may soon foam and ferment.

Varieties

Among natural varieties of honey, there are some that are candied later than others. This must be taken into account when purchasing.

May

This honey is the earliest, it begins to be pumped out in the first month of summer. For him, bees collect pollen from the very first honey plants: bird cherry, apple tree, cherry, lily of the valley. It is considered one of the most valuable varieties of natural honey. This variety contains a lot of fructose. It is known that they often sell counterfeits as it is very similar to the product produced after feeding sugar syrup to bees. It is better to buy this honey in the fall, when it has aged well.

Acacia

The white variety of honey has a unique aroma and taste. It contains 40% fructose and 35% glucose, as a result of this and thanks to the moisture it contains, the product does not crystallize for 1-2 years. Acacia honey is very liquid, as if it had just been pumped out, and retains this consistency for quite a long time.

Chestnut

True chestnut color and very viscous consistency. The process of its crystallization takes from six months to a year, but even in this form it has an excellent taste. Hardened honey crystals look like gelatin granules. During long-term storage, its structure becomes more coarse-grained. This variety has the ability to flake, but this does not mean that it is not real, but is considered to be its special quality.

Lime

This is another white variety of honey, just like acacia honey, it is stored in liquid form - from 1.5 to 3 months. Linden honey has a viscous consistency. When crystallized, it becomes like semolina porridge with lumps.

Buckwheat

The variety is dark in color, and comes in orange and brown colors. Contains a huge amount of minerals. Honey has a rather tart taste with a hint of bitterness. When you eat it, your throat may feel a little sore. It crystallizes very quickly, so it must be stored correctly. Recommended for use to boost immunity.

How to store it correctly?

It is necessary to choose the right container for storing honey. For this purpose, you can use glass, ceramic, wooden, and metal containers. In a room intended for storing the product, the temperature can be from +6 to +20 degrees, but at room temperature, the crystallization process will begin much earlier. If your refrigerator has a dry freezing function, honey can be stored there too. This product has the ability to absorb odors, so it is recommended to store it separately. It should not be placed in a bright place; light destroys its antimicrobial properties. During storage, liquid honey becomes cloudy, darkens, and becomes thicker - this is a completely normal stage of its ripening.

Anyone who loves honey is probably wondering what happens to the honey mass when it thickens and why does it become less liquid? We will help you figure out why honey thickens quickly, talk about this unusual process and reveal its secrets!

There are several reasons for the onset of such a process, and all of them are caused mainly by the specifics of the substance. As you know, honey is a substance located between a liquid and a solid state; physicists would call it an amorphous substance. This is true, because under certain conditions this sweetness can thicken faster or slower.

The planting process is affected by:

percentage of water in the substance;
storage time, degree of freshness;
sugar spectrum;
number of crystal nuclei;
additional processing processes.

What is the sugar spectrum of honey?

The combination of glucose and fructose in honey is called the sugar spectrum. In flower honeys, this indicator reaches 80%, in honeydews – almost 60%. Both fructose and glucose are monosaccharides, and are born from sucrose in nectar, thanks to special enzymes that bees secrete.

Different types of sweet products have different levels of monosaccharides, but fructose often predominates. It is the sugar spectrum, along with other factors, that determines how honey will crystallize.

The amount of fructose in the raw material determines how quickly the product will thicken. When there is enough of this component, the bee gift will not soon become hard, but if it does thicken, it will separate and will not lose its softness. Rich in fructose can be recognized in a thickened state by dividing the mass in the jar into two layers: the lower one is lighter, with crystals, and the upper one is dark and liquid. Such a product does not look marketable, and it is quite difficult to sell it.

When should real honey thicken?

How quickly honey thickens is also directly influenced by the amount of water in the mass relative to glucose. If the latter is several times more than water, the raw material will certainly begin to thicken.

In other words, when the mass is more saturated with glucose, it hardens faster. Why? Because honey naturally contains many times more sugars than is necessary for them to remain liquid at normal storage temperatures.

A real, high-quality bee product thickens in different ways, so it is impossible to say that the raw material thickened incorrectly. The more water there is in honey, the longer it will remain soft and the higher its viscosity.

The so-called cream honey has the highest viscosity; it literally falls into a spoon like cream and is carefully spread on bread. More attention should be paid in the market, because it is quite difficult to recognize a fake product.

Too, which does not hold its shape on any surface at all, should raise suspicions. And if you drop it on paper and notice wet marks around the sweet spot, then you can confidently say that you bought a fake! Despite the thickening process, the bee gift should not smell like flowers, but only like honey. An exception may be raw materials obtained from fireweed nectar, in which case the smell will be specific and pungent.

How to distinguish a real product from a fake by crystallization?

Let us immediately note that any honey must crystallize, regardless of the variety. This is a natural process and even if it does not happen quickly, it still takes place. So, how can you determine by the crystallization process whether you bought a fake? If the jars containing the sweetness are kept cool, the honey will thicken slowly. But if, even in a warm place, the product does not change its consistency at all, there is already reason to think about it.

The correct temperature at which it works best is around 18°C. At the same time, it is good to store a mass with large crystals at an average temperature, and a small-crystal mass in a cool place (basement, cellar). Seed crystals, which were mentioned at the very beginning, are also called crystallization centers. They consist of glucose, of which, as we already know, the more, the better for thickening.

Good evenly! The process occurs carefully, without delamination of the mass. If the jar contains different varieties, mixed, and even diluted with water or syrups, this will be immediately noticeable. How exactly? By dividing into “tiers” and forming a liquid layer at the top of the jar.

If the mineral composition of bee gold is normal, its viscosity will be optimal, and the tongue will feel soft and delicate. A low-quality, counterfeit product is also prone to fermentation, therefore, if foam is visible in the jar, you should not buy such a product.