How to Identify True and False Honey Crystals _ Skills of Identifying True and False Honey Crystals

Honey is rich in trace elements such as copper and zinc. After honey is left for a period of time, due to the change of temperature and humidity, it will form white, amber, dark brown, black and other pastes and solids at the bottom of the container or in the whole container. This phenomenon is called honey crystallization. So, how to identify true and false honey crystals? I'll tell you next.

The skill crystallization of distinguishing true and false honey is the natural attribute of natural pure honey. After fresh honey comes out of the hive, it is usually liquid. With the change of temperature and humidity in the storage environment, most honey will gradually crystallize, from liquid to sticky paste, and even caking will occur with high degree of crystallization. When the ambient temperature rises above 30 degrees Celsius, the crystalline honey will gradually melt (but will not return to its original state).

Because the honey source is different, the degree of crystallization is also different. Individual honey is difficult to crystallize, and only semi-crystallization or thickening occurs at low temperature. For example, linden honey crystals are fine and butter honey particles are coarse. For honey from the same honey source, the crystals with high honey concentration are dense and fine, while those with low honey concentration are loose and rough.

Unscrupulous vendors artificially make crystals in low-quality honey for profit, which are generally derived from sucrose, and can be comprehensively identified by the following two simple methods:

1. Take some crystallized honey, put it on the tip of your tongue, and then put it in your mouth. If you can feel it gradually melting naturally, it is the natural crystallization of honey. If it melts slowly and has a strong sense of sand, it may be the problem honey.

2. Take a little honey and put it on the back of your left hand, then gently massage the back of your left hand with your right hand. You will feel that the crystal will gradually disappear from small particles, and the feeling of touching the skin will gradually become smooth from fine sand particles. This is a natural crystal. Therefore, honey is often used as one of the raw materials of cosmetics.

Why does honey crystallize? First of all, we must understand the basic ingredients of honey. Honey contains a variety of nutrients, and sugar accounts for about 80% of the total substances, among which fructose and glucose supersaturated solution account for 85-95% of the total sugar, and sucrose accounts for about 5%. Because glucose is easy to crystallize, the separated honey will gradually crystallize if it is left at low temperature (0- 14 degrees) for a period of time, so the crystallization of honey is actually caused by glucose in honey, which mainly depends on the ratio between glucose and fructose (not easy to crystallize), that is, the percentage of glucose in reducing sugar. Generally speaking, when the contents of glucose and fructose are equal, the crystallization is slow; When the ratio is 1: 2, crystallization generally does not occur; When the ratio is 1: 0.9, that is, when the glucose content is higher than the fructose content, crystallization will occur soon when the temperature is appropriate. For example, the ratio of glucose to fructose in Sophora japonica honey [4] is about 2: 3, which is not easy to crystallize; Rapeseed honey is about 18: 17, but the crystallization speed is very fast.

Influencing factors of honey crystallization The speed of honey crystallization is related to its glucose crystal nucleus, temperature, moisture and honey source. The crystal nucleus of glucose in honey is small, and there are pollen grains in honey. Under certain conditions, the glucose in honey grows and crystallizes around these tiny crystal nuclei. The more crystal nuclei contained in honey, the faster the crystallization rate. The crystallization speed of honey is also affected by temperature, and 13- 14℃ is the easiest to crystallize. If it is lower than this temperature, honey crystallization will be delayed because of its viscosity increase. If it is higher than this temperature, the solubility of sugar will increase, thus reducing the supersaturation of solution and slowing down crystallization. In addition, all crystallized honey is generally immature honey with low water content and high water content, which will slow down the crystallization speed or make the crystallization incomplete due to the decrease of supersaturation of the solution. Different kinds of honey have different crystallization, such as milk vetch honey, locust honey, jujube honey [5], dangshen honey, etc., which are not easy to crystallize; Rapeseed honey, wild croton honey and cotton honey are easy to crystallize.

False honey does not crystallize. Honey is a supersaturated solution of sugar, and most of it will crystallize out during storage, resulting in stratification or solids, which will affect the sensory characteristics of honey and the shelf performance of goods. Merchants do what consumers like and process honey (crystal nucleus crushing process). Usually, a large number of honey crystal nuclei are filtered by a screen with a mesh of more than 200 meshes, and heated at a temperature of more than 77 degrees to melt and remove them, so that they do not crystallize or crystallize less. There are also bad manufacturers who directly mix malt syrup into honey, so that honey will never crystallize!

Concentrated water by mechanical processing, crystal nucleus is removed, and it is not easy to crystallize. This kind of honey has a bad taste, mushy taste, high consistency, no fragrance, almost the same deep color, and there is not much difference in the flavor of honey varieties from various flower sources. However, the single nectar of natural honey with various flower sources has its color, fragrance,

The taste is completely different, and the unique flavor will not be the same. Moreover, most honey seeds will crystallize in winter, and their nutritional value is unmatched by processed concentrated honey. This is the difference between natural mature honey and processed concentrated honey.

In addition, affected by the weather, some beekeeping farms in China have more rain, forming natural low-alcohol honey (honey with water content above 23% or below 40 degrees). This kind of low-alcohol honey is easy to ferment, and the fermentation is characterized by bottle swelling, foaming and becoming slightly sour. Everyone has different taste preferences, but many customers prefer this slightly sour lick in hot summer, but refrigeration can delay fermentation.