Question:   What is artificial honey?

Answer: Artificial honey is a product obtained without the participation of a bee, in appearance, aroma and taste similar to natural honey. Various technologies are used for the preparation of artificial honey, up to biotechnologies, using various raw materials: sugar, caramel syrup, fruit juices, etc. Of course, artificial honey does not have the beneficial properties that natural honey has. However, it is well absorbed, often in terms of the content of its main components, glucose and fructose, it approaches natural honey and is more affordable. Various honey flavors are used to add flavor to artificial honey. Artificial honey should be labeled accordingly. In many countries, sugar-based artificial honey is produced for people with diabetes.

Question: Available for sale biologically active additives (BAA) based on honey. What is a dietary supplement and why are such products needed? Answer: Biologically active food additives (BAA) are compositions of natural or identical to natural biologically active, intended for direct intake with food or introduction into food products. They are divided into two categories: nutraceuticals and parapharmaceuticals. Nutraceuticals are biologically active food additives used to correct the chemical composition of human food (additional sources of nutrients: proteins, amino acids, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber).

Parapharmaceuticals are biologically active food additives used for prophylaxis, adjunctive therapy, and maintaining the functional activity of organs and systems within the physiological boundaries. The use of dietary supplements allows you to:

Without increasing the calorie intake, eliminate the deficiency of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients that is universally found in the majority of adults and children;

Individualize the nutrition of a specific healthy person depending on their gender, age, weight, intensity of physical activity, etc .;

Satisfy the altered physiological needs for nutrients of a sick person.

Supplements are also used as an aid in primary and secondary prophylaxis, as well as in the complex treatment of such widespread diseases as obesity, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, malignant neoplasms, immunodeficiency states, gastrointestinal diseases, diseases of the bone-joint system, organs of vision , endocrine system, kidney and urinary tract diseases and other diseases.

Question: How long can honey be stored?

Answer: GOST 19792-2001 "Natural honey" establishes the following restrictions on the storage of honey:

Shelf life of honey in containers, jars from 25 kg and above - up to 8 months from the date of the examination;

Shelf life of honey, packaged in hermetically sealed glass containers, containers made of polymeric materials - not more than one year from the date of manufacture, in unpressurized sealed containers - not more than 8 months;

The shelf life of honey packaged in glasses of waxed paper is no more than 6 months from the date of manufacture.

These limits on shelf life are a guide for bodies that control the quality of products, and suggest that honey with expired shelf life is subject to verification by physico-chemical parameters. Under the shelf life is understood the period during which honey, subject to the established storage conditions, retains all its properties. After the expiry date indicated on the label and in the product quality documents, honey is suitable for consumption, but its consumer characteristics should not be lower than the requirements of the current standard. Subject to storage conditions, physico-chemical quality indicators of honey can comply with GOST for several years.

Question: In what conditions is it best to store honey?

Answer: GOST 19792-2001 "Natural honey" prescribes to store honey in rooms protected from direct solar radiation. It is not allowed to store honey with poisonous, dusty products and products that can give the honey an unusual smell.

Storage temperature of honey with a mass fraction of water up to 19% - not higher than 20 ° C; for honey with a mass fraction of water from 19% to 21% - from 4 ° C to 10 ° C.

At home, it is advisable to store honey not in the light at room temperature. During long-term storage, especially in the hot season, it is better to store honey in the refrigerator, but do not lower the temperature below 4 ° C.

Question: Does honey freeze?

Answer: Honey freezes at a temperature of minus 3 ° C, while its volume decreases by 10%.

Question: Which container is best to store honey?

Answer: It is useful for the buyer to know which containers are allowed to be used for honey packaging, since the use of prohibited containers immediately affects the quality of honey. GOST allows you to pack honey in consumer and shipping containers with a capacity of 0.03 to 200 cubic meters. dm:

* wooden barrels and barrel made of beech, birch, willow, cedar, linden, plane trees, aspen, alder with a wood moisture content of not more than 16% and a capacity of up to 200 cubic meters. dm according to GOST 8777. The inner surface of the barrels and barrel should be waxed or have nested bags - polystyrene inserts;

* flasks made of stainless steel, decapitated and sheet steel, aluminum and aluminum alloys with a capacity of 25 and 38 cubic meters. dm according to GOST 5037;

* dense wooden crates, coated inside with parchment waxed paper according to the normative document;

* special containers for honey according to the regulatory document;

* lithographed metal cans coated with food varnish from the inside according to the regulatory document;

* glass jars according to GOST 5717 and other types of glass containers;

* molded or corrugated glasses from pressed cardboard with moisture-proof impregnation approved by the bodies of the Sanitary Inspection for use in the food industry;

* bags and boxes according to the normative document from waxed paper according to GOST 9569, parchment according to GOST 1341 and artificial polymeric materials, frames with honeycomb in packs of cardboard, paper and combination materials according to GOST 12303;

* Ceramic vessels coated from the inside with glaze according to the regulatory document.

All types of packaging materials must be agreed with the bodies of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision for use in the food industry. Consumer and returnable packaging should ensure the safety of products.

Question: What weight deviations are allowed for packaged honey?

Answer: GOST 19792-2001 when packing honey allows deviations for a net weight of 0.03-1.5 kg - ± 2%, for a net weight of more than 1.5 kg - ± 1%.

Question: To what level should the jar with packaged honey be filled?

Answer: GOST prescribes to fill the container with honey no more than 95% of its total volume.

Question: What information should be on the label of packaged honey?

Answer: Labeling of packaged honey should contain the following information:

* Product name;

* type of product (botanical origin);

* year of collection;

* name, location (legal address, including country) of the manufacturer, packer, exporter, importer and place of origin (at the discretion of the manufacturer);

* manufacturer’s trademark (if any);

* Net weight;

* the energy value;

* shelf life;

* storage conditions;

* packing date;

* designation of the regulatory document in accordance with which the product is manufactured and can be certified;

* certification information.

Question: What documents confirm the quality of honey?

Answer: Honey sold in stores, before going to the counter, goes through the following stages of quality control:

Firstly, on the basis of the veterinary and sanitary passport of the apiary, which every beekeeper has, a veterinary certificate is issued for a batch of honey;

Secondly, on the basis of a veterinary certificate, a sanitary-hygienic examination is carried out and a hygienic conclusion (certificate) is issued;

Thirdly, on the basis of previous documents and a test report in an accredited laboratory, a certificate of conformity and a license are issued for the right to use a certificate and a mark of conformity for marking certified products.

In the supply of packaged honey, a high-quality certificate issued by the manufacturer and a veterinary certificate for inter-city transportation (for Moscow) are also required. When selling honey in the markets, the seller must have a veterinary certificate issued by a veterinarian of the market.

Answer: In the specialized literature there are various recommendations for taking honey with preventive purposes for healthy people. In an average form, this indicator is 120 g ± 30 g per day. Acceptance of increased doses of honey should be carried out according to the doctor's recommendations and under his supervision with appropriate correction of carbohydrate diet.

Question: Are there any cases of allergies to honey?

Answer: There are. In most cases, an allergic reaction to honey coincides with pollen intolerance. Dark honeys and honeys with a strong aroma and pungent taste, such as buckwheat, cause allergies more often than light ones with a delicate aroma and taste, such as acacia.

Question:   In what form is it best to take honey?

Answer: Most authors recommend taking honey in the form of aqueous solutions (one tablespoon of honey per glass of water at room temperature). However, healthy people often eat honey in their pure form. When taking honey for therapeutic purposes, it is best to consult a doctor.

Question: Is there vitamin and healing honey?

Answer: Many beekeepers and scientists have tried to get honey enriched with vitamins and other useful substances, feeding sugar syrups with appropriate additives to bees. Such experiments have not yet been crowned with success, and by the main indicators such honey is ordinary sugar honey. However, the desire to receive honey directed therapeutic action makes many continue the experiments.

The work is carried out mainly on the selection of various feed additives that would show their healing properties in the finished honey. Another thing is products that are a mixture of natural honey with biologically active additives (BAA). As such additives, pollen, alcohol extract of propolis, dry extracts of the golden root, ginseng, rosehip and other medicinal plants are usually used. In such products, the beneficial properties of honey are enhanced by the healing power of dietary supplements.

Question: Is it possible to give honey to children?

Answer: In many countries, for example, in India, honey is traditionally given even to infants. Honey has no special contraindications for its use. However, given the occasional individual intolerance, some authors recommend that you refrain from using honey in the diet of children until the age of 1 year. In each case, the doctor observing the child, based on the characteristics of the individual, will tell you when, in what doses and which honey can be included in the diet. Older children are advised to take honey with warm milk (one tablespoon per glass of milk) and add honey to the cottage cheese, porridge and other foods.

Question: Can honey cause diarrhea?

Answer: Some types of honey, for example, chestnut, have a slight laxative effect, however, this can not lead to severe diarrhea.

Question: Is it possible to mix different types of honey?

Answer: In practice, this phenomenon occurs quite often. When pumping out honey, if the beekeeper does not set himself the goal of obtaining monofleur honey, he passes through the honey separator frames filled with various honey, and as a result receives a homogeneous mixture of different honey. Blending of honey is also carried out in order to obtain a given value of the mass fraction of water of the final product, given organoleptic characteristics for a particular brand, etc. As a rule, monofleur honey, which is more valued on the world market, try not to mix with others.

Question: How much honey does one bee produce in its life?

Answer: Let us assume that in one flight the bee brings an average of 30 mg of nectar and makes 10 flights per day. This, of course, depends on temperature, a bribe, the type of honey plants, etc. A bee lives on average for six weeks, but brings nectar only in the last three weeks. Therefore, 300 mg per 21 days will be 6300 mg (6.3 g) of nectar. In terms of honey, if we take the mass fraction of water in nectar 63% and in honey - 19%, we get 2.87 g of honey.

Question: How to dissolve crystalline honey, so as not to harm him and maintain useful properties? Can I use a microwave for this?

Answer: The answer to this question is most fully set forth in the work of German scientists Werner and Katharina von der Ohe, “The quality of honey. Effect of temperature.” Scientists conducted experiments on the dissolution of three types of honey (rapeseed, flower polyfler and forest) in three temperature conditions (40 °, 50 ° and 60 ° C), as well as in the microwave. When heated at certain intervals, samples were taken for analysis. The following were monitored: the activity of enzymes (invertase, diastase, glucose oxidase), the content of proline (amino acid), and the content of oxymethyl furfural.

Studies have shown that, despite the brevity of the process of dissolving honey in a microwave oven, this method completely destroys enzymes and significantly increases the content of oxymethylfurfural. The proline content did not change significantly upon heating. Thus, you cannot use a microwave to dissolve honey. Heating honey for 24 hours at 40 ° C did not reduce the activity of enzymes and did not cause a noticeable increase in the content of oxymethyl furfural, the same as heating for b hours at a temperature of 50 ° C. Heating for 24 hours at a temperature of 50 ° C and especially at 60 ° C leads to a significant loss of enzyme activity and an increase in the content of oxymethyl furfural.

Studies conducted by the authors together with the Testing Center of the Moscow Academy of Veterinary Medicine showed that in the temperature range of 40-45 ° C, only honey with very fine crystallization (cream honey) can be dissolved in a temperature range of 24–12 hours. Honey with large crystals of glucose dissolves much more difficult and, therefore, requires much more time. Some samples did not bloom at such a temperature even for three days. For honey with large crystals, the recommended mode is up to 6 hours at 50 ° C, with mandatory continuous mixing.

Question: Is it possible to control the quality of honey with a chemical pencil?

Answer: Previously, ordinary people used this method to determine the maturity (moisture) of liquid honey. If the pencil left an ink trail, then honey was considered moist and, therefore, immature. However, it is impossible to accept such a method of “researching the quality of honey as correct. A chemical pencil does not leave traces only at a very low moisture content (much lower than permissible by GOST) and, in addition, says absolutely nothing about the naturalness of the product.

Question: What method can determine the moisture content of honey?

Answer: Humidity, or rather, the mass fraction of water in honey is very easy to determine using a refractometer. The analysis lasts a few seconds. Refractometers are produced desktop and portable (pocket). To determine the mass fraction of water in crystallized honey, it is previously dissolved according to the procedure described in the current GOST.

Question: Sometimes with long-term storage of honey, a loose layer forms on the surfacelighter than honey, as if granulated sugar. What is it and why is it happening?

Answer: This surface layer, less sweet in taste and lighter than honey, is a glucose crystals that are not coated with intercrystal fluid. This phenomenon is typical for mature honey with an increased glucose content and a low mass fraction of water. If honey is mixed and subsequently stored at a higher temperature, the defect is completely eliminated.

Question: What is useful for the buyer information about the botanical and geographical origin of honey?

Answer: Such information greatly facilitates the search for the right honey. For example, if the doctor recommended using linden honey, then verified information about the botanical origin ensures that you buy exactly what you need. If you want to try honey from small-leaved linden, then you need to look for it in Bashkir honey, if it is with Amur or Manchurian linden, then look for honey from the Far East. If you are offered mountain honey, by geographic origin you will determine whether the area in which the honey was collected is mountainous or are they trying to mislead you.

Question: Do you sell honey by weight abroad??

Answer: In developed countries, honey, as well as cottage cheese and sour cream, are not sold by weight. This does not mean that the beekeepers of these countries are deprived of the opportunity to sell their honey directly to consumers. On the contrary, EU states, for example, strongly support beekeepers who retail their honey. But at the same time, beekeepers must observe special rules. Two of them: honey must be pre-packaged in consumer packaging that is approved for use for these purposes; Each packaging unit must be labeled and contain information about the manufacturer: the beekeeper's name and his address. Selling honey in unlabelled containers is prohibited.

Question: Sellers sometimes offer sea buckthorn honey, St. John's wort honey, rose hips and other "exotic" honey. Can you believe them? Answer: In the desire to sell their honey, many sellers really go so far as to begin not only to invent non-existent honey, but also to give the sold honey fabulous healing properties. The beekeeper succeeds in collecting monofleur honey if the main bribe is made from any one honey plant. It is almost impossible to collect monofleur honey from a supporting bribe. The main monofleur honey and melliferous bees that provide them are listed above.

Question: They say that honey. packaged in jars, has already lost its useful properties, and so much so that it cannot be called honey. Is it so? Why, then, is packaged honey selling more and more every year?

Answer: Of course, unfortunately, there are frequent cases when under the guise of honey something that cannot be called honey is sold. Moreover, this is sold both in packaged form and in bulk from jars. No one has yet considered in what form, whether packaged or by weight, more surrogate gets to the consumer. If during honey packing the honey dissolution technology and temperature conditions during its further processing were clearly observed, its useful properties are not lost, and the finished product meets the GOST requirements for quality characteristics. In the EU countries, where the quality control of honey is much tougher than ours, all honey is sold only in bulk.

In our country, there is an increase in demand for packaged honey, and supply is correspondingly growing. This process is quite explainable. In addition to convenient, varied packaging, packaged honey is easier to sell and can be purchased at almost any store. Not so long ago, residents of a region could only purchase local honey in their region, which was offered in a very narrow range. If linden honey was not collected in this region, then the vast majority of the region’s population has never tried linden honey. With the development of the production of packaged honey, consumers were able to get acquainted with the richest palette of Russian honey of diverse botanical and geographical origin.

Question: A few months ago I visited European countries   and specially i was looking for Russian honey in stores, since I consider it the best in the world, but did not find any banks. At the same time, in the USA and Canada, although these countries are farther from us than Europe, I met Russian honey. Don't European countries buy our honey?

Answer: The thing is that by the decision of the EU Standing Committee on Food Products since September 2001, Russia was excluded from the list of countries whose honey can be imported into the EU countries. According to the commission, the Russian regulatory and technical documentation for honey (GOST) does not meet the requirements of the European Union and does not support appropriate monitoring of honey quality control, especially in that part that ensures control of harmful substances. There are no such restrictions on honey deliveries to the USA and Canada, and our honey is successfully sold in these countries. It is especially popular among people from the former USSR who are familiar with this product.

Question: Does the phrase "honeymoon" related to honey?

Answer: The concept of "honeymoon" is used not only in Russia but also in all European countries, and with the settlement of America by Europeans, it also migrated across the ocean. To honey, or rather an alcoholic beverage made from honey, it is directly related. In Russia, this drink is known as honey (common "mead"), in the west as mead (pronounced "mid") - honey wine. There is a huge variety of honey wines. According to the ancient custom, honeymooners were treated to honey wine for a month, hence the name "honeymoon". In Russia, the largest producer of honey wines is the Kolomna Bee Factory.

Question: Can normal mature honey ferment?

Answer: Maybe if stored improperly. Honey is a hygroscopic substance, i.e., it absorbs moisture. If honey is stored in a room with high relative humidity in an unpressurized container, the top layer of honey will absorb moisture from the air and fermentation will begin. Therefore, it is important that honey is stored in a hermetically sealed container.

B.A., Ugrinovich, A.S. Faramazyan, 2002

"Living" and "dead" honey: how to determine whether sugar has been added to honey?

Bee honey is a unique and unique natural product obtained from insects, which has nutritional, medical, cosmetic and industrial value. Carbohydrates (polysaccharides of fructose and glucose with a small proportion of disaccharides, trisaccharides and oligosaccharides) make up from 95 to 97% of the dry weight of honey. In addition to carbohydrates, bee honey contains organic acids (gluconic, formic, citric, lactic), proteins, amino acids (proline, lysine, aspartate, glutamate), minerals (calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur), vitamins (vitamin C), alkaloids, anthraquinone glycosides, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids and volatile compounds. In addition to its superior nutritional value, bee honey is a good source of physiologically active natural compounds such as polyphenols and flavonoids. The total polyphenol content in bee honey varies from 50 to 850 mg / kg, while the flavonoid content varies from 36 mg / kg to 150 mg / kg.

Polyphenols, which contain about 30 species in bee honey, have high biological activity: they strengthen the walls of blood vessels, stimulate the processes of hematopoiesis and regeneration of epithelial, bone and muscle tissues, they contribute to the normalization of carbohydrate-phosphorus metabolism, improve thyroid function, and have antimicrobial effects. An important property of honey polyphenols is the fight against oxidative stress in the body, which leads to damage to the genome and increases the likelihood of atypical (cancerous) cells. Derivatives of polyphenols in the human body are catecholamines - hormones and mediators.

The content of polyphenols is high in real and fresh (raw) bee honey. Although many beekeepers traditionally believe that old honey is healthier, unfortunately this is not so. Over time, biologically active polyphenols in honey are oxidized by the action of light and oxygen to quinones. Quinones significantly improve the taste and aroma of old honey (therefore, beekeepers consider it to be more "valuable"), but do not have the biological activity and healing properties of polyphenols. Only raw, fresh honey has a number of medicinal properties, in particular neuropharmacological. [Source: Rahman M, Gan S, Khalil M. Neurological Effects of Honey: Current and Future Prospects. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 958721, 13.]   Raw fresh natural honey has a wide range of nootropic effects: it reduces nervous tension, reduces anxiety, reduces depression, and has an anticonvulsant effect. Fresh raw honey has a good anti-inflammatory effect in neurodegenerative diseases and neurotraumas.

Unfortunately, in Russia it is very difficult to get fresh natural honey without sugar, or from apiaries, where bees are not fed with sucrose or fructose. Industrial-packed honey heats up when packaged - heating leads to the destruction of nutrients and the formation of harmful ones. The pursuit of profit multiplied by consumer illiteracy kills the healing properties of honey. Real fresh medicinal honey can be obtained in fact only by acquaintance, with well-known and trusted beekeepers. Honey strained with sucrose becomes not only useless, but also harmful to health: sugars (syrups) added to honey over time or when heated (when preparing food, in hot tea) are oxidized to hydroxymethyl furfural (hydroxymethyl furfural HMF) - a toxic substance, capable of causing gene mutations. The progressive avalanche-like oxidation of sugars in low-quality honey to toxic hydroxymethylfurfural occurs only at 49 degrees Celsius. [ Source: LeBlanc et al. Formation of Hydroxymethylfurfural in Domestic High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2009; 57 (16): 7369 ] Hydroxymethyl furfural is also formed in high-quality, but old honey, which has lain for a sufficient time. That is, poor-quality or just old honey, put in a cup of hot tea turns into a supplier of a potentially dangerous toxic substance. For the same reason, by the way, you should not drink hot tea with sugar. A high concentration of hydroxymethylfurfural is also observed in "industrial" sugar-containing foods with heat treatment: in baked goods, in dried fruits (pears, peaches), in roasted coffee, sweet alcoholic drinks and balsamic vinegar. An ordinary person eating industrial food consumes 5 to 150 mg of hydroxyfurfural per day. [

Ecology of consumption. Pasechnik Volodya (aka AI instructor) talks about how to protect yourself from fake honey, which honey is better, what “May” honey is, how to dry flower pollen collected by bees, about biologically active substances in honey and pollen, and many others beekeeping products

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

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

Flower honey

Natural honey is floral and stump. Flower honey is produced by bees from the nectar of flowering plants. Bees collect nectar, which consists of water (from 50 to 80%) and sugars (up to 25% monosaccharides and up to 25% complex sugars, mainly sucrose), treat it with jaw gland enzymes and evaporate excess water from it. Under the action of enzymes, complex sugars break down to monosaccharides, and the acidity of honey also changes. These processes are called ripening honey.

The main components of honey: glucose and fructose are monosaccharides, which make up 80% of the honey mass and are directly absorbed in the digestive tract, starting from the oral cavity, because they do not need previous digestive juices. On average, honey contains fructose - 38-44%, glucose - 31-36% and water - 17-21%, energy value of 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. The composition of honey includes: 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 serum (!). There are biologically active low molecular weight ingredients (vitamins, amino acids and the like) in honey. And although they are few, but they are of great importance. When used, they contribute to the normalization of the functions of the digestive tract, are rapidly absorbed, and provide vital organs and tissues with valuable energy and plastic compounds. There are also stimulants in honey that increase the vital activity of the body, enzymes, macro- and microelements, hydrogen peroxide, plant antibiotics, lysozyme, acetylcholine and other substances.

Honeydew: beneficial or harmful?

Honey bees are not made from nectar, but from the paddy, sweet secretions of insects such as aphids, worms and leaf flies, as well as from honey dew (there are plants that, in extreme heat, like some room flowers, drop sweet droplets on leaves and / or stems juice). In comparison with flower honey, honeydew honey 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 completely true! The toxicity or toxicity of honey depends on the type of plant from which nectar or pad was collected. For example, nectar from rhododendron (azalea), a beautiful park plant blooming in the spring with yellow flowers, contains very potent alkaloids.

Similarly, falling from a belladonna or dope will be toxic to a certain extent. From such honey eyes will climb on the forehead. 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, found that some varieties of honeydews, precisely due to the high content of mineral elements and other biologically active substances, outperform many varieties of flower honey in therapeutic effect !

Liquid or crystallized honey

A surprising number of prejudices exist around how honey should be, liquid or crystallized. Honey can be either liquid or thick, crystallized. Liquid honey is usually in the summer (July - August) during its pumping. After 1 - 2 months, it crystallizes. Moreover, the tendency to crystallization in different varieties of honey is not the same. And it depends, firstly, on the ratio of glucose and fructose in honey. The higher the percentage of glucose, the faster honey crystallizes.

Secondly, from the percentage of the content of such sugar as melicitosis, which falls out with small white unsweetened crystals that serve as crystallization centers.

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

Fourth, from the percentage of minerals: the more of them, the faster the honey thickens. Complex sugars, especially dextrins, on the contrary reduce the crystallization ability of honey. The crystallization rate also depends on temperature: in heat, honey crystallizes more slowly and crystals turn out smaller. Sometimes honey crystallizes evenly, and sometimes, especially if it was sharply chilled, for example, transferred to the cellar, “stratifies”: glucose precipitates in crystals, and the fructose solution remains liquid. And this is normal for natural honey, often it happens with buckwheat.

It should immediately be noted here that the 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 decreases sharply. Therefore, if liquid honey is sold in winter or spring, it is likely that it is either pasteurized or falsified. The exception is honey from white acacia, which does not crystallize for a long time, and heather, turning into a jelly-like mass. Rapeseed honey during crystallization acquires a consistency resembling lard (melted pork fat).

May honey

It’s fun for me, as a beekeeper, to watch how people create a stir around some “May honey”. Judge for yourselves: honey is buckwheat, linden, forbs, and, suddenly, "May". And why not June or August? After all, you don’t think that bees collect this cunning “May” honey from a calendar sheet! This, at best, can mean that such honey was pumped out at the end of spring, and spring honey can be so different! Indeed, from the end of March to May, so many things are blooming, and in each district there is different. And the bees, by the way, fly behind nectar in a radius of a maximum of 4.5 km, but in general 2.5-3 km are considered to be a productive radius of honey collection. So it turns out that on one apiary, spring honey can be from orchards, and on another from forest trees and dandelion. And the myth of “May honey” itself, as for me, is simply a mass delusion, supported with commercial interest: after all, such honey can be more expensive to “steam”.

Honey should be kept in the shade!

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

Honey for treatment

For treatment, honey should be selected especially carefully, because collected from different plants, it has unequal healing properties. For example, acacia honeyis 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 honeyeffective for gastrointestinal diseases, helps regulate the menstrual cycle, and has diaphoretic effects.

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

Mint   It has a choleretic, calming, analgesic effect. Although in fairness it should be clarified that it is purely monoflora, that is, collected by bees from one species of plant, honey can be found only somewhere in Arizona on orange plantations, where except for orange trees nothing blooms to the horizon. Nature is so envisioned to ensure the health of bees that they always strive to diversify the species composition of honey. And always about 20% of the honey will come from some alternative sources, even if the apiary is in the middle of some kind of honey plant, for example, buckwheat field. Therefore, when we call a honey variety by some plant, we mean that in this honey, the nectar from this plant is more than 50%. And in Arizona, by the way, bees are fed vitamin supplements so that they do not get sick.

How to distinguish natural honey

Everyone is always interested in the question of how to determine the naturalness of honey and calculate the fake. Well, firstly, there are many methods of falsification and, accordingly, many methods of checking honey for a particular method of falsification. I recommend that everyone interested read about this in Stoimir Mladenov’s book “Honey and Medotherapy.”

And I will not dwell on all these methods, which is why: the cheapest, easiest to use and most common way of falsification is to feed sugar syrup to bees. They process it in the same way as they process nectar, and it looks like honey, but not the same: in such a fake there are no those biologically active substances and microelements that make natural honey healing. In addition, there is such an opinion in scientific circles, although it is debatable that the monosaccharides of such honey, like white sugar itself, have an electron spin (roughly speaking, the electron rotates in the opposite direction), the opposite of sugars of nectar, fruit, berries and honey. Which makes white sugar “inedible” at the subcellular level, because it is “white death”.

But to determine such a falsification is possible only in a serious laboratory, no organoleptic (in appearance, taste and smell) methods can be done.

Therefore, the answer to the question of how to purchase guaranteed quality bee products is the same: you need to buy them from a beekeeper who can be trusted. That is, simply put, it all depends on the decency and moral principles of the beekeeper: there are many points in the technological processes of beekeeping, where it is easier and cheaper to fake it than to do it right.

How to consume honey

It is possible in different ways. There are different estimates of whether honey can be added to hot tea. Of course, at high tea temperatures, some of the properties are lost. For example, I eat honey in the bite of tea, Goltis says that it annoys him, and he adds honey to tea - this is not fatal, here everyone decides how it suits him. The most fully and quickly absorbed honey, dissolved in water or tea at room temperature.

About the benefits of pollen

What is more beneficial pollen mixed with honey? There are two nuances here. First, dried pollen can be mixed with honey, or fresh can be mixed. It should be explained here that the pollen in the form in which it is familiar to the buyer (something like multi-colored cereals) is a dried bee pollen. Bees, collecting pollen, moisten it with nectar and put it into lumps on its hind legs. Sly beekeepers came up with this thing:

  When the bees “squeeze” home through these small holes, part of the trimmings from the hind legs clings to the edges and falls through the grate into a box. Such pollen has a high humidity and is rubbed between the fingers like damp icing 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-utility.

For long-term storage, we always prefer to mix fresh pollen with honey for ourselves. The win here is double. Firstly, honey eliminates the oxidation of pollen by atmospheric oxygen, and thus extends the shelf life of its usefulness. And, secondly, the assimilation of pollen by the body is facilitated.

The fact is that each pollen grain is a microscopic capsule in which two cells are enclosed, which are just “stuffed” 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 smeared with starch. Cellulose, as you know, is not digested by the human body, and the capsule itself is so small that we can’t crack it. All pollen digestion consists in the breakdown of starch “corks” by amylolytic enzymes in the saliva of the saliva and the diffuse absorption of the contents of pollen grains. That is why Goltis prescribes precisely to absorb pollen.

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

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

Beekeeping products

Here are just a small part of what can be said about beekeeping products. But in addition to honey and pollen, there is also propolis, dead bees, drone homogenate, wax moth and, of course, royal jelly. It has been experimentally proved that a person can eat only bee products for an unlimited time - and they will more than provide all the needs, even with super-intense physical exertion.

I myself spent 2 and 1 months twice in the spring-summer period, eating only honey, pollen and berries. Before the start of AI classes, these were periods of the best feeling in my life. After attending the seminar, I launched an experiment on myself: the bulk of my current diet is made up of products from our apiary. I am sure the results will be healthy. From the bottom of my heart, I wish all practicing ishniks perseverance and perseverance in mastering this wonderful technique!published

It is unlikely that you will find in old books on beekeeping the answer to the question of what is cream honey. The first explanation that comes to mind why this white product got its name is because of its delicate cream structure. And it is clear that a man had a hand in this, because in the nature of honey in a whipped state does not exist.

Canadian beekeepers came up with this miracle technology back in 1928. Americans, Canadians and Europeans not only prefer white cream product to ordinary honey because of its taste, tenderness and ease of use, but also almost completely refuse to use shrunken candied honey. And beekeepers in these countries have no choice but to mix most of the products received and to establish mass production of whipped honey.

Cream honey appeared on the Russian market not so long ago, but many honey lovers are already interested in this product. It is becoming incredibly popular and is being used as an alternative to a liquid or sugared treat.

White cream honey is easy to do. The technology of its preparation is based on the mechanical stirring of fresh liquid honey before crystallization begins. This leads to the destruction of large crystals in its structure. They are crushed, their viscosity decreases. The result is an airy mass of white, homogeneous structure, reminiscent of sour cream or thick mayonnaise.

When whisking, oxygen enters the honey and this increases its volume. At the same time, its taste may change. Subject to all technological rules and the use of natural honey, not overheated and not spoiled by additives, the quality of the resulting product does not deteriorate at all.

We can assume that white cream-honey is one of the conditions of honey. But, unlike the liquid and solid structure, the creamy consistency is not obtained naturally, but as a result of mechanical action, which means nothing more than a simple stirring.

How to make cream honey?

There are many known recipes for the preparation of this honey product. The most popular is the classic version, invented by Canadians.

Read also: New Zealand Manuka Honey - Natural Antibiotic

Fresh honey from honeycombs is poured into the dishes and stored in it for 10 days at a temperature of + 14 ° C. Then, for softening, it is stored at a temperature of + 28 ° C, after which it is stirred. In this case, it is necessary to strictly observe the temperature regime. Under such conditions, a tasty and aromatic product of white color and the desired density is obtained. It is stored for a long time, does not exfoliate and does not wander.

According to another recipe, you can mix fresh honey with already settled (recommended proportion - 9: 1) at a temperature of + 26-28 ° С. After 10-15 days of settling at a temperature of + 14 ° C, the product acquires the desired consistency and white color.

The fastest recipe is in a container in which a certain amount of cream honey is left from the previous batches, liquid honey is poured and whipped for several hours at a temperature of + 12-14 ° С. After 3-4 hours, it turns into a soft mass.

To mix honey, special equipment, dough mixers, various nozzles for a drill and kitchen mixers are used.

Important: with this technology, honey is not heated. They do not add anything to it. The resulting product is the same natural honey with all natural qualities, but with an improved structure and a more convenient form for consumption.

Properties of Cream Honey

How is a product prepared in this way different from regular honey? In principle, nothing but structure and color. It retains the qualities and all the properties of natural honey that has not undergone such processing.

Ordinary honey during storage crystallizes and turns into a dense mass. Everyone knows how, at times, it is difficult to get it out of a can or spread it on bread. In order to return ductility to a solid product, like stone, we heat it up and lose the vitamins and other useful substances that have been destroyed at the same time. There are no less problems with liquid honey - it flows, drips from a sandwich, and it is no less difficult to spread it than solid.

Read also: Features and healing properties of blackberry honey

Cream honey due to its structure is extremely convenient to use. It does not need to be heated or acted upon in any other way. Once prepared, the product can be consumed for a long time. It is stored for approximately a year and does not get any worse. It retains all the useful properties of fresh pumped honey.

This delicious treat is enjoyed by children. It is easy to get it from the container, it is convenient to spread on bread. The product has an appetizing appearance, a pleasant consistency, retains its shape for a long time, does not flow, does not get dirty, does not leave spots.

Melting natural cream honey in your mouth can not just be eaten, spread on a bun or toast, it can be mixed with other products, added to confectionery.

Whipped honey - benefits and harms

What happens to the beneficial properties of honey during its mechanical processing, is such honey harmful or, on the contrary, useful? Opinions were divided on this point. For some, this is an incredibly tasty treat that surpasses regular honey in properties. Others consider such a product, created by the hands of man, to be outright fake and falsified.

Can cream honey be harmful? This is possible if the product is not cooked correctly. If everything is done according to the technology, use special equipment for whipping, do not heat the honey and do not mix any additives, there can be no harm. On the contrary, such a dessert is as healthy and tasty as honey that has not been processed.

White honey with royal jelly

White honey with royal jelly, which is also obtained by mixing two products using a certain technology, can be classified as cream honey. To prepare a healthy mixture, different varieties of honey (preferably light) are used, to which a small amount of royal jelly is added. As a result of intensive mixing, a white product with a delicate texture is obtained.

To get a product that will really be useful for the body, you need to cook it strictly according to the recipe, observing the proportions.

This is important, because cream honey obtained with the addition of royal jelly, produced by bees in small quantities, is most often used for medicinal purposes because of its extreme value.

Should I buy cream honey and how not to get fake?

Why do beekeepers beat honey and not let it crystallize naturally?

Pollen is very useful for humans, as it contains absolutely all the amino acids necessary for the full functioning of the body. And besides - a large list of vitamins and minerals. Agree, a good bid for a winning place among food, is not it? And in a tender with honey, this team turns into real champions of traditional medicine!

About the benefits of honey and pollen

For children   at the age of 1 year is not recommended to give a folk remedy. This is because it can cause allergies, and the baby will not be able to inform you about this in a timely manner. Children under 7 years old should be given only 1/2 of the norm for an adult. Starting from 7 years, you can increase the dose to 2/3 of an adult. And for adolescents 12 years of age and older, the dosage for adults is gaining relevance.

How to use : Honey-pollen should be taken on an empty stomach or 30-40 minutes before the next scheduled meal. It is best to eat the required dose in pure form, without mixing with other products and without washing down with water. Exceptions to this rule are possible (especially for young children), but not desirable.

Interesting fact: pollen in combination with honey gives a pronounced sweetness. If you do not like such intense taste, you can dilute the mixture with a little warm water. In some cases, doctors recommend drinking herbal sweetness with herbal infusions. For example, for diseases of the cardiovascular system, lemon balm herb is suitable, and for problems with the digestive organs - yarrow.

Topic article: Decoctions with honey: utility rating

To use honey-pollen mixture is necessary courses. The recommended duration of prophylactic use is 1-1.5 months. After you should definitely take a 3-week break.

Contraindications

Like any other drug, the mixture has a number of contraindications:

• individual intolerance to bee products
• tendency to allergic reactions
• low blood coagulation
• hypervitaminosis
• liver or kidney failure
• some mental disorders

Some doctors also insist on refusing to use folk remedies for those who suffer from cancer. There is a theory that the properties of products contribute to the increase in tumor size.

Video "How to collect pollen in an apiary"

Source

Wikipedia: Honey , Pollen