A sticky situation - Honey's questionable point of origin

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by scheherazade, Nov 7, 2011.

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  1. scheherazade

    scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Honey has long been touted as nature's treat, and considered to be a healthful benefit to our diet when used in moderation.

    The market today is rife with honey, and you may select from liquid, creamed, and specialty honey wherein the main source of the pollen for the bees to utilize is a targeted species of flower such as clover, buckwheat, wildflowers, alfalfa, tupelo, sage, orange blossom, sourwood, blackberry or fireweed.

    But......how can you tell if it is honey when the pollen has been ultra-filtered out?

    Removing the pollen eliminates the ability to trace the honey to it's point of origin. Certain countries have been banned from supplying honey to North American markets by historical concern of contamination. Not long after, a variety of new sources of cheap honey surfaced in other nations.

    So how can you tell if what's in the container labelled as 'honey' actually is the product as stated?

    The following article is rather lengthy, but well worth the read, in my opinion. If you are a regular consumer of honey, or buy products that state on the label that they contain honey, you owe it to yourself to take a few minutes to scope this out.

    http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/
     
    scheherazade, Nov 7, 2011
    #1

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  3. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Ten seconds with Google yielded the following tests for detecting artificial honey. Most of them make sense to me, since indeed, it must be very difficult to make artificial honey that contains zero moisture. Sure, you could do it in a laboratory but it would be more expensive than real honey and that defeats the purpose.
    • Rub some of the product between your index finger and thumb until it disintegrates -- some will be absorbed into your skin if there's honey; pure honey is a good skin regimen. Natural honey is not sticky. If what you rub is sticky, it has sugar or artificial sweetener in it. -- I can't vouch for this.
    • Place a few drops on notebook or tissue paper. Pure honey will not perforate the paper for a long time because it does not contain water. -- This sounds right.
    • Drop some honey near ants. Bees instinctively build beehives on trees and between rocks. They add an additive to the honey in order to protect it from pests, such as ants. Ants will not disturb natural honey. -- Never heard of this but it's believable. I've never seen an ant trail into a honeycomb.
    • Mix it with an egg yolk and beat with a fork. If the honey is pure, the yolk will look like it has been cooked. -- I'd have to try this one.
    • Fill a glass of water and add 1 tablespoon of the product. Pure honey will lump and settle at the bottom, while adulterated and artificial honey will start dissolving. -- Makes sense. Honey is really difficult to dissolve, even in a cup of hot tea.
    • Spread it on a slice of bread. Natural honey will harden the bread in minutes. Adulterated and artificial honey will wet the bread because of the water content. -- Again, makes sense, although I've never tried it.
    • Real honey will give you a tingling feel in the back of your mouth just before swallowing. Adulterated and artificial honey cannot achieve this. -- Yeah sure, okay dude.

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    • See if it crystallizes over time. Imitation honey will remain looking like syrup, no matter how long it is stored, while real honey will crystallize. -- Probably an easy one to test. Real honey does indeed crystallize, but sometimes it takes a very long time.
    • Dip the tip of a matchstick in the product and then strike to light it. Natural honey will light the match easily and the flame will burn off the honey. Fake honey will not light because of the moisture. -- Once again, this makes sense, but that doesn't mean it's true.
    • Add 2 to 3 tablespoons to a microwave-proof bowl. Heat on high power until hot. Natural honey will caramelize quickly and never become foamy. Adulterated and artificial honey will become bubbly and difficult to caramelize. -- Once again this is because of the water.
    I might as well be kind and give you their link since I cribbed their material.

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    Fraggle Rocker, Nov 7, 2011
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  5. Stoniphi

    Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    I buy it from a farmer friend who harvests it from his own bee hives. I have been buying his produce for 32 years and trust him. If he needed more money he would charge more for his produce and his customers would pay the increase to obtain his goods without complaint.
     
    Stoniphi, Nov 7, 2011
    #3

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  7. scheherazade

    scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Buying direct from a beekeeper is one of the sterling tests. It appears that the concerns are largely with honey that is being mass marketed, multi-sourced and/or blended.
     
    scheherazade, Nov 8, 2011
    #4
  8. chimpkin

    chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

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    local, raw honey is the only animal product I eat...
    If you stick it in the fridge it crystallizes.

    However, the next time I buy I'm going to try those other tests, because the reason I put it in the fridge is sugar ants getting into any drips on the lid.
     
    chimpkin, Nov 8, 2011
    #5
  9. Stoniphi

    Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah, I always choose quality over cheapness and buy local if I can.

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    Stoniphi, Nov 8, 2011
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  10. scheherazade

    scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Interesting to find that honey frequently has expiry dates on the package now. That seems rather bizarre as I was under the acquired impression that honey is one of the foods that virtually does not spoil, certainly not within a year of being put into a containment vessel.

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    scheherazade, Nov 8, 2011
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  11. Cifo

    Cifo Day destroys the night, Registered Senior Member

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    Sugar preserves foods (known as "sugaring" when done by humans), and honey contains two sugars, fructose and glucose, and their percentages depend on the type of honey.

    Honey also contains water, but in such low concentrations (<20%) that it mostly associates with the sugars, and thus, is not available to sustain microorganisms. To determine the water content, check the nutrition label and subtract the grams of sugar from the grams of the serving size, and the remainder is mostly water.

    However, sugars (and honey) also attract and retain water, so keep honey sealed so it doesn't draw water from the air. Honey can also crystallize and/or dry out. Bees seal their honey with wax.
     
    Cifo, Nov 8, 2011
    #8
  12. scheherazade

    scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Honey is usually sold in containers with airtight seals with the advisory to store in a cool, dry place.

    There are currently some recalls on honey, which may create a shortage in the near future.

     
    scheherazade, Nov 8, 2011
    #9
  13. scheherazade

    scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    A bit more balance to the honey concerns from someone residing in China.

    http://www.beesalive.com/chinese-honey.html
     
    scheherazade, Nov 8, 2011
    #10
  14. scheherazade

    scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    I found this article interesting as I was curious as to how 'creamed honey' was made. Apparently by the addition of a fine seed crystal batch that is processed separately and then added to the honey at the appropriate temperature while limiting it's exposure to air.

    http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/dyce/creamhoney.htm
     
    scheherazade, Nov 8, 2011
    #11
  15. convivial

    convivial Registered Senior Member

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    When I clicked on this thread, I was hoping to see more bee and honey puns.
     
    convivial, Nov 9, 2011
    #12
  16. scheherazade

    scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Just for you, convivial, The Man's Honey Do List, lol...

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    scheherazade, Nov 9, 2011
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  17. Michael

    Michael 歌舞伎 Valued Senior Member

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    I buy honey from the farmer's market which has the bee keeper's information on the honey. BUT, I suppose if someone was coning me, I might not know better :S
     
    Michael, Nov 9, 2011
    #14
  18. scheherazade

    scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Farmer's markets are usually local product. You should be in the clear, at least as far as the product not being from another country. There is always the potential of local contaminants, I suppose, depending on what crops the bees are utilizing and what agriculture products may be used in their management.
     
    scheherazade, Nov 9, 2011
    #15
  19. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I agree. I've found four year-old jars of honey (already opened) in the back of my cupboards, and it was perfectly fine.

    This is probably one of those bizarre laws passed by a government with too much power and not enough sense. Like requiring eggs to be refrigerated. They'll stay fresh for more than a month at ambient temperature, even in the desert. (When I was a kid in Arizona my parents had an egg farm.)
    At this point we're becoming pretty skeptical of any food made in China. I won't even buy Chinese dog food, a few have been killed by it.

    But the real honey shortage will be caused by the crash in the bee population. And, unfortunately, honey will be the least of our worries. The majority of the world's food plants are pollinated by bees. Beekeepers are hauling bee colonies across the country in trucks to fertilize seasonal crops.

    I'm not quite sure what the cause of this die-off is, but there is a tremendous impetus to get private citizens to start their own hives. Seems like every community college now has a course in apiculture.

    Bees and angiosperms (flowering plants) evolved at the same time. Neither would have been successful without the other. Bees have many more kinds of color receptors in their eyes than the three we have. They can see way up into the ultraviolet spectrum, allowing them to distinguish pigments that we don't even know are there. These "colors" are their clue to where the flower is in its maturity cycle and whether it has pollen.
    Here in the northern D.C. suburbs of Maryland, the Amish are heavily represented in farmers' markets. There are a few Amish communities in the state, but most of this produce comes from a little farther away in Pennsylvania.
     
    Fraggle Rocker, Nov 9, 2011
    #16
  20. Trooper

    Trooper Secular Sanity Valued Senior Member

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    Trooper, Nov 11, 2011
    #17
  21. cosmictraveler

    cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    cosmictraveler, Nov 11, 2011
    #18
  22. KilljoyKlown

    KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    Sorry I've lost my appetite.

    Yahoo! Answers

    Is honey really bee vomit?

    Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

    Yes it is. Honey is dried bee vomit. Honeybees gather three major items from the wild: pollen, nectar, and tree sap, and the nectar and pollen, from flowers, are used for food. Honeybees drink nectar from flowers, then regurgitate it back and forth to each other to partially digest it. (The beehive has been described as a collective stomach.) They then regurgitate the partially digested nectar once more and fan it with their wings until it is too thick and concentrated to spoil. This partially dried bee vomit is called honey. Honey is stored in hollow beeswax cells integral to the structure of the hive.

    Bee vomit is honey and part of the beekeeping/honey production, it is just a fact as how milk comes from impregnated mothers (cows, goats, etc) while their male children become veal, all part of the animal production system.

    But honey is fairly easy to avoid, and there are plenty of alternatives out there such as vegan honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and dandelion honey.
    http://ostwestwind.twoday.net/stories/36…

    Source(s):

    http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_…
    http://www.beefolks.com/shopcontent.asp?…
    http://waynesword.palomar.edu/beepoo1.ht…
    http://www.veginfo.org/honey.php

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    Last edited: Nov 11, 2011
    KilljoyKlown, Nov 11, 2011
    #19
  23. convivial

    convivial Registered Senior Member

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    Scheherazade, I'm sure the wife of that man will find his execution of the tasks as hilarious as he did ;-)
     
    convivial, Nov 11, 2011
    #20
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