Determining the purity of honey

Content

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Method 1 of 3: Test honey before purchase
Tips
Warnings
Necessities

While most people obviously prefer pure honey that is 100% made by bees, nowadays there is a lot of fake honey sold, or honey that is not that pure at all. Outside the European Union, and for those living in the US, outside the state of Florida, labels with the text “pure honey” are unfortunately not always reliable. Because there are so many different types of honey and because manufacturers are not always honest and often dilute their honey with sugar syrup, water or other additives, there is not yet a completely reliable method with which you can test yourself at home whether you are dealing with pure honey. To be reasonably sure whether your honey is pure or not, it is best to use some of the methods below as far as possible.

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Method 1 of 3: Test honey before purchase

Test other claims yourself. There are many stories circulating about methods for testing the purity of honey, and many of those methods have not been scientifically tested. If you think something sounds plausible, try it out with a jar of honey that you think is pure. Then mix the honey with agave syrup, sugar syrup or another type of added sugar and do the same test again. If the diluted syrup gives a different result than the pure honey, the test may be useful. However, keep in mind that no home test can detect every possible additive in honey.

Tips

When you buy your honey at a farmers market or from a local beekeeper, the chances of dealing with pure honey are significantly higher.
With honeycombs, the chance of purity is also greater, because honeycombs are taken directly from the beehive. However, there are beekeepers who feed their bees with sweetener or sugar syrup, so that the bees are already producing honey that is not pure right in the hive.
If the honey hardens or crystallizes, it is more likely to be pure, because additives from regular sugar do not crystallize that way. This is not a completely reliable test, but it is useful to know how to liquefy honey again if you choose to buy crystallized honey.
To analyze honey, scientists use a mass spectometer to separate the honey molecules, detecting different types of (isotopic) carbon molecules that are associated with different types of sugars during a so-called stable isotope analysis. But even then, certain added sugar syrups are not discovered.

Warnings

Never give honey to small children. Honey can be contaminated and contain traces of the poison botulinum. This is usually not harmful for adults, but for children it can have serious consequences and even be fatal.
Always be careful with fire and hot wax!