How to choose a good honeycomb

Honey is an ideal product. It is tasty, healthy and can be so varied that it will satisfy the most demanding gourmet. The main thing is to learn how to find your "own" variety and distinguish the natural bee product from the harmful surrogate. We will tell you how to choose a good honeycomb.

Honey - is a bee "bins", which they share with people in return for care and warmth. To receive them, industrious insects, flying through meadows and mountain forests, collect pollen, nectar and even plant juice and carry them in the hives. Sometimes beekeepers themselves wander through the fields with "houses" and wait patiently while the bees walk up and fill with honey special frames. Just do not think that the laborers are given the task: "So, girls, today we collect nectar from a linden, and tomorrow - from a chestnut" or some insects prefer such plants, and others - others: they do not care. To understand what kind of honey will turn out, beekeepers look at what is flowering at the moment, and, of course, try the finished products for taste. So, if you buy a jar with the inscription "chestnut" or "acacia", this does not mean that the bee product consists only of the nectar of these plants. It has everything that blossoms at the time of collection, just acacia and chestnut - more.

Label and price

In the crazy 90s of the last century honey in the factory packaging earned itself a very bad reputation. He was forged, diluted or instead sold sugar syrup. It was then that most of the admirers of the product made a choice in favor of honey from the beekeepers. Now the situation has changed dramatically: private beekeepers have benefited from working with large companies, selling them their goods. If honey does not meet certain parameters in accordance with GOST, it simply will not be purchased and then not released (which can not be said about fairs and sales from hand). In general, the bee product in the store has become more quality and safe, but counterfeits still occur, so be careful with the purchase. Before putting a jar of amber content in the cart, pay attention to the label. The name of honey will tell you about which flowers, and also where it was collected (for example, linden, taiga, forest motley grass). Shelf life of a good bee product can not be more than 1 year, and the label must contain GOST. In addition, try to buy the products of major manufacturers - no one will give a guarantee that in an unknown small company, calling itself some mysterious "IP", honey was not applied in the basement with a dirty aluminum spoon. An important factor in choosing a wonderful nectar is price. A real high-quality honey can not cost less than 100 rubles for 250 g. If the price is prohibitive, then, before you a rare overseas brand, the manufacturer has bent the price for a brand or a trading network has taken too much interest for a sale.

Liquid or crystallized?

It does not matter which container is sold honey - in glass or plastic, the main thing is that the packaging is sealed. However, in a transparent jar there is an opportunity to discern the external qualities of the product. The most important thing is that no foam is visible on the surface of the honey (this is a sign of fermentation), and in the thick of no foreign inclusions floated. For some reason, many buyers believe that the ideal bee product is a golden substance that glows in the sun. In fact, the natural product crystallizes quite rapidly - it happens in only ten days with some varieties, with others - six months later and depends on the pollen of which plants prevail in the product. However, this does not mean that honey can not be liquid in winter. According to GOST, the crystallized delicacy is subject to dissolution - so experts call the long process of heating honey to +400 C and gradually (within 48 hours) converting it into an original viscous substance. As a result of observing the right technology, the bee product does not lose its useful properties at all and after a while crystallizes again. If in the lower half of the jar there are already flakes or crystals, and in the upper half yet, then the process is somewhere in the middle. Unlike the domestic bee product, the imported product does not crystallize. It's all about additives and a special technology to preserve the transparency of honey used in the West. True, some of our experts believe that after such treatment, the amber product loses its useful properties and aroma.

Home expertise

The most important examination of the quality of honey can be arranged at home. If you put the spoon in a fresh liquid product, the real nectar will drain off it with a thin thread, and the artificial will behave like a glue: it will start to drip down. Then taste the honey. A good product should dissolve evenly and completely in the mouth, leaving nothing on the tongue. In addition, having tasted natural nectar, you will feel a slight sore throat. And, finally, quality honey is always very delicate and tender consistency, which can easily be rubbed into the skin - it will absorb, leaving no lumps, which will never happen with a fake. Sometimes pseudo-hives sell goods that have nothing to do with bees. They prepare it from sugar, citric acid and juices melon, watermelon, pear or grapes. The received mass is really similar to honey, but it can be deduced "on clean water". And in the literal sense. If you stir a spoonful of the mixture in hot water, the present product will dissolve completely, and the one that has been puffed over will leave foreign impurities in the sediment or on the surface of the liquid.

Zakulis fair

At a specialized fair you can find honey of any sort from different regions - and the Far Eastern lemongrass, and taiga cedar, and even the Japanese "tacos". However, unlike supermarkets in such places, you have more chances to run into a fake, so be alert and buy a weighty product only where it is allowed to try and smell. Say, if you see the honey that's been squeezed together in large pieces, do not take it - it's probably not assembled in it, maybe not even last year. Some beekeepers chasing profit do not take out bees to collect nectar at all, but simply feed them with sugar syrup - this imitation can be recognized by the unnaturally white color of the product. Watch out if suddenly you meet at the fair "honey of wild bees", and ask the seller how it was mined. Maybe, in the beekeeper's team there is a regular Winnie the Pooh ?! The fact is that honey produced by wild bees can not be collected and is problematic to find. The bees begin to collect the nectar closer to the middle of May, and the early honey obtained from it is called - May. However, it will go to the market closer to July. The main part of the new harvest will be seen on store shelves only in October. The question arises: what should people do from March to August, during the so-called deficiency of honey? Acquire products of proven brands, as large producers buy honey from beekeepers and store it in appropriate conditions before the new harvest, at each stage checking the quality and ensuring the safety of all the useful properties of the product.