How to avoid poor quality honey

How to avoid low-quality honey in stores? Although the quality of products in Czech stores is supervised by a number of laws, regulations and control bodies, it is very difficult to detect less honest manufacturers or suppliers for some products. This applies, for example, to honey, because due to its complex composition, it is difficult to detect fraud. Honey has been the subject of counterfeiting since ancient times. And although there are newer and better methods of detecting dishonest honey, it is mostly a problem of slow or unwilling legislation that is a few steps behind. Quality honey testing is also expensive and time consuming. However, the European Union is increasingly addressing the problem of poor-quality imports into Europe from, for example, China, Turkey and other countries. Dishonest importers then spoil the name of those who are responsible. So what should quality honey contain and what can you look for in the store?

1. Water content Quality honey should not contain more than 18% water. If the water content is higher, the honey may be diluted and therefore of lower quality. Water in honey also increases the risk of fermentation and impairs its shelf life.

2. Active ingredients Quality honey should contain as many active ingredients as possible. These are responsible for its medicinal effects. The most effective substances include flavonoids, phenolic acids and enzymes (diastase). Flavonoids are antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals and reduce the risk of cancer. Phenolic acids have anti-inflammatory effects and help treat infections. Enzymes then help digest food and improve immunity.

3. Types of honey In stores you can find different types of honey such as flower, honeydew, mixed or creamed. Each type has its own specific properties and taste. • Flower honey: Light and delicate in taste. Bees make it from the nectar of flowering plants. • Honeydew honey: Darker color and stronger taste. Its origin is in honeydew sap, secreted e.g. by aphids and other insects in forests, where bees collect it. • Mixed: A mixture of flower and honeydew honey, often called forest honey. In nature, it is very difficult to obtain pure honeydew honey, because bees collect nectar in addition to honeydew, so most of these dark honeys are mixed honeys. • Creamed honey: Creamy and easy to spread. It is made by long-term mixing of flower honeys or by crushing crystalline honey. The honey retains its creamy consistency throughout.

4. Falsification Honey can be falsified in various ways. For example, sugars or syrups are added to it, which increase its volume and reduce its quality. Another possibility is the addition of artificial enzymes (not from bees) or other substances to increase the activity of the honey.

5. How to choose quality honey? We can only hope that the Czech legislation will work towards the introduction of new methods of honey testing, e.g. using the NMR method or magnetic resonance. This is used, for example, in Bremen, Germany, where there are laboratories that have databases for checking honey from the EU and the whole world. Medokomerc is a pioneer in the use of this new method in the Czech Republic, where it regularly sends samples of its purchased honey. Collected honey samples, together with statistical data, can now trace the tested honey to its place of origin and reveal its possible shortcomings based on dozens of criteria. It is the best control method that currently exists in the world for honey. "The test for 38 substances can prove whether the substances listed in the honey are in accordance with its normal species composition, and anomalies falling outside the statistical range of real honeys are marked as falsified honeys. Existing tests so far rather solve the opposite - they only look for prohibited substances that are known to appear in honeys based on the addition of foreign admixtures and syrups," explains honey sommelier and company director Milan Špaček.

A few useful information at the end:

• It is recommended to pay attention to the stated composition and origin of the honey. According to a survey by the European Commission, almost 74% of Chinese honey is falsified and 93% of Turkish honey is suspicious. In our stores, such honey is often hidden in jars with the meaningless label "from the EU and outside the EU". The more precise the stated place of origin, the better. It doesn't matter if the honey is from multiple sources, it may have a more varied composition of enzymes (from different bees) and active ingredients.

• The label "Czech honey" on the label means that the honey is 100% of Czech origin and must not be mixed with imported honeys.

• Creamed honey does not undergo any heat treatment, so it can be said to be of "raw" quality. It is produced by crushing crystals of crystallized meadow honey. It has a milder taste, spreads very well and does not drip.