Honey is consumed by many people in many different countries. Hence, it is an important monetary source exploited by some unscrupulous companies. In the following, I have collected the most popular cases of fraud in the production of honey for you:

1. Some companies add water in order to increase the quantity and lower the production costs. Can you believe this?
2. This is often accompanied by the addition of synthetic sugar.
3. Some companies even indicate the wrong origin on the label to confuse the consumers.

The aforementioned techniques negatively affect the consumers as they aconsume a product of low quality. Well, honey that is altered in such ways has lost pretty all of its healthy characteristics. The beekeepers, too, are put at a disadvantage. All of their hard work and effort is not valued anymore and they have to compete on price with a product that has nothing to do with our honey.

Did you know…?

1. Nuclear magnetic resonance is one of the most modern and certainly also effective techniques to analyse the quality of the food, and of course the quality of honey in particular
   
2. Honey can ferment and turn into alcohol. This is very important for the production of mead.  This beverage was the first alcoholic drinks consumed by humans.

So how can you recognize whether companies have added more to the honey than they should have?

Before opening the honey jar:

• Natural honey cristalizes, which means that, based on factors such as humidity or temperature, it can set hard
• Does the honey show some small particles? I am sure that this is pollen or wax! it is absolutely not unhealty to eat it. It is even a sign for the purity of the honey.
• Honey that is NOT pure can generate foam

After opening the honey jar:

• Pure honey has a very intensive aroma
• When you taste natural honey, you’ll feel a slight sensation of heat in your throat
• Pour a bit of honey on a piece of paper. First observation: pure honey will fall evenly. Second observation: If, after some time, water can be perceived around the honey, it has been altered during the production.

The best advice to really be sure that you consume pure honey, is buying directly from the beekeeper.