There is a lot of talk about fake honey and adulteration of honey. And for good reasons too. Honey is one of the most faked foods in the world. It often makes it to the top three of the common food fraud lists. You will find reports about fake imported ‘honey’ made up from syrup with added colourants and hear about honeybees kept in enclosed environments and fed syrup to invert into honey.
A recent EU study showed that nearly 50% of all honey imported into the EU was suspect. There is real reason for the consumer to be concerned and to look for ways to ensure that the honey they buy is indeed the real deal. But how do you tell the difference between real honey and fake honey?
The area of adulterated honey is large and complex. And, unfortunately, as many studies have found, fake honey is everywhere. In this blog, I will tackle a common myth in relation to honey testing for purity. I will go on to discuss the difference between imported honey, organic honey (also imported as we produce no Organic honey in Ireland), and Irish honey. Because of the current serious concerns about imported honey, and lack of adequate regulations in relation to importation, testing and displaying country of origin, I will argue that the best way to ensure that the honey you buy is real, is to buy Irish honey.
Home Testing for Purity – Busting the Water Test Myth
In the last few years, I have come across some ‘easy and fool-proof’ ways of determining if the honey is real or fake. The most prominent one being the water test. It is proclaimed by some that adulterated honey dissolves in water quickly and easily whereas real honey does not. This information has spread. Now every Tom, Dick and Harry can perform this highly scientific test in the comfort of their own kitchen and use it as proof that the honey is fake.
One beekeeper I know received a call from a very angry customer who, based on this test, was convinced that they had been sold sugar-water honey. The beekeeper in question was distraught and felt humiliated. In the end they offered to buy back the honey from the customer to put an end to the story.
It is not surprising that the Einstein who invented the water test for purity and started disseminating it as pure fact has not yet taken over the running of labs testing honey and become filthy rich in the process. Unfortunately, this ‘test’ does not take into consideration the multitude of different honeys available. It disregards the role of viscosity, granulation or moisture content and regrettably does not give reliable readings either. Because of misinformation like this, beekeepers have an important role in informing and educating non-beekeepers about real honey, what it contains and does not contain, what it looks like, taste like, its benefits and what the bees go through to make it.
Country of Origin – Where Does the Honey Come From?
Take a look at the offerings in the local supermarket, and you will find a large selection of honeys. They range in price and name and some of them will appear very Irish. However, in spite of fancy Irish names and claims of long beekeeping traditions, after a closer inspection of content and country of origin, you may be surprised. It is possible that they may not contain even one drop of Irish honey. Country of origin or region of origin is often not printed on the label, especially for imported honey. It is usually printed on the rim of the lid in very small print. It is nearly as if they did not want the customers to read it…
Most honeys for sale will be either non-EU honey or a blend of non-EU and EU honeys. The ratio is seldom given so it could potentially contain 99% non-EU honey and 1% EU honey. There are unfortunately no regulations in relation to displaying ratio on blended honeys. However, the honey packers/importers are required to state the country/region of origin on the jar. I would advise you make a habit of checking where the honey you buy has been produced.
Organic Honey
You may not be swayed by the standard honey on offer and opt for the more expensive organic honey instead. I know many discerning customers do this to make sure they get real honey.
The concept of organic honey is one that often raises a few eyebrows among beekeepers. The conundrum here is that it is very difficult to obtain organic honey. First you have to manage the bees organically, which in itself is not at all difficult. Second, you need to ensure that the flowers that the bees collect nectar from are grown organically. And it is here that we encounter problems. Honeybees forage usually within about three kilometres of their hive. But honeybees are able to forage a lot farther than that, with an estimated maximum distance of 13.5 km. (Von Frish 1967.)
Hence, to obtain organic honey, this means that the beehives need to be sited in the middle of a very large area of organic landscape. This ensures that the bees only forage on organic flowers. In Ireland, this is hard to find, and as a result no organic honey is produced here. We also have to certification for organic honey production in Ireland. Hence, all organic honey for sale in Ireland is imported.
So even though much Irish honey may be produced in a fashion that entails managing bees in an organic way, it is not certified as organic. Even if it were possible to produce organic honey here, the process of organic certification is so onerous that it would be prohibitive. That is, unless you were able to produce large amounts of organic honey for resale. And able to get top dollar for it.
Determining Where Honey Comes From
One way of determining the geographical origin of honey is to examine the pollen grains contained in it. Honey contains sugars mostly in the form of fructose and glucose. It also contains water, mineral substances, enzymes, organic acids, proteins, vitamins and pollen. The exact composition depends on what flowers they have visited to make it. By examining the pollens in the honey, we can learn what flowers the bees have foraged on. We can then see where in the world those flowers grow and from there determine what region the honey comes from. Sounds arduous but is very accurate.
Samples of honey for testing often must be sent off to labs in mainland Europe as we lack the facilities to do it in Ireland on a larger scale.
However, this testing is often not possible with imported honeys. This is because the honey has been heated and then strained through fine mesh to remove any traces of pollen. Any geographic markers are therefore removed. Some unscrupulous producers then blend the honey with other substances such as corn syrup or rice syrups to bulk it out. All for higher profits at the expense of the customer. Fake honey is BIG business.
Specialist Equipment to Test Fake Honey
To tell the difference between real and fake honey is unfortunately not as straight forward as the aforementioned water test. Especially if the pollen has been removed. It requires specialist equipment and at least half a science degree. To determine if syrup has been added to honey, isotope ratio mass spectrometry can be used. This is not measured by a piece of kit readily found in an ordinary kitchen. Not even in an extraordinarily well stocked one. Such samples need to be sent to specialist labs to be tested. It would be comforting to know that the honey imported into Ireland is tested in this way to ensure that the customers don’t get the short straw. But it isn’t. Despite the EU study showing that nearly 50% of imports are suspect, honey imported into this country are subject to occasional testing only.
Final Thoughts
So, is it really possible to know if someone has been messing with your honey? No, is the short answer.
Unless you have access to a lab and the skills to operate it, there’s no way to check for fake honey. It is a pity that those DIY honey testing methods do not work. If they did, they would solve a serious problem for consumers and beekeepers alike. This is a real shame, because the consumer should get what they think they are getting when they buy a jar of honey.
Much of the honey coming into the country is not tested for origin and content. And if you cannot test it yourself, then how can you make sure that the honey you buy is real, pure and natural?
The best way is to get to know a local beekeeper and buy honey directly from them. All beekeepers offering honey for sale in Ireland are required by law to register as primary food producers with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We are bound to keep records of all treatments and feed given to our bees and the dates they were administered. This is to make sure that the honey we produce has not been contaminated in any way.
You will have to look long and hard, and probably also in vain, to find an Irish beekeeper who does not love their honeybees and have their very best at the heart of everything they do. Buying from your local beekeeper means that you can buy Irish honey and be absolutely guaranteed that you get real honey. Pure, honest to goodness honey, straight from our hives to your home!
Purchase our raw Irish Honey online, or through any of our stockists.
Hanna Bäckmo
Hanna Bäckmo is an award-winning beekeeper, entrepreneur, hobby gardener and internationally published writer. Originally from a small island in Sweden, she now lives in East Cork with her son, two dogs, a flock of rescue chickens and lots of bees. Hanna is the founder of Hanna’s Bees, producing a unique range of natural and sustainable honey, propolis, and beeswax products sold in Ireland’s leading Gift & Artisan food stores and select US outlets. With 70 colonies of Native Irish honeybees, she is a passionate bee-advocate and educator and is an Ambassador for the Native Irish Honeybee.
This BBQ sauce with honey is perfect for grilling or as a dipping sauce for chicken, pork, or beef. The sweetness from the honey complements the smokiness of the paprika and will add a unique flavour to your BBQ dishes this summer.
Wild garlic, or ramsons, is a mild garlic flavoured spring vegetable, growing wild in woodland and in some gardens. Picked early in the season, the tender young leaves are a perfect ingredient in a fresh, low-airmile, seasonal ramson pesto. Make up a batch or two extra to pop in the freezer and enjoy throughout the year. I like to use nuts and seeds grown close to home for this, such as sunflower seeds and hazelnuts, but other seeds and nuts work well too. The same goes for the cheese and oil, where I like to use Irish ingredients such as cheddar and rapeseed oil, but the more traditional parmesan and olive oil work really well too…
Fake Honey vs Real Honey
There is a lot of talk about fake honey and adulteration of honey. And for good reasons too. Honey is one of the most faked foods in the world. It often makes it to the top three of the common food fraud lists. You will find reports about fake imported ‘honey’ made up from syrup with added colourants and hear about honeybees kept in enclosed environments and fed syrup to invert into honey.
A recent EU study showed that nearly 50% of all honey imported into the EU was suspect. There is real reason for the consumer to be concerned and to look for ways to ensure that the honey they buy is indeed the real deal. But how do you tell the difference between real honey and fake honey?
The area of adulterated honey is large and complex. And, unfortunately, as many studies have found, fake honey is everywhere. In this blog, I will tackle a common myth in relation to honey testing for purity. I will go on to discuss the difference between imported honey, organic honey (also imported as we produce no Organic honey in Ireland), and Irish honey. Because of the current serious concerns about imported honey, and lack of adequate regulations in relation to importation, testing and displaying country of origin, I will argue that the best way to ensure that the honey you buy is real, is to buy Irish honey.
Home Testing for Purity – Busting the Water Test Myth
In the last few years, I have come across some ‘easy and fool-proof’ ways of determining if the honey is real or fake. The most prominent one being the water test. It is proclaimed by some that adulterated honey dissolves in water quickly and easily whereas real honey does not. This information has spread. Now every Tom, Dick and Harry can perform this highly scientific test in the comfort of their own kitchen and use it as proof that the honey is fake.
One beekeeper I know received a call from a very angry customer who, based on this test, was convinced that they had been sold sugar-water honey. The beekeeper in question was distraught and felt humiliated. In the end they offered to buy back the honey from the customer to put an end to the story.
It is not surprising that the Einstein who invented the water test for purity and started disseminating it as pure fact has not yet taken over the running of labs testing honey and become filthy rich in the process. Unfortunately, this ‘test’ does not take into consideration the multitude of different honeys available. It disregards the role of viscosity, granulation or moisture content and regrettably does not give reliable readings either. Because of misinformation like this, beekeepers have an important role in informing and educating non-beekeepers about real honey, what it contains and does not contain, what it looks like, taste like, its benefits and what the bees go through to make it.
Country of Origin – Where Does the Honey Come From?
Take a look at the offerings in the local supermarket, and you will find a large selection of honeys. They range in price and name and some of them will appear very Irish. However, in spite of fancy Irish names and claims of long beekeeping traditions, after a closer inspection of content and country of origin, you may be surprised. It is possible that they may not contain even one drop of Irish honey. Country of origin or region of origin is often not printed on the label, especially for imported honey. It is usually printed on the rim of the lid in very small print. It is nearly as if they did not want the customers to read it…
Most honeys for sale will be either non-EU honey or a blend of non-EU and EU honeys. The ratio is seldom given so it could potentially contain 99% non-EU honey and 1% EU honey. There are unfortunately no regulations in relation to displaying ratio on blended honeys. However, the honey packers/importers are required to state the country/region of origin on the jar. I would advise you make a habit of checking where the honey you buy has been produced.
Organic Honey
You may not be swayed by the standard honey on offer and opt for the more expensive organic honey instead. I know many discerning customers do this to make sure they get real honey.
The concept of organic honey is one that often raises a few eyebrows among beekeepers. The conundrum here is that it is very difficult to obtain organic honey. First you have to manage the bees organically, which in itself is not at all difficult. Second, you need to ensure that the flowers that the bees collect nectar from are grown organically. And it is here that we encounter problems. Honeybees forage usually within about three kilometres of their hive. But honeybees are able to forage a lot farther than that, with an estimated maximum distance of 13.5 km. (Von Frish 1967.)
Hence, to obtain organic honey, this means that the beehives need to be sited in the middle of a very large area of organic landscape. This ensures that the bees only forage on organic flowers. In Ireland, this is hard to find, and as a result no organic honey is produced here. We also have to certification for organic honey production in Ireland. Hence, all organic honey for sale in Ireland is imported.
So even though much Irish honey may be produced in a fashion that entails managing bees in an organic way, it is not certified as organic. Even if it were possible to produce organic honey here, the process of organic certification is so onerous that it would be prohibitive. That is, unless you were able to produce large amounts of organic honey for resale. And able to get top dollar for it.
Determining Where Honey Comes From
One way of determining the geographical origin of honey is to examine the pollen grains contained in it. Honey contains sugars mostly in the form of fructose and glucose. It also contains water, mineral substances, enzymes, organic acids, proteins, vitamins and pollen. The exact composition depends on what flowers they have visited to make it. By examining the pollens in the honey, we can learn what flowers the bees have foraged on. We can then see where in the world those flowers grow and from there determine what region the honey comes from. Sounds arduous but is very accurate.
Samples of honey for testing often must be sent off to labs in mainland Europe as we lack the facilities to do it in Ireland on a larger scale.
However, this testing is often not possible with imported honeys. This is because the honey has been heated and then strained through fine mesh to remove any traces of pollen. Any geographic markers are therefore removed. Some unscrupulous producers then blend the honey with other substances such as corn syrup or rice syrups to bulk it out. All for higher profits at the expense of the customer. Fake honey is BIG business.
Specialist Equipment to Test Fake Honey
To tell the difference between real and fake honey is unfortunately not as straight forward as the aforementioned water test. Especially if the pollen has been removed. It requires specialist equipment and at least half a science degree. To determine if syrup has been added to honey, isotope ratio mass spectrometry can be used. This is not measured by a piece of kit readily found in an ordinary kitchen. Not even in an extraordinarily well stocked one. Such samples need to be sent to specialist labs to be tested. It would be comforting to know that the honey imported into Ireland is tested in this way to ensure that the customers don’t get the short straw. But it isn’t. Despite the EU study showing that nearly 50% of imports are suspect, honey imported into this country are subject to occasional testing only.
Final Thoughts
So, is it really possible to know if someone has been messing with your honey? No, is the short answer.
Unless you have access to a lab and the skills to operate it, there’s no way to check for fake honey. It is a pity that those DIY honey testing methods do not work. If they did, they would solve a serious problem for consumers and beekeepers alike. This is a real shame, because the consumer should get what they think they are getting when they buy a jar of honey.
Much of the honey coming into the country is not tested for origin and content. And if you cannot test it yourself, then how can you make sure that the honey you buy is real, pure and natural?
The best way is to get to know a local beekeeper and buy honey directly from them. All beekeepers offering honey for sale in Ireland are required by law to register as primary food producers with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We are bound to keep records of all treatments and feed given to our bees and the dates they were administered. This is to make sure that the honey we produce has not been contaminated in any way.
You will have to look long and hard, and probably also in vain, to find an Irish beekeeper who does not love their honeybees and have their very best at the heart of everything they do. Buying from your local beekeeper means that you can buy Irish honey and be absolutely guaranteed that you get real honey. Pure, honest to goodness honey, straight from our hives to your home!
Purchase our raw Irish Honey online, or through any of our stockists.
Hanna Bäckmo
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Wild garlic, or ramsons, is a mild garlic flavoured spring vegetable, growing wild in woodland and in some gardens. Picked early in the season, the tender young leaves are a perfect ingredient in a fresh, low-airmile, seasonal ramson pesto. Make up a batch or two extra to pop in the freezer and enjoy throughout the year. I like to use nuts and seeds grown close to home for this, such as sunflower seeds and hazelnuts, but other seeds and nuts work well too. The same goes for the cheese and oil, where I like to use Irish ingredients such as cheddar and rapeseed oil, but the more traditional parmesan and olive oil work really well too…