Is Your Honey Real or Fake? Here’s How To Test It!

Honey is one of the healthiest foods on the planet. It is part of every kitchen and a favorite snack for people either they have a sweet tooth or not. Besides being tasty and delicious, honey is packed with nutrients and provides numerous health benefits.

The raw natural honey is rich in vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. Hence, it contains calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, selenium and magnesium. Honey provides energy and strength to our bodies.

However, in order to get all the benefits and the nutrients of honey, you should always strive for natural honey. We emphasize this because you can find honey in the supermarkets which is far from natural. In fact, this so-called fake honey is as unhealthy as white sugar.

Real vs Fake Honey

Real honey comes from bees and it is most commonly addressed as pure honey. On the other hand, fake honey is an artificial product. The fake honey is adulterated and dextrose, molasses, sugar syrup, invert sugar, flour, corn syrup, and similar compounds have been added to it. However, you cannot recognize if a honey is pure or fake only by checking the label and looking at it. There are several things or test you can do to check the honey.

How to check the purity of the honey?

There are certain tests which you can perform at home to check the purity of the honey.

1. Label Information

The label can reveal a lot about a product. Thus, if you read that it contains added glucose or high fructose corn syrup, it means that the honey is fake. Don’t buy it.

2. Taste Test

The taste of your honey can show the purity. If you taste something like herbs and added sugar, it means that the honey is not pure. The pure honey doesn’t’ have specific taste and the taste vanishes very fast.

3. The Thumb Test

Take a small drop of the honey and put it on your thumb. If the honey spills around it means that it is fake. If it stays on your thumb, the honey is pure.

4. Iodine Test

Take a glass of water and add a few drops of iodine. Next, add some honey to the glass. If it turns blue, the honey is fake.

5. Flame Test

Take a matchstick and dip it in the honey. If it lights afterward, the honey is pure. This is because pure honey is flammable.

6. Dissolving Method

Take a glass of water and add one tablespoon of honey in it. If the honey is pure it will sink to the bottom of the glass. If it dissolves, the honey is not pure.

How to Detect Fake Honey in a Nutshell

Fake Honey:                                    Pure Honey:

Foams                                                                Never foams

Has clumps and rough texture                     Has soft texture

Has no smell                                                     Smells like honey

It is runny                                                          It is thick

Separates into layers                                     Doesn’t separate into layers