Как отличить настоящий МЁД от подделки? Главные ошибки покупателей! — Transcript

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1. 0:00Everyone wants to eat real honey. But
2. 0:02without experience, how do you know what
3. 0:04you’re buying? After all, you're going
4. 0:06to feed this honey to your whole family
5. 0:08. Usually, people do things like adding
6. 0:11iodine, using a chemical pencil, or
7. 0:13dripping honey onto paper. If it doesn't
8. 0:15turn blue or spread out, they think it's
9. 0:17real. But almost none of these tests
10. 0:20will catch the kind of fakes being sold
11. 0:24today.
12. 0:25Let’s figure out why that is, what you
13. 0:28can actually learn about honey at home,
14. 0:30and how to buy it so you pay for honey,
15. 0:32not syrup.
16. 0:34Let’s start with a surprisingly
17. 0:35unpleasant statistic. Between 2021 and
18. 0:382022, the EU conducted a major
19. 0:40inspection of honey imported into its
20. 0:43member states. They collected 320
21. 0:46samples at the borders and sent them to
22. 0:48a lab. 147 of them were suspected of
23. 0:51having added syrup. That's 46%—almost
24. 0:55half. In the previous inspection, a few
25. 0:59years earlier, it was only 14%. So, the
26. 1:02problem isn't going away; it's growing.
27. 1:04It's important to be honest: this refers
28. 1:06to imported honey brought into Europe.
29. 1:10This doesn't mean every second jar at
30. 1:11your local market is fake, but it shows
31. 1:13the scale and, more importantly, what
32. 1:15they are using to fake it.
33. 1:17They aren't using chalk, starch, or
34. 1:19water anymore, like they did in the
35. 1:21nineties.
36. 1:22Nowadays, they add rice, wheat, and
37. 1:24sugar beet syrups to honey.
38. 1:27In composition, such syrup is very
39. 1:28similar to honey—it's also glucose and
40. 1:30fructose.
41. 1:31Why they do it is clear from the prices
42. 1:33.
43. 1:35The average price of imported honey in
44. 1:37the EU in 2021 was about 2.30 euros per
45. 1:40kilogram, while rice syrup cost between
46. 1:4340 and 60 cents.
47. 1:45That's a four-to five-fold difference.
48. 1:48When dealing with tons, that's a huge
49. 1:49amount of money.
50. 1:50And one more detail from that same
51. 1:52report.
52. 1:54Fraudsters calibrate the amount of syrup
53. 1:56to bypass lab capabilities, adding just
54. 1:57enough so the analysis doesn't detect it
55. 1:59.
56. 2:00If even labs with expensive equipment
57. 2:03can't always catch it, what can a drop
58. 2:05of iodine in your kitchen really show?
59. 2:08Let’s go through the popular tests one
60. 2:10by one.
61. 2:11Iodine. Iodine turns blue when it
62. 2:13encounters starch. If flour or starch
63. 2:16has been mixed into the honey, this test
64. 2:18will show it. But almost no one adds
65. 2:20starch to honey anymore.
66. 2:22Rice syrup is indeed derived from starch
67. 2:24, but the final syrup contains no starch
68. 2:26—it has been broken down into sugars.
69. 2:29So, honey with rice syrup will pass the
70. 2:31iodine test perfectly.
71. 2:33Iodine only catches the crudest fakes,
72. 2:36which you almost never see anymore.
73. 2:38Chemical pencil.
74. 2:40It is believed that on real honey, no
75. 2:42mark will appear, while on fake honey,
76. 2:44it will turn purple.
77. 2:46In reality, the pencil reacts to
78. 2:48moisture, and there is water in any
79. 2:50honey, usually between 16 and 20 percent
80. 2:53.
81. 2:53The result depends on how hard you press
82. 2:55, how long you hold it, and how much
83. 2:57moisture is in the honey. The pencil
84. 3:00cannot distinguish between syrup and
85. 3:01honey.
86. 3:02Paper.
87. 3:03You drop honey onto a sheet of paper and
88. 3:05take a look. If a wet spot appears
89. 3:07around a drop, it means the honey has
90. 3:09been diluted with water.
91. 3:11There is some truth to that.
92. 3:13Very runny honey might indeed leave a
93. 3:15spot, but thick syrup won't, and that is
94. 3:17exactly what they use for fakes nowadays
95. 3:19.
96. 3:21Honey that winds around a spoon
97. 3:22beautifully and flows like a ribbon.
98. 3:25The thickness of honey depends on the
99. 3:27variety and the temperature.
100. 3:28The exact same honey behaves differently
101. 3:31in a cold pantry versus a warm kitchen.
102. 3:33Acacia honey is always runnier than
103. 3:35thick buckwheat honey, and that says
104. 3:37nothing about its authenticity. Burning
105. 3:39it, dissolving it in water, checking if
106. 3:41it sticks to your fingers, and all the
107. 3:43rest of that stuff.
108. 3:45These are tests for density, water
109. 3:47content, and coarse additives. Against a
110. 3:49good syrup, they are powerless. Why are
111. 3:52they so popular, then?
112. 3:53Because they are easy to perform, and
113. 3:55they always show something.
114. 3:57People think they've tested it, but in
115. 3:59reality, they've only checked that there
116. 4:01is no flour in their honey.
117. 4:03Does that mean you can't do anything at
118. 4:04home?
119. 4:05You can, but something completely
120. 4:07different. At home, you won't be able to
121. 4:09prove that honey is genuine. However,
122. 4:11you can spot signs that should put you
123. 4:13on alert. And the first, most useful of
124. 4:16them is crystallization.
125. 4:18Almost any natural honey eventually
126. 4:20thickens and turns into a solid mass.
127. 4:23This is not spoilage and not a sign of
128. 4:24sugar. It happens because honey contains
129. 4:27a lot of glucose, which precipitates
130. 4:29into crystals.
131. 4:30The more glucose honey contains, the
132. 4:32faster it crystallizes. The more
133. 4:34fructose it has, the longer it remains
134. 4:36liquid. And this is the most interesting
135. 4:38part. The speed depends on the plant
136. 4:40from which the nectar was collected.
137. 4:42Rapeseed honey usually thickens within a
138. 4:45couple of weeks after extraction,
139. 4:47sunflower within a few weeks, or a
140. 4:48couple of months at most. Buckwheat
141. 4:51takes a few months, while acacia can
142. 4:53stay liquid for a year or more. It is
143. 4:56high in fructose. How do you use this
144. 4:58information? It is currently November.
145. 5:00If you are being sold sunflower honey
146. 5:02extracted in the summer and it is
147. 5:04completely liquid and clear, that is a
148. 5:06reason to ask questions. It is possible
149. 5:08it was heated to melt the crystals. It
150. 5:11is possible it contains additives. It is
151. 5:13possible it is not sunflower honey at
152. 5:15all, while liquid acacia in November is
153. 5:17normal—that is how it behaves. So the
154. 5:20rule is not that liquid means bad, but
155. 5:22whether the honey behaves as that
156. 5:24variety should behave. If a seller names
157. 5:27a variety, but the honey behaves quite
158. 5:29differently, that is a red flag.
159. 5:32The second thing you can notice at home
160. 5:33is fermentation. This has nothing to do
161. 5:36with fakes; it is a separate problem.
162. 5:38If honey was extracted too early, before
163. 5:40the bees finished ripening it, it
164. 5:42retains too much water. Such honey is
165. 5:44called immature.
166. 5:46It can ferment, developing a sour smell
167. 5:48, sometimes a taste reminiscent of mash
168. 5:50, with foam on top, as if the honey is
169. 5:53hissing.
170. 5:54Sometimes it separates—crystals on the
171. 5:56bottom, a liquid layer on top.
172. 5:58Separation by itself is not yet a death
173. 6:00sentence, but if it's accompanied by a
174. 6:02sour smell, it is fermentation. Such
175. 6:04honey isn't dangerous, but it is spoiled
176. 6:06, and it's not worth paying for it as if
177. 6:08it were good.
178. 6:09Third. Taste and smell. Real honey has
179. 6:12the scent of a flower. Linden honey has
180. 6:15its own, buckwheat is sharp and almost
181. 6:17spicy, and chestnut has a bitter note.
182. 6:20If honey is just sweet and has almost no
183. 6:22smell, that is a reason to be cautious.
184. 6:24Not proof, but a reason. And a taste of
185. 6:28burnt sugar or caramel often means the
186. 6:30honey has been heavily heated. By the
187. 6:32way, regarding heating. Many people buy
188. 6:35honey at the store that is always liquid
189. 6:37and always identical.
190. 6:39It is usually heated and sometimes
191. 6:41finely filtered so it stays liquid
192. 6:43longer and looks nice on the shelf.
193. 6:46It isn't necessarily a fake, but when
194. 6:48heated above 40 ° C, enzymes in the
195. 6:51honey break down, and with prolonged,
196. 6:53high heat, a substance accumulates that
197. 6:56labs use to detect overheating.
198. 6:59It still tastes like honey, but the
199. 7:01living product is gone.
200. 7:04On the label of store-bought honey, you
201. 7:06should pay attention to one phrase.
202. 7:08If it says something like "a blend of
203. 7:10honey from different countries," it
204. 7:12means the honey was mixed from various
205. 7:14batches, sometimes from different
206. 7:15continents.
207. 7:17This is not a crime, it's a legal
208. 7:19practice, but you don't know where it's
209. 7:21from, from which flowers, or what
210. 7:23happened to each batch before mixing.
211. 7:25It is precisely during blending,
212. 7:27according to that same European
213. 7:28inspection, that it is easiest to hide
214. 7:30syrup.
215. 7:31And about the price. Honey cannot cost
216. 7:34less than it costs to produce. A
217. 7:36beekeeper has expenses: hives, treating
218. 7:39bees, winter feeding, transportation,
219. 7:42fuel, and jars.
220. 7:44If honey costs significantly less than
221. 7:46what honest beekeepers in your region
222. 7:48charge, you need to understand why.
223. 7:50Sometimes it's a sale, and sometimes
224. 7:52it's syrup.
225. 7:54Now, about the market. Many are sure
226. 7:56that market honey from a beekeeper must
227. 7:59be real. But the person behind the
228. 8:01counter is not always a beekeeper. Often
229. 8:03it is a reseller who doesn't even know
230. 8:05where the goods are from. It is not
231. 8:07difficult to tell them apart. Ask a few
232. 8:09questions. Where is the apiary located?
233. 8:12A real beekeeper will name a specific
234. 8:14location, not just "in the region." What
235. 8:16plants is this honey from, and when was
236. 8:18it harvested? The answer should be
237. 8:21specific. "Linden, end of June," not "
238. 8:23some good wildflower blend." How does
239. 8:26this honey crystallize? A beekeeper
240. 8:28knows how their honey behaves because
241. 8:30they have seen it many times. Do you
242. 8:33feed your bees syrup? Bees are indeed
243. 8:35fed sugar syrup in the autumn so they
244. 8:37can survive the winter. This is normal
245. 8:40and correct.
246. 8:41But if syrup is given during the nectar
247. 8:43flow, the bees transfer it into the
248. 8:45combs, resulting in so-called sugar
249. 8:47honey.
250. 8:48The bees have processed it, but there is
251. 8:50very little nectar in it. And this kind
252. 8:52of deception will not be caught by any
253. 8:54home test. But in the laboratory,
254. 8:56everything is complicated. Beet sugar is
255. 8:58similar to nectar in one of the main
256. 9:00tests, so it is particularly difficult
257. 9:03to detect. It’s a good sign when the
258. 9:05seller answers calmly and invites you to
259. 9:07visit the apiary to take a look yourself
260. 9:09.
261. 9:11It’s a bad sign when one person has 10
262. 9:13varieties of honey, all equally liquid
263. 9:14and clear in November, and they get
264. 9:16annoyed by your questions.
265. 9:18But even here, honesty is required.
266. 9:20Buying from a beekeeper isn’t a
267. 9:22guarantee, but it is a lower risk.
268. 9:24A beekeeper can also extract unripe
269. 9:26honey to sell it faster or go overboard
270. 9:28with supplementary feeding. The
271. 9:30difference is that you know the
272. 9:32beekeeper, you can go back to them and
273. 9:34ask, whereas you can’t do that with a
274. 9:36jar from a supermarket.
275. 9:38If you are buying a large amount of
276. 9:39honey, for example, for the whole family
277. 9:41for a year, the most reliable option is
278. 9:43a laboratory analysis.
279. 9:45The lab will check the moisture content
280. 9:47, i.e., the ripeness of the honey,
281. 9:48verify it hasn't been overheated, and
282. 9:50use pollen to show which plants it was
283. 9:52collected from.
284. 9:53This costs money, so there is no point
285. 9:55for a single jar.
286. 9:57But if you are buying 20-30 liters,
287. 9:58analyzing one sample will be cheaper
288. 10:00than making a mistake.
289. 10:02And an honest beekeeper will not be
290. 10:04offended by a request to show an
291. 10:05analysis.
292. 10:06A note on honeycomb honey. It is the
293. 10:08most difficult to fake. The wax cells
294. 10:11are built by the bees themselves. You
295. 10:12cannot pour syrup into finished
296. 10:14honeycomb.
297. 10:15This is a good option if you want to be
298. 10:17as sure as possible.
299. 10:18The caveat is the same as before. If the
300. 10:20bees were fed syrup during the honey
301. 10:22harvest, they will put syrup into the
302. 10:24comb as well.
303. 10:25Honeycomb is protection against crude
304. 10:27forgery, but not against a dishonest
305. 10:28beekeeper.
306. 10:30Once you’ve bought good honey, it’s
307. 10:31important to store it properly,
308. 10:32otherwise you’ll ruin it yourself.
309. 10:35Keep honey in a glass jar with a tight
310. 10:37lid. Honey absorbs moisture and odors.
311. 10:40If the jar is left open in the kitchen,
312. 10:42the honey collects water from the air
313. 10:44and can ferment, while also absorbing
314. 10:46the smell of onions or spices.
315. 10:48Put the jar somewhere dark and cool. A
316. 10:51refrigerator isn't necessary; a regular
317. 10:53pantry will do.
318. 10:55The main thing is not to keep honey by
319. 10:56the stove or in the sun.
320. 10:58If the honey has crystallized and you
321. 11:00want it liquid, place the jar in warm
322. 11:03water—not hot, 40 ° C—and wait.
323. 11:06Do not heat it in the microwave or put
324. 11:07it over a flame. By doing so, you will
325. 11:09destroy the very thing you bought it for
326. 11:11.
327. 11:12And while we're on the subject of
328. 11:13benefits, don't put honey in boiling
329. 11:15water. Let the tea cool down to a warm
330. 11:17temperature, and then add the honey.
331. 11:19And remember that honey is still sugar.
332. 11:22There are almost 17 grams in one
333. 11:24tablespoon.
334. 11:26For honey to be beneficial to your
335. 11:27health, one or two teaspoons a day is
336. 11:28enough.
337. 11:30Let’s summarize.
338. 11:32Iodine, pencils, and paper catch fakes
339. 11:34from the past and miss those of today.
340. 11:36At home, you can notice three things.
341. 11:39Does the honey behave the way this
342. 11:41variety should behave? Are there any
343. 11:43sour smells or signs of fermentation?
344. 11:45Does the honey have its own taste and
345. 11:47aroma, rather than just sweetness?
346. 11:50The best protection isn't a kitchen test
347. 11:52, but a trusted seller you can question
348. 11:55and return to.
349. 11:57Write in the comments what test you used
350. 12:00until today and what it showed you. I
351. 12:03wonder how many people have tried the
352. 12:04iodine test? And subscribe to the
353. 12:06channel if you love bees. There is still
354. 12:09a lot ahead that they won't tell you
355. 12:10about at the market. And if you want to
356. 12:12support the channel with a donation,
357. 12:13it's in the description.
358. 12:15Thanks for watching and see you next
359. 12:17time.