Quick Honey Facts
What is Honey?
It is believed that honey history dated as far back as 10 to 20 million years ago and the practice of beekeeping to produce honey, apiculture, dates back to at least 700 BC.
In ancient times, Eygptians sacrificed honey by the tons to their river gods, Roman legions slathered honey on the wounds as a natural cure to promote healing, and medieval lords reserved honey for their private use. It's told that the body of Alexander the Great was preserved and embalmed with honey. As honey was then expensive and not all could afford it, its use in cooking was reserved only for the wealthy. And ancient myths and writings on alcoholic beverages throughout the world also contain references to mead, or honey wine, which is known as the world's oldest fermented berverage.
The biblical history also contains honey facts biblical history also contains honey facts related to its benefits and goodness. Honey, a delicacy fit for the kings and queens!
When refined sugar made from sugar cane came along, it provided a relatively inexpensive alternative form of sweetening and began to displace honey for culinary use. The benefits of honey since then became more focused on its medicinal properties and its use in fine gourmet and confectionary.
Today, the word 'honey” has gone beyond its association with its benefits as a food and has crept deep into many cultures and languages.
Honey is a miracle food; it never goes bad. It was reported that archaeologists found 2000 year old jars of honey in Egyptian tombs and they still tasted delicious! Many people find it rather surprising that bacteria cannot grow in honey because all things being equal, bacteria loves sugar. The unique chemical composition of low water content and relatively high acidic level in honey creates a low pH (3.2-4.5) environment that makes it very unfavourable for bacteria or other micro-organism to grow. Thus, "Best Before Dates" on honey buckets indicating honey shelf life do not seem to be very important after all.
Good quality honey essentially has low water content. Honey is likely to ferment and lose its freshness if the water content of honey is greater than 19%. The reason is that all unpasteurized honey contains wild yeasts. Due to the high sugar concentration, these yeasts will pose little risk in low moisture honey because osmosis will draw sufficient water from the yeast to force them into dormancy. In honey that has a higher proportion of water, the yeast may survive and cause fermentation to begin in storage. This results an increase of acidity, which then becomes an important quality criteria.
Honey is very hygroscopic, which means that it easily absorbs moisture from the air. Thus, in areas with a very high humidity it can be difficult to produce good quality honey of sufficiently low water content, which can be measured using a gadget called refractometer. Raw honey's moisture content can be as low as 14%, and is usually deemed as more valuable and hence is relatively more costly. Honey containing up to 20% water is not recommended for mead-making. One simple way of judging the relative quantity of water in honey involves taking two same-size, same-temperature, well-sealed jars of honey from different sources. Turn the two jars upside-down and watch the bubbles rise. Bubbles in the honey with more water content will rise faster.
2. HMF(Hydroxymethylfurfural)
HMF is a break-down product of fructose (one of the main sugars in honey) formed slowly during storage and very quickly when honey is heated. The amount of HMF present in honey is therefore used as a guide to storage length and the amount of heating which has taken place. HMF's occurrence and accumulation in honey is variable depending on honey type. High levels of HMF may indicate excessive heating during the extraction process. Honey that is traded in a bulk form is usually required to be below 10 or 15mg/kg to enable further processing and then give some shelf life before a level of 40 mg/kg is reached. It is not uncommon for honey sold in hot climates to be well over 100 mg/kg in HMF. This is mostly due to the ambient temperatures (over 35°C) that honey is exposed to in the distribution channel. Some countries set an HMF limit for imported honey. You may also want to note the colour of the honey as it can sometimes be an indicator of quality because honey becomes darker during storage and heating.
3. Inverted sugars
High levels of HMF (greater than 100 mg/kg) can also be an indicator of adulteration with inverted sugars. Cane sugar or sucrose, is "inverted" by heating with a food acid, and this process creates HMF. Many food items sweetened with high fructose corn syrups, e.g. carbonated soft drinks, can have levels of HMF up to 1,000 mg/kg
4. Impurities
For most consumers, good quality honey is expected to be visually free of defect -- clean and clear. Honey which has a very high pollen content appears cloudy, and the presence of many other contaminations such as particles of wax, bees, splinters of wood, and dust certainly does make it look unappetising and unappealing for anyone to buy and consume, and hence it appears as if it's of very low value. Unfortunately, no matter how much food value or health benefits some of these particles like pollen can offer, this kind of honey is hard to be associated with good quality honey and is immediately rejected by most consumers at the super-mart. And this explains why it's almost impossible to find unfiltered, raw honey on the shelf. Its cloudy appearance makes them commercially unattractive.
5. Colour
Honey is color graded into light, amber, and dark categories which do not really have any bearing on quality. Some of the most distinctively and strongly flavored honey varieties, such as basswood, are very light, while very mild and pleasant honeys such as tulip poplar can be quite dark. Honey color is measured on the Pfund Scale in millimeters. While it is not an indicator of honey quality and there are exceptions to the rule, generally speaking, the darker color the honey, the higher its mineral contents, the pH readings, and the aroma/flavor levels. Minerals such as potassium, chlorine, sulfur, iron, manganese, magnesium, and sodium have been found to be much higher in darker honeys.
In a nutshell, honey is a 100% pure and natural sweetener made and stored in honeycombs by the honey bees. Nearly one million tonnes of honey is produced worldwide every year.
Honey History
It is believed that honey history dated as far back as 10 to 20 million years ago and the practice of beekeeping to produce honey, apiculture, dates back to at least 700 BC.
In ancient times, Eygptians sacrificed honey by the tons to their river gods, Roman legions slathered honey on the wounds as a natural cure to promote healing, and medieval lords reserved honey for their private use. It's told that the body of Alexander the Great was preserved and embalmed with honey. As honey was then expensive and not all could afford it, its use in cooking was reserved only for the wealthy. And ancient myths and writings on alcoholic beverages throughout the world also contain references to mead, or honey wine, which is known as the world's oldest fermented berverage.
The biblical history also contains honey facts biblical history also contains honey facts related to its benefits and goodness. Honey, a delicacy fit for the kings and queens!
When refined sugar made from sugar cane came along, it provided a relatively inexpensive alternative form of sweetening and began to displace honey for culinary use. The benefits of honey since then became more focused on its medicinal properties and its use in fine gourmet and confectionary.
Today, the word 'honey” has gone beyond its association with its benefits as a food and has crept deep into many cultures and languages.
Words with Honey and Bees
The word "honey" comes from Hebrew and means "enchant". Along with variations like 'honey pie', "honey" has become a term of endearment for loved ones. A symbol of all sweetness, the word 'honey” has gone beyond its association with its benefits as a food and has crept deep into many cultures and languages.
Think about words with bees and honey and notice that whenever they are mentioned, it usually has to do with something good and positive.
1. “Sweet as honey”
2. “As busy as a bee”
3. “He is attracted to the woman as bees to honeypot”
4. “The three most difficult to understand; the mind of a woman, the labor of the bees and the ebb and flow of the tide”.
5. “The diligence of the hive produces the wealth of honey”
6. “One bee is better than a handful of flies”
7. “Honeymoon” signifying a sweet period after marriage.
Think about words with bees and honey and notice that whenever they are mentioned, it usually has to do with something good and positive.
1. “Sweet as honey”
2. “As busy as a bee”
3. “He is attracted to the woman as bees to honeypot”
4. “The three most difficult to understand; the mind of a woman, the labor of the bees and the ebb and flow of the tide”.
5. “The diligence of the hive produces the wealth of honey”
6. “One bee is better than a handful of flies”
7. “Honeymoon” signifying a sweet period after marriage.
Honey Expiration Date & Storage
Honey is a miracle food; it never goes bad. It was reported that archaeologists found 2000 year old jars of honey in Egyptian tombs and they still tasted delicious! Many people find it rather surprising that bacteria cannot grow in honey because all things being equal, bacteria loves sugar. The unique chemical composition of low water content and relatively high acidic level in honey creates a low pH (3.2-4.5) environment that makes it very unfavourable for bacteria or other micro-organism to grow. Thus, "Best Before Dates" on honey buckets indicating honey shelf life do not seem to be very important after all.
Honey Quality
1. Water content
Good quality honey essentially has low water content. Honey is likely to ferment and lose its freshness if the water content of honey is greater than 19%. The reason is that all unpasteurized honey contains wild yeasts. Due to the high sugar concentration, these yeasts will pose little risk in low moisture honey because osmosis will draw sufficient water from the yeast to force them into dormancy. In honey that has a higher proportion of water, the yeast may survive and cause fermentation to begin in storage. This results an increase of acidity, which then becomes an important quality criteria.
Honey is very hygroscopic, which means that it easily absorbs moisture from the air. Thus, in areas with a very high humidity it can be difficult to produce good quality honey of sufficiently low water content, which can be measured using a gadget called refractometer. Raw honey's moisture content can be as low as 14%, and is usually deemed as more valuable and hence is relatively more costly. Honey containing up to 20% water is not recommended for mead-making. One simple way of judging the relative quantity of water in honey involves taking two same-size, same-temperature, well-sealed jars of honey from different sources. Turn the two jars upside-down and watch the bubbles rise. Bubbles in the honey with more water content will rise faster.
2. HMF(Hydroxymethylfurfural)
HMF is a break-down product of fructose (one of the main sugars in honey) formed slowly during storage and very quickly when honey is heated. The amount of HMF present in honey is therefore used as a guide to storage length and the amount of heating which has taken place. HMF's occurrence and accumulation in honey is variable depending on honey type. High levels of HMF may indicate excessive heating during the extraction process. Honey that is traded in a bulk form is usually required to be below 10 or 15mg/kg to enable further processing and then give some shelf life before a level of 40 mg/kg is reached. It is not uncommon for honey sold in hot climates to be well over 100 mg/kg in HMF. This is mostly due to the ambient temperatures (over 35°C) that honey is exposed to in the distribution channel. Some countries set an HMF limit for imported honey. You may also want to note the colour of the honey as it can sometimes be an indicator of quality because honey becomes darker during storage and heating.
3. Inverted sugars
High levels of HMF (greater than 100 mg/kg) can also be an indicator of adulteration with inverted sugars. Cane sugar or sucrose, is "inverted" by heating with a food acid, and this process creates HMF. Many food items sweetened with high fructose corn syrups, e.g. carbonated soft drinks, can have levels of HMF up to 1,000 mg/kg
4. Impurities
For most consumers, good quality honey is expected to be visually free of defect -- clean and clear. Honey which has a very high pollen content appears cloudy, and the presence of many other contaminations such as particles of wax, bees, splinters of wood, and dust certainly does make it look unappetising and unappealing for anyone to buy and consume, and hence it appears as if it's of very low value. Unfortunately, no matter how much food value or health benefits some of these particles like pollen can offer, this kind of honey is hard to be associated with good quality honey and is immediately rejected by most consumers at the super-mart. And this explains why it's almost impossible to find unfiltered, raw honey on the shelf. Its cloudy appearance makes them commercially unattractive.
5. Colour
Honey is color graded into light, amber, and dark categories which do not really have any bearing on quality. Some of the most distinctively and strongly flavored honey varieties, such as basswood, are very light, while very mild and pleasant honeys such as tulip poplar can be quite dark. Honey color is measured on the Pfund Scale in millimeters. While it is not an indicator of honey quality and there are exceptions to the rule, generally speaking, the darker color the honey, the higher its mineral contents, the pH readings, and the aroma/flavor levels. Minerals such as potassium, chlorine, sulfur, iron, manganese, magnesium, and sodium have been found to be much higher in darker honeys.
No comments:
Post a Comment