Honey Purity Test: Eight Different Ways to Check Pure Honey at Home

Pure honey is a healthy and delicious substitute for refined sugar. This natural sweetener comes from bees and is rich in nutrients, minerals, antioxidants, and enzymes. 

Unfortunately, the present-day market is flooded with brands claiming to sell pure honey. That is why you should know the different types of honey sold today.

Types of Honey

• Raw Honey. It is honey in its natural form. It is the nectar from the honeycomb that may be filtered but is not processed or pasteurized. This honey contains almost all its nutrients, bee pollen, enzymes, and antioxidants.
  
  
• Pure Honey. A type of honey that may be processed. It is uncontaminated and contains no additives. But it could be refined, heated, or pasteurized, meaning only the nutrients are left.
  
  
• Fake or Adulterated Honey. It is usually adulterated with artificial sweeteners such as glucose solution, molasses, and corn fructose or sugar syrup. It could also be mixed with natural or artificial flavorings. 

To sum it up, all raw honey is pure, but not all pure honey is raw.

Now, is there a way to check if the honey you bought is pure? By examining the physical properties of the honey, you can find out if it is PURE or FAKE.

As mentioned, honey is supposed to be natural, so we should start with the label. Where does it come from? Is it a trusted or known brand? Of course, those that come from highly urbanized areas are suspect. 

How to Test Pure Honey

Read the ingredient list. Manufacturers are obligated to provide one. Check for “added flavors” or other ingredients. It should only list “honey.” Specifically, see if it has the words raw, pure, or natural. This increases the chances that it has no additives or adulterated with unwanted substances.

But there is no guarantee. In some cases, you might have experienced a popping sound when you opened a bottle of honey. This could mean that the honey has additives since fermentation has occurred.

All these indications are not foolproof. Fake honey is hard to spot. But you can try to check or test if the honey you bought is pure. Take note that these different tests are not 100% accurate.

Easy Ways to Check Honey Purity at Home

1. Thumb Test. Put a drop of honey on your thumbnail, it should remain intact. If it overflows or runs off, the honey could be adulterated. Pure honey is syrupy and more likely to stick to your nail.
   
   
2. Flame Test. To test for added water, dip a piece of cotton in the honey and try to set it on fire. You can also dip the tip of a matchstick in honey and strike it against the matchbox. If it doesn’t burn, then it contains water. Pure honey is flammable.
   
   
3. Heat Test. Pure honey caramelizes when heated. Fake honey bubbles because of additives. Take note that pure honey may form a layer of “foam” at the top when cooked due to the air trapped in the honey.
   
   
4. Water Test. Add a tablespoon of honey to a glass of warm water. Fake honey dissolves or disperses in the water right away. Pure honey is much denser and will settle as lumps at the bottom of the glass for a moment, but gradually dissolves.
    
5. Bubble Test. Pour a cup of water into a glass bottle. Add 3 tablespoons of honey and shake for half a minute. The bubbles produced by pure honey will remain for several hours. While the foam created by an impure one will quickly disappear.
   
   
6. Blot Test. Watered down honey will leave a wet mark. When a few drops are poured on a white cloth or paper, fake honey will pass through, leaving a stain. Pure honey will stay on the surface and not be absorbed.
   
   
7. Bread Test. Pure honey will harden quickly when spread on a slice of bread. In a few minutes, the bread will turn crunchy. The exact opposite will happen with adulterated honey. The additives will cause the bread to become soggy.
   
   
8. Egg Yolk Test. And last, but not least of the tests you can do at home is the egg yolk test. Just place it in a small bowl and pour in the honey. The result is quite peculiar. For pure honey, the yolk will look cooked, while no change will be observed for fake honey.

These eight different ways to test pure honey will help you identify whether it is pure or adulterated. When in doubt, you can use several of these tests for the sake of your health since these are not exactly a guarantee of purity. Especially now that so many supermarkets are unknowingly selling expensive but adulterated honey.

At the end of the day though, it’s always the laboratory test which can give us more confident results.

Stop wasting your money on fake honey and enjoy the amazing benefits of our 100% bee-produced honey products like what our happy customers find here in Honeys.PH. All of our honey products are FDA-approved. So enjoy all the goodness of pure, raw, and unadulterated honey from the mountains of Davao City and other provinces in the Philippines. Walang halo at hindi niluto!