3 DIY tests to determine the purity of honey.

Honey is an amazing alternative to refined sugar. It is very nutritious and have so many health benefits.To enjoy the benefits of honey you must consider its purity.

Honey can be adulterated by the addition of other substances such as sugar syrup, corn syrup, glucose solution or starch.

The biggest problem with honey is quality. Adulterated honey is very common in the open market. To find good, pure honey is very difficult. For this reason most people have lost hope in taking honey, I must say I once did. 

However, all hope is not lost yet in taking pure honey as there are so many purity tests you can carry out personally on your purchased honey to determine if it's pure or have been mixed with something else. Most often, the adulterated honey can be very difficult to distinguish from pure honey so it is advisable to carry out different tests on your honey because one test can't fully determine the purity of the honey. These tests can be very confusing at times, different purity test carried out on a particular honey can give both a pure honey and adulterated honey result at the same time. Making it difficult to determine if really the honey is pure or not.

Here, I will share 3 major tested and tried  tests to carry out on your honey to avoid such confusions.

1. Sensory test: I call this sensory test because here you will make use of your sense organs such as your eyes, nose and hand to determine the purity of your honey. 

-Using your eyes. Before buying honey check the label for additive or added flavors, pure honey has only one flavor and that's honey.The texture, pure honey is a viscous substance, honey doesn't separate into layers leaving sediments at the bottom of the jar or bottle unlike mixtures. The colour, pure honey is usually pale yellow or dark brown in colour. 

-Using your nose. Pure honey has a mild smell like flowers from which the nectar is  collected by bees to produce honey. 

-Using your hand. Use your fingers to feel the honey, pure honey feels thick and doesn't feel watery. Also pure honey sticks to surfaces it is applied on, it doesn't drip away. 

2. Water test: Fill a glass cup with water, add one teaspoon of honey into the glass and leave it for 5mins. Notice carefully. Pure honey which have a dense structure will settle right at the bottom of the glass cup undissolved. Adulterated honey will dissolve rapidly in water, due to the mixed substances in it.

Although, after having a pure honey result at the end of this test, ensure you turn the honey solution well with a spoon because adulterated honey can be tricky sometimes. Total whitish colouration after turning without having any trace of the colour of honey you added detects adulterated honey.

3. Freeze test: Place your bottle or jar of honey in the freezer for some time between 20-24hrs. Pure honey will harden but not freeze, adulterated honey will freeze. This is due to the fact that honey is a supercooled liquid when stored below its melting point, honey does not freeze solid rather its viscosity increases making it become thick and sluggish, flowing at a very low rate. This occurrance will not take place if the honey was mixed with other substances, thereby resulting to its freezing. 

Note: Honey contains high percentage of glucose than water, so it is very possible for your honey to crystallize at room temperature or when stored for a very long time. Also high percentage of water inhibits the crystallization. Adulterated honey can not crystallize. Yes, you may think it should be a criteria for determining pure honey. Although it is, but it isn't a very common purity criteria to be considered because not all type of honey can crystallize. 

                      Crystallized honey 

Conclusion: Follow the steps according when trying yours. If your honey doesn't pass through all the 3 tests listed with a positive result, have it in mind that the honey have been mixed with something else and it isn't pure.