Guide to Choosing Good Quality Honey.
Honey nowadays is not only a crucial ingredient in cooking but also has several other uses. From usual household cooking to restaurant-style cooking, honey has branched out and spread its wings.
Honey is a vital ingredient in day-to-day cooking and is sold worldwide to thousands of people. The only fault found in honey is its quality differences. Sometimes, sellers add chemicals and other harmful substances to honey; thus, destroying its natural and clean state. In this article, we would learn how to choose good fresh honey for your family’s safety; so, let’s begin the picking process.
Honey Quality Check
Many factors can change the quality of honey, from water content to pollen density. So, let’s check out these qualities in detail.
Water Content
Sometimes sellers would mix water with natural honey to increase its volume. The best honey, which you can locate, should have only 19% water content in them to preserve the freshness. If the water content increases more than that percentage, the honey will lose its natural freshness and flavour. It would also make the dormant yeasts in honey active again; thus, its acidity would increase, which may later prove to be a potentially harmful factor to your health.
Inverted Sugar
Sometimes companies would add commercial inverted cane sugar to honey to increase its sweetness. However, it can be harmful as cane sugar may spike your blood sugar level, while the natural sweetness of honey does not harm you in any way. So, try to avoid buying honey with added cane sugar.
Honey Color
The honey colour is a crucial factor in determining the type of honey and its quality level. There are three types of honey colours- dark black, light brown colour, and amber. The honey colour is measured in millimetres on the Pfund scale. Light honey has many minerals, but the darker the honey is, the more minerals it contains. This phenomenon occurs as minerals like magnesium, potassium, sulfur, chlorine, iron, manganese, and sodium are darker. Dark honey also contains high contrast of flavour and smell in comparison to its natural counterpart. Therefore, if you are looking for high amounts of minerals in your diet, you should pick dark honey. However, if you prefer using honey in your day-to-day cooking, you should use lighter-coloured honey.
Pollen Density
If you want natural honey, you should try out the honey with pollen in them. The pollen in the liquid symbolises that the honey is not artificially clean and it is fresh in its natural form. Don’t worry; the pollen present in the honey is harmless for you. All you need to do is use a sieve to filter the honey. You would notice that the pollen separates smoothly from the honey. After that, it is safe to use the honey in your kitchen and even for medicinal needs. Yes, honey can be used as a medicine for fever and other diseases. You can also make new healthy dishes using honey, like a chicken with honey-beer sauce, honey-glazed pork chops with tomato salad, honey-brined grilled shrimp, etc.
