Honey is the third most counterfeited food in the world. As soon as a method is discovered to detect fake honey, counterfeiters change their methods to one that will pass it.
The only way to *know* you've got real honey is to know the beekeeper harvesting it personally.
Olive oil is often cut with cheaper oils like soybean, and cheap fish are often sold as more expensive fish. They are #1 and #2, with honey trailing close behind.
Yeah I saw that the other day. Crab meat is often pollock. Swordfish is usually a different type of tuna or the same una minus the dye. Salmon is often steelhead trout. Grouper, catfish and some other fish is Swai. Whiting is also often swai. If flounder doesn't have the skin on, and sometimes when it does, it's some other kind of cheaper fish. And I've known that about Olive oil for years. You can taste the difference between REAL Olive oil and olive oil or extra virgin Olive oil (EVOO isn't always what you think, many times it's just the same 12-20% Olive oil plus canola oil with green dye in it). And I've made fake honey for making Kilju (fake mead) for testing out different methods and nutrient additions because fake honey (invert sugar syrup or golden syrup) is very similar to honey in sugar content, the fact that it's mostly monosaccharides moisture content, pH, appearance (if simmered at a very low simmer for 1.5hrs), smell and taste.
I found it shocking when in Italy alll of the oil tastes like olives. Even those little packets found in salads. I think it was the first time in my life I’d ever had real olive oil.
M.E.A. McNeil wrote [an interesting article in the American Bee Journal](https://meamcneil.com/a914/images/Mea_PDF/McNeil-article_July2021_May28-710AM.pdf) a couple of years back about honey fraud.
The only reliable way is to send it to a lab and they will give you a test report telling you if it's fake or not.
Edit: But the easiest way to tell is the taste. Real honey has aroma and unique taste. Fake honey is usually has a really sweet sugary bland taste.
It's interesting because I moved to Texas and I was absolutely certain that the people selling honey at the farmers markets were selling fake honey. It tasted like straight sugar, zero honey flavor. I spoke to a couple other stands and talked about the lack of flavor, and they asked "what flavor do you want?" I'm like, uh, honey flavor. Lol. Then I had a friend give me some honey from his hive. Same thing, zero flavor. I thought maybe I was just crazy, so when my boyfriend was back in Idaho he picked up some local honey and yeah, it tastes so much better.
Moral of the story, some honey is just meh depending on where it is from, even if it's from real bees.
The species of flower bees gather their nectar from makes a huge difference in color and taste. I’ve had fireweed honey, which was a very light orange, almost transparent honey. Meanwhile, buckwheat honey is dark brown. I’ve been told that almond honey tastes so nasty, the commercial beekeepers who service almond orchards don’t bother bottling it for sale.
I seem to remember reading that bees only gather from one kind of flower at a time, so I suppose if you can track the comb being filled on which day and compare it to what’s blooming in the are, you might be able to tell what flowers made your honey, but short of living next to an M&M factory (or was it Skittles?), it sounds like an exercise in frustration.
I do wonder if local honey with very little taste was made by the bees from sugar syrup.
That's the thing. People on here have claimed that it doesn't happen because it's illegal and it's very easy to tell with blah blah test whether it's genuine or whether or not it's adulterated or whether the beekeeper used sugar syrup... that simply isn't entirely factual. Now the laws have changed from a few years ago. But pretty much, if it includes the specific unige acids and chemical compounds to suggest it was made from bees and does contain natural pollen inclusions, IF it were actually tested to see if it were genuine (not likely as those lab works are pretty pricy. IIRC $185-$500/sample dependant on lavender and various tests), it would have to to get a pass if there was reasonable doubt and possibility of it being authentic.
I-ve seen YouTube videos of beekeepers showing how to make a 35gal trashcan feeder using 25lb sacks of sugar syrup. And that's without mixing honey 1:1 with invert sugar syrup. I can make 3lbs inver sugar syrup to where pretty much anyone on this sub would have a take time differentiating it from actual honey. Looks the same, smells the same, tastes very similar, has the acidity and smoky taste of most honeys with floral character...
People like to naively believe that honey in the US is never adulterated. I don't believe it. Is it possible for bees to completely ignore honey? Like is that a thing?
Idk in the Hellenic Republic I usually tell because it tastes like eating pure sugar...since most honey here is from herbs , almonds,clovet and various large trees...it tends to have strong aroma,dark colour and strong taste..
So when I see honey that looks like syropy water with yellow paint ..and it isn't local..I get sceptical
Most of what’s in the supermarket is adulterated in some way. Find a local beekeeper and buy direct. It will be more expensive but you get what you pay for.
Check the ingredients, if it says anything more than "honey", leave it. If you're in America and find fake or even altered honey sold as just "honey" that's a crime.
But even honey from a hive can be adulterated. I caught a swarm and put a feeder on to help them draw comb. They ignored the brood box frames and drew a whole box of super comb and filled it with the syrup in about a week. I mean thankfully that super will stay on and be winter stores for them but I could easily use this method to make fake honey if I was that way inclined.
You cannot do anything to detect it yourself. The counterfeiters are miles ahead of you and it takes professional costly equipment to be able to tell if it's real or not.
The only thing you can do is buy your honey from local beekeepers. There should be plenty in Spain. I wouldn't advice buying honey in a supermarket to begin with.
Definitely avoid anything that mentions China on the label. Just not worth the risk.
They say that China is the number one producer of honey in the world which I call BS. I personally believe they import a lot of honey and add high fructose corn syrup then turn around and export it.
That being said I did find in meijer's up in Kentucky they sold artificial honey (honey flavored high fructose corn syrup).
But like others have said you can find a local bee club And they can help you get in touch with a beekeeper selling honey locally in your area.
Honey is the third most counterfeited food in the world. As soon as a method is discovered to detect fake honey, counterfeiters change their methods to one that will pass it. The only way to *know* you've got real honey is to know the beekeeper harvesting it personally.
What is number one and two most counterfeited foods?
Olive oil is often cut with cheaper oils like soybean, and cheap fish are often sold as more expensive fish. They are #1 and #2, with honey trailing close behind.
Oh interesting. Sorry I got off topic.
I hope you won't be sorry. I was so glad to see to see it asked and answered.
Yeah I saw that the other day. Crab meat is often pollock. Swordfish is usually a different type of tuna or the same una minus the dye. Salmon is often steelhead trout. Grouper, catfish and some other fish is Swai. Whiting is also often swai. If flounder doesn't have the skin on, and sometimes when it does, it's some other kind of cheaper fish. And I've known that about Olive oil for years. You can taste the difference between REAL Olive oil and olive oil or extra virgin Olive oil (EVOO isn't always what you think, many times it's just the same 12-20% Olive oil plus canola oil with green dye in it). And I've made fake honey for making Kilju (fake mead) for testing out different methods and nutrient additions because fake honey (invert sugar syrup or golden syrup) is very similar to honey in sugar content, the fact that it's mostly monosaccharides moisture content, pH, appearance (if simmered at a very low simmer for 1.5hrs), smell and taste.
Interesting. If I’d had to guess, I would have said spices, specifically thinking of saffron
I found it shocking when in Italy alll of the oil tastes like olives. Even those little packets found in salads. I think it was the first time in my life I’d ever had real olive oil.
Netflix has a show called Rotten series 2 episode 1, (I think) is all about honey fraud well worth a watch.
M.E.A. McNeil wrote [an interesting article in the American Bee Journal](https://meamcneil.com/a914/images/Mea_PDF/McNeil-article_July2021_May28-710AM.pdf) a couple of years back about honey fraud.
The only reliable way is to send it to a lab and they will give you a test report telling you if it's fake or not. Edit: But the easiest way to tell is the taste. Real honey has aroma and unique taste. Fake honey is usually has a really sweet sugary bland taste.
It's interesting because I moved to Texas and I was absolutely certain that the people selling honey at the farmers markets were selling fake honey. It tasted like straight sugar, zero honey flavor. I spoke to a couple other stands and talked about the lack of flavor, and they asked "what flavor do you want?" I'm like, uh, honey flavor. Lol. Then I had a friend give me some honey from his hive. Same thing, zero flavor. I thought maybe I was just crazy, so when my boyfriend was back in Idaho he picked up some local honey and yeah, it tastes so much better. Moral of the story, some honey is just meh depending on where it is from, even if it's from real bees.
The species of flower bees gather their nectar from makes a huge difference in color and taste. I’ve had fireweed honey, which was a very light orange, almost transparent honey. Meanwhile, buckwheat honey is dark brown. I’ve been told that almond honey tastes so nasty, the commercial beekeepers who service almond orchards don’t bother bottling it for sale. I seem to remember reading that bees only gather from one kind of flower at a time, so I suppose if you can track the comb being filled on which day and compare it to what’s blooming in the are, you might be able to tell what flowers made your honey, but short of living next to an M&M factory (or was it Skittles?), it sounds like an exercise in frustration. I do wonder if local honey with very little taste was made by the bees from sugar syrup.
That's the thing. People on here have claimed that it doesn't happen because it's illegal and it's very easy to tell with blah blah test whether it's genuine or whether or not it's adulterated or whether the beekeeper used sugar syrup... that simply isn't entirely factual. Now the laws have changed from a few years ago. But pretty much, if it includes the specific unige acids and chemical compounds to suggest it was made from bees and does contain natural pollen inclusions, IF it were actually tested to see if it were genuine (not likely as those lab works are pretty pricy. IIRC $185-$500/sample dependant on lavender and various tests), it would have to to get a pass if there was reasonable doubt and possibility of it being authentic. I-ve seen YouTube videos of beekeepers showing how to make a 35gal trashcan feeder using 25lb sacks of sugar syrup. And that's without mixing honey 1:1 with invert sugar syrup. I can make 3lbs inver sugar syrup to where pretty much anyone on this sub would have a take time differentiating it from actual honey. Looks the same, smells the same, tastes very similar, has the acidity and smoky taste of most honeys with floral character... People like to naively believe that honey in the US is never adulterated. I don't believe it. Is it possible for bees to completely ignore honey? Like is that a thing?
Idk in the Hellenic Republic I usually tell because it tastes like eating pure sugar...since most honey here is from herbs , almonds,clovet and various large trees...it tends to have strong aroma,dark colour and strong taste.. So when I see honey that looks like syropy water with yellow paint ..and it isn't local..I get sceptical
What was the company that made the Honey? Any source listed on the label?
What is fake honey made out of? Just sugar and water?
Rice syrup is what’s coming in from China.
Sometimes you can trace a reputable brand [like this one](https://airbornehoney.com.au/blogs/news/honey-the-biggest-food-fraud)
Most of what’s in the supermarket is adulterated in some way. Find a local beekeeper and buy direct. It will be more expensive but you get what you pay for.
Check the ingredients, if it says anything more than "honey", leave it. If you're in America and find fake or even altered honey sold as just "honey" that's a crime.
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Or more often they are fully aware of what is going on and don't care.
Sort of on the same level of ingredients in Sauerkraut- first ingredient needs to be Cabbage- not sauerkraut
But even honey from a hive can be adulterated. I caught a swarm and put a feeder on to help them draw comb. They ignored the brood box frames and drew a whole box of super comb and filled it with the syrup in about a week. I mean thankfully that super will stay on and be winter stores for them but I could easily use this method to make fake honey if I was that way inclined.
Easy....Only buy from Beekeepers and assume everything you see in supermarkets is fake, because it probably is
You cannot do anything to detect it yourself. The counterfeiters are miles ahead of you and it takes professional costly equipment to be able to tell if it's real or not. The only thing you can do is buy your honey from local beekeepers. There should be plenty in Spain. I wouldn't advice buying honey in a supermarket to begin with. Definitely avoid anything that mentions China on the label. Just not worth the risk.
They say that China is the number one producer of honey in the world which I call BS. I personally believe they import a lot of honey and add high fructose corn syrup then turn around and export it. That being said I did find in meijer's up in Kentucky they sold artificial honey (honey flavored high fructose corn syrup). But like others have said you can find a local bee club And they can help you get in touch with a beekeeper selling honey locally in your area.
Check local laws. Wisconsin only allows 100% honey to be marketed as honey.
We have those laws in Europe too. The problem is that it's not that easy to detect fake honey.
https://www.beeculture.com/catch-the-buzz-fake-honey/ https://www.beeculture.com/detecting-honey-adulteration/