How To Choose Healthy Honey

Different types of honey are suggested currently on the market, including the honey with the addition of other ingredients. But how do you choose a product that is natural and most useful? Just careful reading the inscription on the label and nothing more. In this article, we will explain the classification of honey comparing Russian and American products.

Differences between traditional and cream honey

First of all, let's understand the differences between pure honey and cream honey. The first one is a traditional honeycomb product. The second is a food product that has undergone additional mechanical and / or heat treatment. Producers of whipped honey claim that a specially developed technology supposedly not only preserves the properties of a natural dessert, but also expands the beneficial properties. One Russian website says: "If the technological rules are followed, the taste and properties of natural honey are not only preserved, but even improved".

Such statements raise questions for several reasons. First, any saturation of food with air leads to the oxidation of substances and, accordingly, to the loss of their original properties. Think of an apple or banana peeled outdoors. Under the influence of oxygen, beneficial trace elements (polyphenols in apples) are oxidized so intensely that this leads to a change in the color of the fruit.
 

In the case of mechanical processing of honey, there is another problem. Even with a slight increase in temperature, some of the useful microelements break down. Stirring can raise the temperature. Much worse is the impossibility in Russia to check whether honey has been heated in production.

Difference between Western and Russian standards

In Russia, there are several standards that determine the qualitative composition of the product. However, in GOST 19792-2017 "Natural honey. Technical conditions" does not stipulate in what conditions honey should be collected and how it can be processed. Obviously, natural honey cannot contain pesticides or other harmful impurities. There are also no indications of processing, in particular thermal. Russian laws strictly stipulate only aspects of storage: "The storage temperature of natural honey is not higher than 20°C".
 

This inaccuracy formally means that manufacturers can briefly raise the temperature of the product to 45°C, when invertase, one of the key enzymes in honey, is destroyed. And at the same time, you can still write "natural honey" on the label, which will not be a violation of the letter of the law.

Abroad, stricter standards have been established for controlling the production and manufacture of honey. Accordingly, more product categories have been introduced:

• Pure — The pure indication on the label means that there are no other artificially added impurities in the product. However, this marking does not say anything about the processing method. For example, during filtration, the manufacturer can heat the product and then indicate “pure” on the can.

• Raw honey is pure honey that has not been heated to pasteurization temperature (45°C), so choose raw honey whenever possible.

• Organic honey produced in an organic apiary. This means that the beehives were not treated with chemicals, just as the plants were not treated with pesticides. Moreover, trees and grasses without chemicals should be within a radius of 2.5 km, this is the distance bees can fly from the hive to collect pollen.

• Unfiltered is a honey in which pollen has been preserved. These types of honey are prone to rapid crystallization, so it is recommended to eat them as soon as possible. But unfiltered honey contains the most useful plant trace elements. It should be noted that the term "unfiltered" refers specifically to the content of pollen, propolis residues and other large impurities filtered out from the product.

Where can you buy pure honey?

On the online store Qwintry.Store you can buy natural American honey produced in environmentally friendly regions of Oregon. In the American Northwest, unique natural conditions are preserved, which is facilitated by the absence of large industrial enterprises.
 

First of all, we added honey from the famous company GloryBee to our catalog. All honey, both classic and organic varieties, is only strained. Some honey is derived from the location of the hives in unique natural conditions. Here are some examples of natural honey from the USA:

• Organic honey with aromas of tropical flowers;

• Clover flower honey;

• Pacific Blackberry Flower Honey;

• Organic honey.

Buy natural honey that is sourced to cutting edge standards in the green, mountainous regions of the United States.

Qwintry.Store: we deliver the best.