FAQ
Interesting facts about honey: Answers to frequently asked questions about honey varieties and honey quality
1. why does honey actually crystallize?
Honey essentially consists of various types of sugar, in particular the simple sugars fructose and glucose. Honey also contains water as well as numerous other natural components such as organic acids, enzymes, minerals, vitamins and solid particles, such as pollen grains, collected during harvesting.
The crystallization of honey is a natural process and is primarily determined by the ratio of glucose to fructose: Glucose tends to crystallize out of solution, while fructose remains liquid. Honeys with a high glucose content, such as dandelion honey, therefore usually crystallize more quickly. By contrast, honeys with a high fructose content, such as forest honeys, often remain liquid for longer. In addition, the water content, the storage temperature and the content of crystallization nuclei – especially pollen – also influence the crystallization behaviour. Honeys with a high pollen content often crystallize faster and more evenly.
The fact that honey crystallizes is a quality feature and a sign of its naturalness. Heavily heated or industrially processed honeys in particular, from which crystallization nuclei and pollen have been removed by heat treatment and fine filtration, often remain permanently liquid. Natural honeys, on the other hand, change their consistency over time – without losing any of their quality.
There are also special features when it comes to crystallization: The natural sugar melezitose plays a role in forest honeys in particular. This is a triple sugar that is found in all forest honey – but in very different quantities depending on the year and harvest. If the melezitose content is higher, forest honey can also crystallize relatively quickly and often appears naturally cloudy in the jar. Another phenomenon is the so-called honey bloom: light-colored crystals and structures that can form on the edge of the jar, especially at cooler temperatures. They are caused by fine air pockets between honey crystals and are a purely optical effect of natural crystallization.
The good news: If you like, you can crystallized liquefy honey again at max. 40 degrees for example in a water bath or dehydrator. Below 40 degrees, all the valuable ingredients are preserved.
Further information:
LAVES – Institute of Apiculture: Honey crystallization(Link)
2. organic honey: why the wax matters
Bees do not distinguish whether a flower is organically or conventionally farmed. The decisive factor for organic honey is therefore not the bees’ foraging behavior, but the way they live in the hive. Wax plays a central role: for a bee colony, the honeycombs form the structural framework of the colony, serving as a brood chamber, storage area for honey and pollen and as a central living and development space.
In organic beekeeping – in addition to the use of natural materials, treatment agents and other points – a separate, closed wax cycle is therefore central. Conventional wax can be contaminated with residues from Varroa control, pesticides or foreign substances that accumulate over decades.
Organic beekeepers therefore usetheir own wax and only buy certified organic wax. This protects the health of the bees and is an essential prerequisite for organic honey that is as uncontaminated as possible.
Further information:
BIO AUSTRIA guidelines for beekeeping(Link)
3 Why is wax from natural honeycomb particularly pure?
Beeswax is fat-soluble and acts as a long-term storage medium for substances with which it comes into contact. In conventional wax cycles, often with imported or frequently reused wax, residues can accumulate over decades. These include agents used to control the Varroa mite as well as pesticides from agriculture. Studies show that conventional wax even contains residues of products that are not or have not been approved in Europe for a long time.
In recent years, wax has also been repeatedly found to be contaminated with kerosene or other foreign substances that can harm bees. These substances remain in the wax and can also pass into the honey under certain circumstances. If you want to avoid residues, choose organic honey from beekeepers with their own wax cycle. The most consistent is honey from natural honeycombs: The bees build their combs entirely from their own, self-produced wax and without pre-pressed wax plates.
Further information:
Residue analyses in wax(Link)
4. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VARIETAL HONEY AND VINTAGE HONEY?
Honey can be labeled as varietal honey if the majority of the honey comes from the nectar of a specific plant. In addition, this honey must have the
In addition to blossom honeys, there are forest honeys, which belong to the honeydew honeys and are also varietal honeys. The basis for honeydew is the so-called syrup: This sugary solution is transported by trees in their pathways and tapped by plant-sucking insects – especially bark and scale insects. As the insects primarily need the nitrogen it contains, they excrete the excess sugar (undigested) as honeydew, which the bees collect. If this honeydew comes mainly from insects on coniferous trees such as spruce or fir, it is called forest honey. Honeydew from deciduous trees such as maple or lime is called leaf honey.
In addition to varietal honeys, honeys can also be classified according to time or specific location: common terms here include spring blossom honey and summer honey on the one hand, and alpine honey and city honey on the other. Vintage honeys , on the other hand, refer to the time window in which the honey was produced: they reflect the variety of flavors of a particular year – characterized by location, weather and the entirety of available plants and nectaries.
Further information:
Austrian Food Codex(Link)
5.what harvesting methods are therefor honey ?
According to the Austrian Honey Ordinance, honeys can also be differentiated according to the way they are produced or the form in which they are offered. These terms are protected by law and may only be used if the corresponding conditions are met:
- Honeycomb honey (or sliced honey):
Honey stored by bees in the capped, brood-free cells of freshly built honeycombs or in honeycombs made of fine wax sheets made exclusively from beeswax and traded in whole or split combs. - Honey with pieces of comb (or pieces of comb in honey):
Honey containing one or more pieces of comb honey. - Drip honey:
Honey obtained by dripping the uncapped, brood-free combs. - Extracted honey:
Honey obtained by extracting the uncapped, brood-free combs. - Pressed honey:
Honey obtained by pressing the brood-free combs with little or no heating (maximum 45 °C). - Filtered honey:
Honey obtained by removing inorganic or organic foreign substances in such a way that pollen is significantly reduced.
Baker’s honey is a category of honey expressly defined in the Honey Ordinance: it may exhibit sensory or qualitative deviations due to fermentation, overheating or other changes. It is therefore not intended for direct consumption, but only for further processing – for example for cooking, baking or industrial purposes.
Note: The common English term “raw honey ” indicates that the honey has not been industrially heated or filtered. As the European Honey Regulation stipulates that honey must be natural anyway, the product designation “raw honey” is misleading and not legally permissible within the EU.
Further information:
Austrian Honey Regulation(link)
Raw honey as a social media trend: misleading advertising(link)
6.drip honey: Why this rarity really has it all
Besides comb honey, drip honey is considered the oldest and gentlest form of honey harvesting, as it does not require any technical aids. The honeycombs are cut out of their wooden frames and form a small “honeycomb lake” in which the honey slowly drips off over days – drop by drop.
Scientific studies show that drip honeys can have a pollen content 40 to 100 times higher than average honeys due to this long contact time. In addition, biologically active flavonoids and phenolic compounds, which belong to the secondary plant substances and are associated with significantly increased antibacterial activity, are released.
Drip honeysrepresent the full spectrum of flavors and ingredients and impress with their multi-layered aromas and fine melting texture. Despite this, there are hardly any beekeepers in Europe practicing this ancient craft due to the smaller harvest volumes.
Further information:
David Heaf on antibacterial activity in honeys (in the UK, drip honey is described as “crush and strain”) Link
Cardiff University: Study by Jennifer Hawkins on antibacterial plant compounds from natural honey Link