1. by source
We know that when bees brew honey, the main source of "processing raw materials" collected is nectar, but when honey sources are scarce, bees also collect nectar or honey dew, so we divide honey into natural honey and nectar honey.
Natural honey is brewed by bees collecting nectar. They come from the inner or outer nectaries of plants. Usually, the honey we are talking about is natural honey, and because it comes from different honey sources, it can be divided into various single honey sources with a certain flowering period as the main body, such as litchi honey, Robinia pseudoacacia honey, Chinese milk vetch honey, rape seed honey, jujube honey, wild osmanthus honey, linden honey and so on.
Although bees only collect nectar from one plant in a certain period of time, most of the honey often contains pollen or nectar from several types of plants, so honey is named after flowers from one or several main sources. Generally speaking, a single nectary is the proportion of pollen in nectariferous plants, and there are also many nectaries obtained by flowering. Because there are more than two kinds of pollen mixed together, it is generally called "mixed nectar" or "hundred flowers honey".
Before people knew something about honey plants, they were divided into spring honey, summer honey, autumn honey and winter honey according to the honey producing season. Mannan honey is honey brewed from leaves or stems of plants by bees collecting nectar or insect metabolites-manna. Aphids absorb plant juice, protein and sugar through the digestive system, and then excrete excess sugar and water and sprinkle them on the branches and leaves of plants. Bees use it as raw material to brew nectar.
2. Classification according to physical state
Honey has two different physical states at normal temperature and pressure, namely liquid state and crystal state (whether honey is stored in honey or separated from the nest room). Under normal circumstances, the honey just separated is liquid, clear and transparent, and has good fluidity. After a period of time or low temperature, most honey forms solid crystals, so people usually divide it into liquid honey and crystalline honey.
Crystalline honey can be divided into large crystals, small crystals and greasy crystals due to different crystal sizes, and crystals with a diameter of 0.5 microns are large crystals; Particles with a diameter less than 0.5 micron are small crystals; Crystal particles are very small and look uniform, which are called greasy crystals or oily crystals.
3. Classification according to mode of production
According to the different methods of making honey, it can be divided into separated honey and nest honey. Separated honey, also known as centrifugal honey or machine honey, is honey taken out of the hive, put into a honey shaker, shaken out by centrifugal force, filtered, or separated from the honey card by other methods. This kind of fresh honey is generally in a transparent liquid state, and some separated honey will crystallize after a period of time.
Nest honey, also known as lattice honey, is a honey cube brewed with honey in a standardized beehive by using the biological characteristics of bees. Honeycomb honey not only has the function of distributing honey, but also has the characteristics of honeycomb. According to the flow law of nectar from nectar source plants and the habit of bees covering honey spleen, a single honey can be produced in different formats, and a nest frame can be divided into 4 pieces, 8 pieces and 12 pieces.
According to color classification
Different kinds of nectar plants have great differences in the color of honey. Whether it is a single flower or a mixed honey seed, it has a certain color, and it is often a honey seed with a relatively simple color. Therefore, the color of honey can be used not only as the basis for honey classification, but also as one of the indicators to measure the quality of honey. Generally speaking, light honey is better than dark honey in quality. In the international money market, honey is divided into special honey (single flower honey) and mixed honey, and there are color differences between them. It is divided into seven grades: water white, extra white, white, extra light amber, light amber, amber and dark amber. The basis for distinguishing colors is Pfonte colorimeter, and the grades are as follows according to the readings of Pfonte colorimeter:
Water white 8 mm
Tebai 8-17mm
White17-34mm
Ultra light amber 34-50mm
Light amber 50-85mm
Amber 85-114mm
Dark amber114-140mm
How to distinguish the quality of honey?
I always like to eat honey, like the delicate taste and nutrition, but because of this, I should be more careful when choosing honey. There are often fakes in the honey market, many of which are inferior honey mixed with a lot of sucrose and water. Drinking too much is easy to hurt your health ~ ~ So I found a way to identify honey from the Internet and made a summary ~ ~ I hope it will help people who like honey like Hermika ~ ~
Beekeeping feeds on honey. Honey has been a natural health food for human beings since ancient times, which has nourishing and pharmacological effects. Bees collect stamens and pollen from natural plants, and after repeated conversion of enzymes in their salivary glands and honey sacs (stomachs), sucrose in nectar is decomposed into two chemical components, glucose and fructose, which is convenient for human body to directly digest and absorb. Honey contains protein, nucleic acid, sugar, vitamins and mineral elements needed by human body.
Honey stored at room temperature for a long time will not be mildewed and deteriorated. The main reason is that honey has a strong antibacterial effect on various bacteria. Honey contains antioxidants. Because of its acidity and high sugar content, it maintains a high permeability, so microorganisms cannot survive in this environment. According to experiments, honey has bacteriostatic effect on more than 60 kinds of bacteria and 7 kinds of fungi.
The annual output of honey in China has reached more than 200,000 tons, but the product quality is not satisfactory. Some products contain pesticide and antibiotic residues, so it is difficult for relevant quality inspection departments to conduct comprehensive and regular inspection and guidance on their products.
So, how should consumers judge recognition? Generally speaking, we can start from the aspects of color, fragrance, taste and shape, that is, honey with light color, fragrant taste, good taste, high viscosity and less impurities is the top grade.
(1) Honey can be evenly mixed with clean bamboo chopsticks, and there should be no peculiar smell and oily smell after smelling it.
(2) From the surface of bottled or bulk honey, if the smell of foam and distiller's grains is more and the taste is acidic, it is a low-quality fermented and deteriorated product. The color of honey can be different shades, but the transparency should be high, and there should be no impurities in liquid honey;
(3) You can also put honey into a vessel, add 3-4 times of clean distilled water (cold boiled water is also acceptable), then add a proper amount of 95% ethanol solution (alcohol) and stir slowly. If white flocs are found, it is proved that maltose (maltose, sorghum molasses, etc. ) It's a mixed blessing. If the precursor is not doped, the liquid is turbid, but white flocs will not appear.
(4) You can also put a proper amount (1 ~ 2 spoons) of honey into a vessel and heat it with a small fire of gas (the moisture content of honey is about 17%). Water evaporates after heating, and soft honey is pure after cooling, while hard and brittle honey is inferior products such as sucrose and maltose.
(5) In addition, honey stored for a long time often forms crystals from the bottom. When the pure crystal is rubbed by hand, its crystal is soft and creamy, while the crystal containing sucrose has a strong sense of gravel when rubbed by hand, and the crystal block is large and hard.
1, identification and inspection method of honey mixed with water
Take a few drops of honey and drop it on the filter paper. High-quality honey has low water content, so it will not soak into the filter paper quickly after dripping, while honey mixed with water will soak and dissipate quickly after dripping.
2. Test method for identifying honey mixed with nectar
Mannan honey, also known as aphid honey, is honey made from sweet juice secreted by aphids on plant leaves, which mainly contains dextrin and melezitose.
(1) Sensory test: Mannan honey is darker than natural honey, dark brown or dark green, without floral fragrance, and its sweetness is dull and moist.
(2) Chemical inspection:
① Take 1 serving of suspicious nectar, add 1 serving of water and mix well. Take 2ml of this mixed solution, add 4ml of limewater (supernatant of supersaturated limewater solution), and heat to boil. If there is brownish yellow precipitation, it proves that there is nectar.
(2) Take the mixed solution 1ml in the above method, add 95 ethanol 1ml, and mix well. If it is cloudy, it means there is nectar.
3. Test method for identifying honey mixed with starch
(1) Sensory test: When starch is mixed with honey, it is usually boiled into a paste, and some sucrose is added before mixing with honey. Therefore, this adulterated honey is turbid and opaque, and the honey tastes light, and it is still turbid after being diluted with water.
(2) Chemical examination: Take 5 ml sample honey, dilute it with 20 ml distilled water, boil it, cool it, and add 2 drops of iodine reagent (made by dissolving 1 ~ 2 grains of iodine in 20ml 1 potassium iodide solution). If it is blue or blue-purple, it can be considered as a mixture of starch substances; If it is red, it can be thought that saccharin is mixed. If the brown color remains the same, it means that the honey is pure.
The grade of honey in China is set according to export standards, which is also the standard for manufacturers to buy honey from beekeepers. Honey can be divided into four grades according to its color, fragrance, taste and physical and chemical characteristics.
The first-grade honey is white, white and light amber, transparent, sticky and sweet liquid or crystal, and has the unique fragrance of honey plants. The main honey source flowers are litchi, citrus, linden, Robinia pseudoacacia and Chinese milk vetch.
Secondary honey is yellow, light amber, amber, transparent, viscous liquid or crystal, with sweet taste and unique fragrance of honey plants. The main honey source flowers are rape, jujube, sunflower and cotton.
The third-grade honey is yellow, amber, dark amber, transparent or translucent, viscous liquid or crystal, sweet and odorless. The main honey source flowers are butter and so on.
The fourth-grade outer honey is dark amber, dark brown, translucent, turbid, viscous liquid or crystal, which is sweet and irritating. The main nectar flowers are buckwheat and eucalyptus.
Honey grading is mainly based on color and fragrance, not nutritional indicators. Light honey with clear fragrance is higher, while dark honey is lower. But in terms of nutritional value, honey with darker color often has higher nutritional value.
Honey can be divided into the above four grades, and each grade is divided into four grades, namely first grade honey, second grade honey, third grade honey and fourth grade honey. The classification is mainly based on the water content of honey, and the fourth-grade honey is not easy to preserve and is easy to ferment and deteriorate.
China has a vast territory, rich honey resources and superior beekeeping conditions. It is a big beekeeping country in the world, and there are hundreds of important honey source plants that can produce honey. The source, origin and characteristics of some high-quality honey are introduced as follows:
1. Milk vetch honey is honey.