v. identification of crystals. This method is especially applicable in winter, because most honey will crystallize in winter. If the honey seeds bought in winter do not conform to the characteristics of crystallization after cold weather, then there are two doubts: 1. Gui Li honey. 2. Honey that has been damaged by high temperature. The crystallization of honey, like water turning into ice, is a physical change. When the temperature is around 13 degrees, honey is easy to crystallize. When the temperature exceeds 4 degrees, it will slowly return to liquid state, and when it exceeds 6 degrees, it will quickly return to liquid state. There is an interesting phenomenon here, that is, some consumers want to do experiments and freeze honey in the refrigerator to see if it can crystallize. As a result, they are surprised to find that after a month, honey is still the same, hehe. Remember, when the temperature is about 13 degrees, the crystallization of honey will accelerate, but when it deviates greatly from this temperature, its crystallization speed will become slower and slower! So we usually see honey gradually crystallize, not like water, which is put in the refrigerator overnight and immediately becomes solid. For bottled honey in supermarkets, it is not surprising that it is often liquid because of the heating method or the addition of potassium sorbate, which slows down the crystallization speed. First of all, let's talk about three general laws of honey crystallization. The principles of these two laws come from two major reasons of honey crystallization: one is that the fructose content is lower than the glucose content, and the other is that the small crystal nucleus formed by pollen grains is also the basis of crystallization. The first rule is that herbal honey is easy to crystallize, while woody honey is not easy to crystallize. For example, common annual plants such as rape, Vitex negundo, sunflower and mountain nectar are easy to crystallize, while honey collected from jujube, longan and Sophora japonica is not easy to crystallize because its fructose content is higher than that of glucose. Not easy to crystallize does not mean that it does not crystallize. In the cold season, jujube honey, Sophora japonica honey and longan honey will also crystallize. The earlier the crystallization, it is generally because other honey is picked by bees. If it is a big barrel in a bee product shop, it may be because there is residue of crystallized honey in the barrel, or because there are other kinds of honey in the honey. The second rule is that honey seeds with large pollen are easy to crystallize. The pollen amount of Sophora japonica honey and longan honey is extremely small, while the pollen amount of rape and sunflower is extremely large. Generally speaking, if bees can collect honey and pollen at the same time after flying out, it is the most profitable, and beekeepers love to do so. When picking honey, it is inevitable that pollen will be mixed into honey, just like the formation of amber. There is a small particle in the middle, and then honey will form crystal nuclei around this particle ... The third rule is: the clearer the honey, the less likely it is to crystallize, because the amount of pollen contained in it is very low. When we look at real honey through light, we will find that most honey is slightly turbid, because it contains pollen grains. And this kind of clear honey, such as codonopsis pilosula and Sophora japonica, contains less pollen, so it is difficult to crystallize. The above is a general rule, of course, there will be exceptions. For example, woody linden honey is easy to crystallize, while herbal Codonopsis pilosula honey is not. On the crystalline particles, buckwheat and sunflower are relatively thick, while others are mostly delicate, especially the crystals of rape honey, which are like lard. The higher the concentration, the harder and harder the crystals are, even like powder. Although it is not the ultimate method to judge whether honey is true or false, it can be close, so buying crystallized honey is a worry-free method to prevent fake honey. True honey, good honey, crystal looks hard, comprehensive, dense, actually soft, melts in the mouth, with minimal resistance, no graininess when twisted by hand or particles melt rapidly. When chopsticks are stabbed, they are easy to insert, feel like sand, and are easy to separate; The higher the concentration of honey, the harder the crystallization is. The honey with low concentration is likely to be partially crystallized, that is, the lower part is solid, and the upper part is liquid and becomes thinner. . . . . The crystallization of fake honey is as hard as a stone, not gentle, and it doesn't melt in the mouth. It takes a long time to melt, and the hand twisting has a grainy feeling, and the particles can't melt. When chopsticks are stabbed, it feels stiff like a stone and it is not easy to separate. The fake honey with high fructose corn syrup is ridiculous and empty, like a hollow block. We have a local method of adding fake crystal honey with flour or starch. I don't know if there is any fake honey anywhere else. This kind of fake honey can be tasted at a taste, so it is not enough. The crystal of true honey can easily melt into a liquid state when heated above 4 degrees, while the crystal of sugar is difficult to melt! One exception is the wild bazi honey in Yunnan, which is called "hard honey" and its crystallization is hard, so it can't be judged by this method. For real honey, we can also judge its advantages and disadvantages by observing the degree of crystallization.