Facts & Myths about Honey

Honey is one of the most misunderstood food items while it remains one of the most adulterated food items in India. I will try to place some less known facts and myths about honey.

• Color, flavor, taste, level of sweetness and consistency of raw honey can never be the same. Each and every harvest will have a different dolor, flavor, taste and consistency. It all depends on the season, the flowers in bloom and also on the type of honeybees. For example, the honey produced by the wild honeybees will be different from those produced by those kept in the boxes, even if they feed on the same set of flowers. Some honey (like that made from litchi flowers) will be thin & aromatic whereas the honey made from teak flowers will be thick and without any flavor. 
• Many people believe that if the honey gets crystalized it is adulterated, whereas some others believe in exactly the opposite of it. Both are not true. It is absolutely normal for honey to crystalize when the temperature goes below certain level which varies slightly with the type of honey. For example, honey made from mustard flowers crystallizes within days whereas the honey made from jamun flowers takes very long to crystalize. Honey can be decrystalized by putting its container in hot water for 10 minutes.
• There is a belief that thicker and non-flowing honey is of better quality. There is no truth in this because the thickness is based on the moisture and nutritional contents of the honey, which, as mentioned above varies with the season, flowers, etc. A few brands deliberately thicken the honey by processing to make its market appeal better. 
• It is said that Honey is a good substitute for sugar. It is true to a large extent due to the nutritional and medicinal value of honey compared to sugar. However it still comes with the bad things of sugar and hence shall be consumed in moderation. 
• Many people think that the conventional methods of testing honey for purity are sacrosanct. This includes methods like putting in water, fire, blot paper test, honeycomb pattern test etc. Unfortunately none of these tests is fool-proof as they only test the physical nature of honey and many adulterants can pass all of these tests. Only lab tests can confirm the purity of honey. The other alternative is to buy it from a known and reliable source. 
• Pure honey never gets spoilt. This is true a large extent. But it is true only if it is properly harvested, handled and stored (in glass containers). Otherwise honey can ferment and produce an acidic smell. Honey also can change color over time which is absolutely normal and safe. 
• Some people are under the impression that the honey extracted from the beekeeping boxes are not good. This impression is mainly because they think that the beehives in the box are man-made and the beekeeper may feed sugar syrup to the honeybees. Both the impressions are not valid. First of all, the honeycomb in the box is also made by honeybees only. And although it is true that the beekeeper may have to feed sugar to the honeybees some times (particularly when there are less number of flowers), honeybees don't store it in the comb in the form of sugar syrup. They still process it and produce honey. Additionally, most of the times, the box honey is handled and extracted in a more hygienic way.  
• Raw honey is healthier than processed honey. This is a much debated topic. Raw honey is the honey which is as extracted directly from the honeycomb whereas the processed honey goes through one or more steps of processing like pasteurization, filtration, homogenization, etc which might involve heat treatment of honey. It is true that raw honey is rich in nutrients as processing leads to the removal of beneficial nutrients like pollens, enzymes and anti-oxidants from honey, making it almost the same as sugar! However, raw honey may contain some bacteria which is harmful particularly for infants. So it is better to avoid giving raw honey to children/infants. 
• Raw honey need not be organic! Many people have the misconception that raw honey means organic too. Both are not really related but you can find honey which is both raw and organic. Rawness of honey is about its processing whereas organic is determined by where the honey is extracted from. There should not be usage of any chemical pesticides and fertilizers within a certain radius  (typically upto a kilometer) from the honeycomb to make it organic.
• Some people believe that if there is beeswax in the honey it is not pure and safe. There are few others who believe that honey should be eaten with beeswax! Both are wrong. Beeswax is edible, and healthy but it should be consumed in moderation (like anything else!), typically with honey. This means that beeswax in honey is generally safe and healthy (unless there is more beeswax and less honey).