Interesting facts about honey

The nectar of bee plants or honeydew is the initial product for honey
 production by bees. Besides, nectar of bee plants is the main component
 of honey, only some components get into honey from bee`s body.
СHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF HONEY 
Fructose and glucose 
About
 300 different substances form the honey composition, with such basic 
components as fructose (35%) and glucose (40%). The physical qualities 
of honey depend on ratio of fructose and glucose: by increasing of 
glucose level increases the ability of honey to crystallize, by 
increasing of fructose level honey is getting sweeter and more 
hygroscopic. 
Complex chemical composition of honey is determined by following components: 
* * water (20%); 
* * dry substance (80%): grape-sugar (35%), fruit sugar (40%); 
* * saccharose (1,3-5%); 
* * maltose (5-10%); 
* * dextrins (3,4%); 
* * proteins in the flower honey (0,04 -0,29%); 
* * proteins in honeydew honey than (0,08-0,17%); 
* * up to 20 amino acids. 
Acids 
All types of honey contain about 0.3% of organic and 0.03 inorganic acids, which impart the taste of honey, they are: 
* * lactic; 
* * tartaric; 
* * oxalic; 
* * citrics; 
* * succinic and other acids. 
The presence of free acids in honey is determined by indicator active acidity (pH), which has the following values: 
* * floral honey (pH) – 3.78; 
* * honeydew – 4.57. 
Honey ash contents 
Floral types of honey have significantly lower (0.14%) minerals (ash content) than the honeydew (1.6%). 
Enzymes and vitamins 
One of the most important honey components are enzymes such as: 
* * invertase; 
* * diastase; 
* * catalase; 
* * oxidase; 
* * peroxidase. 
Vitamins 
The
 composition of honey is also represented by small amount of vitamins, 
but in mixture with other components they are very useful for human 
organism, they are: 
* * B1; 
* * B2; 
* * B3; 
* * pantothenic acid; 
* * nicotinic acid(РР); 
* * ascorbic acid (С) etc. 
 THE NAME OF HONEY 
Monoflora honey 
The plant from which the nectar was collected gives the names to honey grades, for example: 
* * buckwheat, 
* * sunflower, 
* * esparcet, 
* * sweet clover, 
* * lime, 
* * locust, 
* * heather etc. 
The honey produced by bees from one kind of plants has the name monofloral. Polyflora honey 
Polyflora
 honey usually contains the impurities of other origin, which do not 
affect the quality of honey. For example: sunflower honey sometimes 
contains impurities of alfalfa. 
Also the name of honey can be connected with the terrain or the land where the bees collect nectar, for example: 
* * Carpathian, 
* * Far Eastern, 
* * Bashkir, 
* * meadow, 
* * forest. 
Honey color 
The honey contains colorants in a small amount, which stipulate the main kinds of honey color: 
* * bright; 
* * medium colored; 
* * dark. 
Transformation
 of the nectar into honey The first stage of transformation takes the 
origin from the bee`s body by running complex biochemical processes. The
 bees as highly organized insects are involved in the collection, 
processing and transferring the nectar at the hive. 
The bees 
change the chemical composition of the nectar during honey production by
 evaporating, mixing and processing by enzymes. The bulk of the water 
evaporates from the nectar of the first day. 
Honey maturity 
One
 of the qualitative characteristics of honey is its maturity. After 
evaporating the surplus of moisture from the honey, bees seal it with 
wax caps. Water content in most varieties of mature honey is about 18% 
(depending on the terrain can vary from 15 to 21%). The honey maturity 
and pumping time are determined by the basis of this characteristic. 
Unsealed honey has higher water content (more than 22% of water) and 
contains many undigested sucrose that impairs its quality. Immature 
honey can be stored for a long time. 
Aroma substances 
The
 taste of honey also depends on aroma substances from different plants 
fall into the hive with nectar. Mature honey contains more aroma 
substances than immature one. The tight closure allows keeping the aroma
 of honey. 
Autor Oleg Honey-Export.com
Category:Honey