3 Ways to Identify Genuine vs. Fake Honey
Turning the honey jar upside down can immediately tell you whether the honey is real or fake. Don’t buy it again until you read this!
1. Look at the Price
Honey has a long fermentation cycle and is difficult to harvest. However, sometimes when we buy honey, we find jars labeled as honey, but a large jar costs only a few dozen thousand per liter. While expensive honey isn’t always genuine, if it’s that cheap, you don’t need to think twice—it's most likely fake honey. It could be made from various syrups and flavorings. This type of honey has a high sugar content, and consuming too much can be harmful to your health.
2. Check the Bubbles
When buying honey, if you want to determine if it’s real or fake, you can do so by observing the bubbles in the honey. First, hold the honey jar in your hand, then turn it upside down. If this is pure honey, shaking it will create many small, dense bubbles, which will take a long time to disappear. On the other hand, if after shaking, the honey inside produces very few bubbles, and they disappear quickly, it’s fake honey. This is because real honey usually doesn’t contain water and has high invertase levels, which makes it produce many small bubbles that don’t easily disappear. Fake honey lacks enzymes and other components, so it won’t produce many bubbles.
3. Observe the Color
Although honey appears to be a light yellow color, there is a clear difference between the color of real and fake honey. Pure honey has a more elegant color, ranging from light white, pale yellow, to deep amber. Real honey is not as clear and perfect as people may imagine, and it isn’t transparent like crystal, but its texture is excellent. In contrast, the color of fake honey tends to be brighter and more appealing, usually light yellow or dark yellow. Most fake honey is made by boiling white sugar or simulating syrup. It appears clear and transparent but lacks the rich depth of real honey. Therefore, when purchasing honey, pay attention to its color.
