How to Spot Fake Honey & Recognize Real Honey (Plus, At-Home Purity Tests)

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How to know if your honey is real & where to buy it from
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Honey is a delicious sweetener that’s entirely made from flower nectar collected by bees. Due to its high demand around the globe, many manufacturers sell fake honey that’s combined with other syrups and sweeteners, but pass it off as the real thing. While there are no guaranteed ways to tell real and fake honey apart, there are some general signs and tests that might indicate it’s fake. In this article, we’ll go over different ways to spot the difference between real and fake honey and tell you the best places to shop for genuine honey.

How do you know if honey is 100% pure?

In general, real honey may be more opaque and thick than fake honey, which is clearer and runnier. Fake honey might have a faint or sour odor while real honey has a floral, sweet scent. Real honey also tends to crystalize faster than fake honey. To help ensure you’re buying real honey, buy from local beekeepers.

Section 1 of 5:

How to Tell if Honey is Real or Fake

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  1. Raw, real honey often appears more cloudy and opaque than fake honey, which is perfectly clear. You might also see pollen particles or bits of honeycomb in raw honey. [1] However, real honey that is filtered and pasteurized to remove impurities can look just as smooth and clear as fake honey. [2]
    • Note: There is no fool-proof way to tell if honey is real or fake. Honey is so commonly faked because it’s hard to tell it apart from the real thing. The best way to ensure you have real honey is to get it from reputable sellers , which we discuss below.
  2. 2
    Read the label and ingredients on the bottle. Confirm that the honey isn’t labeled as a “Blend” and that there aren’t any other ingredients added, as these are giveaways that the honey is fake. Real honey only has 1 ingredient, which is honey. [3] Also, check if the honey is produced locally and if there’s a “True Source Certified” label—this can help ensure the honey is real. [4]
    • The “True Source Certified” label is added by True Source Honey, which is a non-profit company that traces the source of honey to ensure it comes from a hive and tests it for authenticity. [5]
    • Again, this is not a foolproof method. Unfortunately, many manufacturers don’t disclose that their products contain other sweeteners or additives and label their products as “Raw,” “Pure,” or “100% Honey.”
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  3. 3
    Sniff the honey. Real honey is well-known for its mildly sweet and slightly floral scent. Fake honey might have no scent, have a sour or chemical odor, or smell syrupy and sickly sweet. [6]
    • If possible, compare the scent of the honey in question to honey you know is real. If it smells similar, it’s likely real, while if it is very different or has no scent, it may be fake.
  4. 4
    Taste the honey. Real honey has a distinct and complex flavor, as the type of flowers bees collect the nectar from influences the taste (e.g., orange blossom, clover, tupelo, lavender). [7] Fake honey often lacks the dimension and complexity of real honey, as it’s typically diluted with sugary syrups like corn, cane, and rice syrup.
    • The flavor of real honey may disappear from your mouth more quickly than fake honey, which often lingers for longer. This might be due to the addition of other sugars and syrups. [8]
  5. 5
    Feel the texture of the honey. Real honey typically doesn’t feel as sticky as fake honey, as it doesn’t contain the extra syrups and sweeteners that fake honey does. Raw honey is often thicker and pours out more slowly than fake honey, which is usually thinner and runnier. [9]
    • However, real honey that’s been pasteurized and filtered may have a similar consistency to fake honey. It’s processed so it is easier to handle and pour out of a bottle.
  6. 6
    Check the price of the honey. Because real honey takes longer to produce (as it only comes from bees), it is usually more expensive than fake, adulterated honey, especially if it’s locally sourced. If you’re between 2 bottles of honey and one is significantly cheaper, you might be better off getting the one that’s more expensive.
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Section 2 of 5:

Ways to Test If Honey is Real or Fake

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  1. 1
    Pour the honey into a glass of room-temperature water. If the honey is real, it usually drops to the bottom of the glass and retains its shape without dissolving into the water. If the honey is real, it typically breaks up as it hits the water and quickly dissolves. [10]
    • Note: These home tests are not 100% accurate and largely anecdotal —there’s no scientific evidence that these tests prove if honey is real or not. In fact, real honey may fail the tests while fake honey passes them.
    • Unfortunately, the only true way to test if honey is real or not is to use complex scientific methods that require a lab, like sequencing the DNA from the pollen in the honey. [11]
  2. 2
    Pour a bit of honey on your thumb. ​​Because real honey is thick, it typically won’t spread or fall off of your thumb. Since fake honey is usually thinner and runnier, it might be more likely to disperse and pour off of your thumb. [12]
    • Note : Real honey that’s pasteurized or filtered is often runnier than raw honey, so it might spread more compared to unprocessed honey.
  3. 3
    Add a bit of honey to a glass of white vinegar. When fake honey is poured into vinegar, it usually starts to foam. However, real honey does not typically react to vinegar, so it’s less likely to start foaming. [13]
  4. 4
    Dip a match stick in the honey and try to light it. It’s usually easier to light the match if it’s coated in real honey, as real honey doesn’t contain a lot of water. Fake honey is typically harder to light since it has a higher water content from the added sugars and syrups. [14]
  5. 5
    Check how quickly the honey starts to crystalize. All sugar-based solutions, like honey and syrups, naturally crystalize and turn hard and grainy. [15] Real, raw honey may crystalize more quickly than fake honey, as it contains pollen and honeycomb bits that the sugar molecules like to cling to. If you’ve had your honey for several months and it shows no signs of crystallization, it might be fake. [16]
    • However, a lot of different factors affect crystallization and many kinds of real honey crystallize at different rates. For instance, the moisture and sugar content of honey, as well as cooler temperatures, can speed up crystallization.
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Section 3 of 5:

What is the difference between real and fake honey?

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  1. According to the FDA, real honey is a sweet, syrupy substance that is 100% produced by bees (which they make from flower nectar). It can contain trace amounts of pollen and honeycomb, but the honey itself only comes from bees. [17]
    • There are different types of real honey: [18]
      • Raw honey comes straight from the beehive. It is only lightly filtered to remove impurities (parts of bees, beeswax), so it usually contains more pollen, antioxidants, enzymes, and nutritional benefits.
      • Pasteurized and filtered honey is processed after being collected from the hive. It is pasteurized, or heated, to kill yeast, which makes the honey smoother and less prone to crystallization. It is also filtered to remove more impurities, giving it a clearer, smoother appearance.
  2. 2
    Fake honey contains other sweeteners and additives. Fake or adulterated honey is not 100% honey. The product may contain some real honey, but it is blended with other sweeteners like corn, cane, rice, or sugar beet syrup. It might also contain dyes and flavors to help it look more like the real thing. [19]
    • Some fake honey might not contain any honey at all—it might just be a sugar syrup solution.
    • Fake, adulterated honey is often labeled as if it’s 100% honey, which is considered fraud according to the FDA (and most other countries’ food administrations).
    • Honey is considered one of the most adulterated products in the world. Real honey takes longer to produce and is more expensive to process, so manufacturers blend it with other syrups to keep up with demand and cut costs.
    • Because fake honey is diluted with other sweeteners, it does not have the same health benefits and nutritional value as real honey. [20]
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Section 4 of 5:

Where to Buy Real Honey

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  1. 1
    Aim to buy local honey from beekeepers and farmer’s markets. One of the best ways to ensure you’re getting real honey is to buy locally and from the source. Many beekeepers and farmers sell their honey on their farms or at local farmer’s markets and produce stands. They might also sell their honey in local home goods and grocery stores.
    • Search online for local beekeepers, farms, and farmer’s markets in your area. Many cities and states also have beekeeper’s associations that may list where to buy local honey from.
    • Some beekeepers and local honey companies might have deals to sell their honey in chain grocery stores, too. Just check the label on the bottle to see where the honey was produced.
  2. 2
    Avoid buying honey from large corporations and big-box stores. In general, there’s a greater chance that honey sold by chain grocery stores is fake. It’s harder to trace the source of mass-produced honey and verify that it’s real, as almost 70% of honey is imported from other countries. [21] So, your best bet is to buy locally, when possible.
    • Don’t put too much stock into labels on grocery store honey—there’s no guarantee that honey labeled as “100% Real,” “Pure,” “Organic,” or “Raw” is actually real.
    • However, do check if the honey is “True Source Certified” by True Source Honey, which can help ensure the honey is real. For instance, many Kirkland brand honey sold by Costco is “True Source Certified.”
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Section 5 of 5:

Final Thoughts

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  1. Honey is a commonly faked, or adulterated, product and unfortunately, most of the honey in the grocery store is fake. Many manufacturers blend honey with other sweeteners and syrups but don’t disclose this on the label. However, there are some ways to help tell real and fake honey apart and get the real thing:
    • Buy honey from local beekeepers and farmers.
    • Read the ingredients to make sure honey is the only ingredient.
    • Check the label to see if it’s “True Source Certified” and not called a blend.
    • See if the honey appears opaque, cloudy, and thick.
    • Smell the honey for a sweet, floral scent.

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      References

      1. ↑ https://launcestonbeekeepers.org.uk/how-to-recognise-real-honey-from-fake-honey/
      2. ↑ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10942910600981708
      3. ↑ https://www.fda.gov/files/food/published/PDF---Guidance-for-Industry--Proper-Labeling-of-Honey-and-Honey-Products.pdf
      4. ↑ https://www.truesourcehoney.com/
      5. ↑ https://www.truesourcehoney.com/faqs
      6. ↑ https://launcestonbeekeepers.org.uk/how-to-recognise-real-honey-from-fake-honey/
      7. ↑ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7692231/
      8. ↑ https://launcestonbeekeepers.org.uk/how-to-recognise-real-honey-from-fake-honey/
      9. ↑ https://launcestonbeekeepers.org.uk/how-to-recognise-real-honey-from-fake-honey/
      1. ↑ https://youtu.be/yK3tkBEZeLw?feature=shared&t=72
      2. ↑ https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/2021/08/31/feature-article-using-dna-search-true-origins-imported-honey
      3. ↑ https://youtu.be/h63sGb4k3Ck?feature=shared&t=127
      4. ↑ https://youtu.be/h63sGb4k3Ck?feature=shared&t=143
      5. ↑ https://launcestonbeekeepers.org.uk/how-to-recognise-real-honey-from-fake-honey/
      6. ↑ https://www.isbe.net/CTEDocuments/FCS-700047.pdf
      7. ↑ https://beehivehero.com/how-to-decrystallize-honey/
      8. ↑ https://www.fda.gov/food/economically-motivated-adulteration-food-fraud/fy2223-sample-collection-and-analysis-imported-honey-economically-motivated-adulteration
      9. ↑ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10942910600981708
      10. ↑ https://www.fda.gov/food/economically-motivated-adulteration-food-fraud/fy2122-sample-collection-and-analysis-imported-honey-economically-motivated-adulteration
      11. ↑ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7692231/
      12. ↑ https://www.fda.gov/food/economically-motivated-adulteration-food-fraud/fy2122-sample-collection-and-analysis-imported-honey-economically-motivated-adulteration

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