How to verify the purity of honey!

o The dissolving test.

* Get a glass of water. This and a tablespoon of honey are all you need for the first test.

* Empty the honey into the water. If the honey is impure, it will dissolve in the water- the most common additive to honey is syrup of jaggery, which dissolves. If it is pure, the honey will stick together and sink as a solid lump to the bottom of the glass.

* This test can also be completed by mixing equal parts honey and methylated spirits (denatured alcohol). Pure honey will settle to the bottom. Impure honey is more likely to remain dissolved and make the solution milky.

o The flame test.

* Get a lighter and a candle with a cotton wick. This test is better if you don’t have as much honey to spare.

* Dip the cotton wick of the candle into a bit of the honey, and shake off the excess.

* Attempt to light the wick. If it burns, then it is completely pure honey. If it refuses to burn, then the presence of water is not allowing the wick to burn. (If there is only a very small amount of honey on the wick, though, it might still burn. It will produce a crackling sound, and it would be best to blow out the wick and try it again this time using more honey.)

o The absorption test.

* Pour a few drops of honey on blotting paper and observe whether or not it is absorbed. If it’s absorbed, the honey’s not pure.

* If you don’t have blotting paper, pour a little bit of honey on a white cloth, then wash the cloth. If there is any stain left by the honey, it is probably not pure.

o The spiral test when pouring

* When poured very slowly honey will flow as a spiral in a clockwise direction. This is because the honey molecule is non-symmetrical with a right-hand bias which causes the stream of honey to spin.

Wow... thanks for the useful info.

gr8 info.. and home practicable

Thanks for the home testing tips and now I need to check my jars of honey.

These tests and more information is available here:

http://www.wikihow.c...Purity-of-Honey

My favourite honey test is on the discussion forum:

Give her a lie detector test and ask her if she's been cheating on you. If she fails, then your honey isn't pure.

Regards,

Tony

Back home I seen honey getting crystallized. I was told that it was pure and brought from people(experts- they get stung) who collect (steal) the honey from the bee hives especially from the hills / mountains.
Thanks for the link Tony .