One reason how honey becomes contaminated with sugar

[Duane]

I read that a good portion of honey is adulterated with sugar.  First thought is that there's a lot of dishonest people out there.  But maybe something else is happening.

I'm against feeding my bees sugar water.  However, I'm against my bees starving to death.  It's very sad seeing their heads stuck in a cell slurping up the last bit of honey before perishing.

So I have to feed them so they can make it through the winter.  But some don't make it for whatever reason.  I thought one hive was alive because there was lots of activity this spring.  They were being cleaned out.  This summer, my biggest hive picks on my little hives.  If I hadn't been paying attention, I would see my little hive using up all their sugar water I fed them, but my big hive is bringing in the nectar!

So while there is the issue of dishonest people mixing sugar water or corn syrup with honey, and there is the issue of people turning sugar water into "honey" by feeding it to the bees and then selling it, and there is the issue of ignorant people not getting their supers off on time or understanding they need to, there is another issue that can be happening.  Suppose one is very cautious about feeding sugar water at only certain times.  However, if they have multiple hives, start nucs and feed them, then a hive or nuc dies, what happens to the sugar water?  And even if that doesn't happen, do bees never move sugar water out of their brood boxes?  What happens when the beekeeper swaps brood boxes in the spring and adds a super on top all without any additional feeding?  Do bees never move any around?  I think they do, at least under certain conditions.

And then there's the situation where a beekeeper feeds no sugar water, but his neighbor feeds, feeds, feeds.  What if his hive dies, where does that sugar water go?

The best policy is never to feed, then there's no contamination.  Or feed early so that it's all used up by the time nectar starts coming in.  But I think that would be impossible to calculate for every year.

[iddee]

Think about this.

If sugar is added to honey, it can be found by lab tests, but if bees process sugar water into honey, through their bodies, can it be found in the lab? Or is it then real honey?

[Duane]

I thought I had understood just because bees process it, it could be detected in the lab.  Something to do with Carbon 14 isotope ratios.  C3 vs. C4 plants.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

A simple test for Honey purity: place Honey on a cotton ball, it will burn if it is pure honey.  Sugar water will not burn on a cotton ball.

[Acebird]

If you actually had a hive with honey and fed the bees to where they were storing it you can tell the difference between sugar honey and real honey in most cases.  Most honey's are yellow or even brown in color.  Sugar honey is clear.

[Duane]

I would think you could tell the difference of 100% of each.  But we're talking about mixed.  And I think the article said something about 1-2%.  Can you tell the difference between 1-2% sugar water mixed in with brown honey?  And as far as honey colors go, I just read in the thread about "Honey consumer's needs" where Van prefers honey color scale of 10.  I'm not familiar with honey scales, but I would think it would be very hard to tell the difference of sugar water with the scale 10, when 30 is clover honey and to me that's pretty "clear".

And I'm not sure it would be a good thing that if word gets around that "clear" honey means sugar water, people will blindly think all clover honeys are too clear. 

Also with the cotton ball, doesn't seem to be a sure test, especially if it's mixed.  That is, at what sugar percentage will it not burn?
In fact, https://manukahoneyusa.com/are-you-using-real-honey/

Another misconception is the flammability of pure honey. One method suggests dipping a cotton ball into the honey and then applying a match. If the honey burns, it is pure. This is another myth, though, as its ?burnability? seems to rely more on the amount of honey being used and/or how long the flame was being applied to the cotton ball versus the actual purity of the honey.

But if there even was a test for 1-2% sugar water vs. pure honey, if you test your honey and found it did have sugar water, then your done for the year.  My statement had to do with preventing, not testing for it.  To test and found you can't sell your honey is no good.  You want to know how to prevent sugar from entering your honey, from you yourself feeding your own bees.  I'm suggesting, if you feed, and feed at proper times, you can reduce, but not eliminate contamination.  A hive dies early flow, and you're contaminated.

[iddee]

First, sugar water may be clear, but sugar water honey is not. It is mixed with other things, including enzymes from the bee's bodies.

Secondly, no honey is 100% pure, as bees collect honey dew, sap, such as maple, and remnants of soda cans and candies left by humans.
I wouldn't worry about a tiny bit of contaminants, but just be as careful as I could and let it go at that.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Duane posses a good question, in a word QUALITY.

So, I do not have an answer to the following:

IF a bee digested sugar water into fructose and glucose and stored this in a comb,, how could one know for honey is made of fructose and glucose.

Now IF a bee did not digest the sugar water that can be tested and would fail within percentage range.  If 100% sugar water in the comb this would be easy to detect by many methods.  Get confusing though if the sugar water was 10% mixed in the honey.

A little bit of detail, pure sugar is composed of glucose and fructose.  When bees digest sugar this is called inverting the sugar and the sugar is broken down to glucose and fructose which are smaller particles.

Sugar is too large a particle to be absorbed into the intestines of bees or humans for that matter.  So bees just as humans, must break down the sugar into glucose and fructose, then it can be absorbed by the intestines.

Boiling sugar water at 234 degrees Fahrenheit also breaks down sugar into glucose and fructose.  Bees use an enzyme called invertase to invert {digest} sugar into the smaller particles fructose and glucose.

Japanese scientists were the first to mass produce invertase.  The invertase is used to break down sugar into glucose which some of it ends up in those IV bags the hospitals place in a persons veins.  The left over fructose can be used as sweetness in cereals or whatever

One last note, I mentioned a color scale for Honey in another thread: the scale is from 10 to 90.  Ninety is buckwheat honey, almost black, 10 is very light but definitely yellow.  Ten is sometimes called white honey although the Honey has a yellow tent but is smooth and sweet as anything on this planet.  Mix this honey, really most Honey, with butter and folks cannot resist.
Blessings

Look at pics of acacia Honey on Amazon or google and you will see what I am talking about, color 10.

[Acebird]

I don't want to point one to the other site but Lauri on the other site has many many photos of her work.  She demonstrates the difference between sugar water and capped honey in a frame.  I cannot find a queen on a frame but I can surely see the difference.  So it is blaring.

[paus]

I was in South America talking with a beek and he showed me a trick to tell if honey is pure.  He took a strike anywhere match dipped in honey and it still lit right off but it did not in a syrup that  he also sold. Don't know what the syrup was. I have tried this a few times so far he was right, this may something to play with.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

My point was a percentage of sugar water.  Yes, 100% would be easy to detect, but what about say 5 or 10% sugar water and 95% or 90 percent honey??

As I stated I do not know at these low percentage if the sugar could be detected by normal means such as solubility test, flame test, sticky test.

In a laboratory yes, one could tell, but how much Honey is lab tested for percentage sugar water,,, not much.
Blessings

[Hops Brewster]

Unless a beek has total control over all the acreage (18,000 +) that his/her bees forage, he/she can't control whether there is any manufactured sugar in his honey.  For the vast majority of beekeepers there are many sources of manufactured sugar for the bees to find.  Particularly in times of dearth.  You can't honestly claim your honey is 'organic' unless you control that acreage, either!

There could be traces of soda taken from neighborhood trash cans or even picnics.  It could be lollipops that children drop on the sidewalk, hummingbird feeders or the ignorant beek down the street.  Whatever the source, there will be traces of sugar in your honey, varying by degree.  Various pesticides and other chemicals, too.   There are also natural non-nectar sources, such as honey dew from aphids, etc.  Do you want to guarantee the 100% purity of your honey?  Gain control of the acreage first.  Even then, sugar happens.
 
The best position to work from is to practice wise feeding management protocols in your own hives.  Stop spending so much time worrying about those things you can not control.!   You only have control over your own practices.  Only feed if/when they need it.  Dye your feed, so that you can see it in the cells.  Talk with your beek neighbors, trying to get a cooperative agreement.  In short, manage your hives, let the others manage, or mismanage, their own.

MYOB gets the best results.

[Duane]

What Van said is what I've been trying to say.  Sure, it's easy to tell the difference between night and day, but what about degrees in between?  If there's 5% sugar water mixed (by the bees) in honey with a scale color of 10, would you know it by look or flame tests?

And sure, "tiny bits" of sugar water, maybe that doesn't matter.  To me, it would if I was paying top dollar, but maybe not to others.  However, we're not talking about a certain amount.  We're talking about an unknown amount.  Actually, we're talking about how to prevent it.  But how do you recognize if it happened?

I have noticed that bees store like pollen in specific cells.  But do they store specific nectar or sugar sources in specific cells?  It's been my observation that they put a little bit of their nectar in many cells.  I would assume that allows drying efficiency.  Then maybe they move it to fill certain cells.  I just think a number of things are going on.  And if you have dark honey and the bees mix 5% sugar water with it, would you know?  And what would you do if you were getting ready to extract and notice in a few of your frames there was a small area of clearer honey?


And yes, as Hops said, manage your own hives.  But that's what I'm talking about, even your own, when a hive dies, that sugar water goes somewhere.  And what does 5% died sugar water mixed in with dark honey look like?

Maybe there's nothing that can be done, but as I said, that is one reason how honey becomes contaminated with sugar.

[Acebird]

Duane, there is one thing to keep in mind.  If a very small percentage of sugar gets into your honey unintentional then your customer will not be able to tell either.  Sugar is not toxic to humans so don't sweat it if you are managing your hives with care.
For dead outs do not allow robbing.  Use the frames of honey in a dead out for feed for your other bees so it gets consumed.  Do not feed with honey supers on and that is about the best you can do.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

I did a flame test and ten percent 2X sugar failed.

I took 0.90 ml of pure honey added 0.1 ml of Mann lake prosweet which is 2X with oils.  Mixed throughly as the solution is thick.

I took 2 cotton balls like the ones you buy at the pharmacy and add a few drops of pure honey to one cotton ball and the same for the 90 percent honey.

The 90 percent honey self extinguished whereas the pure Honey was a blazing as if I added lighter fluid.

The solubility test was a wash, I could not tell the difference.  This test is simple: drop a drop of Honey in a glass of water,  pure honey will puddle, dilute honey will dissolve.  There was a slight difference but my eyes are not as good as they used to be.

The flame test was a no brainer, clearly a big difference between 90% verses 100%.  BTW cotton burning with honey smelled like cotton candy.

Conclusion: flame test will easily detect dilute honey of 10%.
Blessings

Read Hops post #11, makes a lot of sense.

[JackM]

Unless a beek has total control over all the acreage (18,000 +) that his/her bees forage, he/she can't control whether there is any manufactured sugar in his honey.  For the vast majority of beekeepers there are many sources of manufactured sugar for the bees to find.  Particularly in times of dearth.  You can't honestly claim your honey is 'organic' unless you control that acreage, either!

There could be traces of soda taken from neighborhood trash cans or even picnics.  It could be lollipops that children drop on the sidewalk, hummingbird feeders or the ignorant beek down the street.  Whatever the source, there will be traces of sugar in your honey, varying by degree.  Various pesticides and other chemicals, too.   There are also natural non-nectar sources, such as honey dew from aphids, etc.  Do you want to guarantee the 100% purity of your honey?  Gain control of the acreage first.  Even then, sugar happens.
 
The best position to work from is to practice wise feeding management protocols in your own hives.  Stop spending so much time worrying about those things you can not control.!   You only have control over your own practices.  Only feed if/when they need it.  Dye your feed, so that you can see it in the cells.  Talk with your beek neighbors, trying to get a cooperative agreement.  In short, manage your hives, let the others manage, or mismanage, their own.

MYOB gets the best results.

EXACTLY

[Hops Brewster]

and lest we forget;  fundamentally, honey IS sugar.

[Duane]

Isn't it more accurate to say honey is A sugar?

[Duane]

Van, would you mind trying 5% and 1% flame test?

[paus]

What is the flame test?

[Duane]

Maybe i should have said cotton ball flame test.  Whatever he was doing up above.  Most likely, the water in the sugar solution dampened the cotton.  But sugar burns, and if the sugar water was reduced to the 18% moisture (or whatever honey is), shouldn't it be the same?  Or does honey "hang" more tightly onto the water than sugar?

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

What is the flame test?

The flame test for honey.

Obtain some cotton balls like the ones in the pharmacy that come in a package of about a hundred.  I pull some cotton threads and twist to make a string.  Place honey on this string and light with fire.  Have an ash tray close because the honey cotton will burn as is one put lighter fluid on it.  Pure honey will burn.  Honey with at least 10% sugar syrup self extinguish.

I will do a test with 5% prosweet, 95% Honey and post results shortly.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

At 5% prosweet 95% honey, the cotton ball self extinguished.

Same test 100% honey the cotton ball completely incinerated.

To make 5% 95% mixture:  I measured 0.05 ml of prosweet and throughly mixed with 0.95 ml honey. 

Conclusion, the flame test can distinguish 2X sugar in honey as low as 5% sugar/ 95% honey.
Blessings

I should add, I used a propane tourch lighter for ignition.  If you try this do it in a bucket or ash tray as cotton readily burns and when the flame hits the pure Honey it gets very hot.

[Duane]

Wow, measured .05 ml, impressive!  Must have the equipment.   By any chance do you have a way to measure the moisture content in the prosweet?  Also, what would be a good test would be to try it on non-recently capped sugar water from the hive.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Duane, I have Pipets, I can accurately measure 1/1,000,000 of a liter.  That is one microliter {1ul} of a non vicious solution such as water.  Honey, syrup is thick and my pipets would NOT measure accurately.

I measured the syrup and honey with a standard 1 ml syringe barrel sometimes called a tuberculin syringe which has a large opening to intake viscous solution with ease, no needle as the needle is to small in diameter on a standard tuberculin syringe.
Blessings

[Acebird]

What is the flame test?

The flame test for honey.

Obtain some cotton balls like the ones in the pharmacy that come in a package of about a hundred.  I pull some cotton threads and twist to make a string.  Place honey on this string and light with fire.  Have an ash tray close because the honey cotton will burn as is one put lighter fluid on it.  Pure honey will burn.  Honey with at least 10% sugar syrup self extinguish.

I like simple easy test.  Thanks Van

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Hello Ace, Buddy, the easiest test for Honey is the skin test.  Place a small drop on your fingers or arm, I prefer my arm. Rub in the honey into the skin and after say 30 seconds the honey will obsorb into the skin and will not be very sticky.

Sugar will not obsord into the skin, not at all, and will remain very sticky, honey will obsorb into the skin, soften the skin and will leave a sheen with only a trace of residue left on the skin.

There are lots of skin creams, facial creams even soaps with honey.

After a few minutes, wash off any remaining residue of honey and feel the skin.  You will have to experience for yourself to believe how soft the skin becomes.  Try it for yourself and see what I mean.

[Duane]

Pipets!  That's the word that escaped me.  Guess it's been a few years and lost the word.  So do you have a refractometer?  And would that show the moisture content in prosweet or do they work only for honey?

[Acebird]

There are lots of skin creams, facial creams even soaps with honey.

I knew this.  Anyone who extracts honey knows how soft your hands can get afterwords but I did not know that it would completely absorb into the skin.  Thanks again.

[Michael Bush]

>The best policy is never to feed, then there's no contamination.

Except when the neighbor is open feeding sugar water...

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Pipets!  That's the word that escaped me.  Guess it's been a few years and lost the word.  So do you have a refractometer?  And would that show the moisture content in prosweet or do they work only for honey?

I do not own a refractometer.  I do not sell honey and I store Honey in our freezer so a moisture content above 18 percent would not matter to me as the freezer would prevent spoilage.  I purchased some acacia honey this year that was 16.2 percent, this honey is thick.  So when I purchase honey I want to know moisture content.

Ya know Duane, I do not understand how a refractormeter works, I know it measures moisture but how???  Maybe a knowledgeable beek will chime in and explain.  If not, maybe we should start a new topic and ask.  I see these instruments for sale ranging from $30.00 to hundreds?????
Blessings

[Acebird]

https://www.coleparmer.com/blog/2013/09/20/understanding-your-lab-equipment-how-a-refractometer-works/
I think you are pulling our legs Van.