How do you know when honey has gone bad? Signs of a fermented product

Honey is a bee food that can cure colds, boost immunity and can be stored for long periods of time without losing quality. But it can become fermented if not stored properly.

Can honey go bad?

Oddly enough, even natural honey can go bad. If it has been pumped immature, when the bees have not had time to seal the honeycomb, it begins to ferment. This is due to the high humidity of the product and the presence of large amounts of sucrose.

Honey can also spoil if stored improperly, when it is exposed to sunlight, or the storage temperature is too high.

Signs of fermented honey

There are several ways to tell if a honey is fermented:

• A sour taste with a bitterness;
• An unpleasant, rather alcoholic odor;
• The appearance of white foam on the surface of the jar.

The taste of the spoiled product is slightly sour at first, then there is a bitterness. Eating such honey is not allowed, as it leads to poisoning.

How to check the quality of the product

Quality honey is characterized by the presence of tartness in the throat, the absence of sourness. The weight of one liter jar of natural product of bee production is about 1.5 kg. If a 1-liter container weighs less than one and a half kilograms, then the honey has been diluted with water or sugar. It is not worth buying.

There are several ways to determine the quality of honey. The surest is iodine and vinegar. In a glass of hot water add a spoonful of bee product, stir. After that, drop a couple of drops of iodine and shake lightly. In the case of high-quality honey, the color of the solution will not change.

If you add a little vinegar to the mixture, you can determine the presence or absence of chalk in the composition. The appearance of bubbles will indicate a low-quality product.

You can check the product with starch. To do this, you need to drop honey on a plate, and on top pour a pinch of starch. The powder will react only if the product is counterfeit.

Important! A natural bee product, if you rub it between your fingers, you feel a soft and delicate texture.

Is it possible to save honey that has gone bad

To save honey that has begun to ferment, you can remove the foam that has formed on the surface. In doing so, it is necessary to capture the layer deeper than the affected fragment. The remaining product must necessarily be subjected to heat treatment. Honey is placed in a water bath and heated to a temperature of not less than 60 degrees. The bacteria that caused the spoilage will die. In this way, it is possible to extend the shelf life of the bee product for some time. But after exposure to high temperature, most of the useful properties are lost.

Also from the fermented product can be made the well-known alcoholic beverage - mead.

Where and how to store honey so that it does not spoil

To ensure that honey does not lose its properties, and for a long time does not ferment, it is important to store it properly. Honey should be placed in a glass container and stored in a cupboard. The product is not stored in the refrigerator or exposed to sunlight. The optimal temperature for it is room temperature, but no more than +20 degrees.

Honey is a delicious and useful treat. It is used both in pure form and added to baked goods. The product tends to keep long enough, but if the conditions are violated, it begins to ferment. You can save it in the case when this process has just begun.