HONEY 



256 



HONEY AND ITS COLOE8. 



For tlie further consideration of tliis sub- 

 ject see Candied Honev, Extracted 

 Honey, Honey-dew, Honf.y as Food, and 

 Nectar. 



HONEY, ADULTERATION OF. Until 

 tlie passage of the national pure-food 1»)11 l)y 

 Congress, June 30, hOS, liquid or extracted 

 lioney was quite often adulterated, it being 

 safe to buy only comb honey, but with the 

 passage of the bill, and the careful work of 

 the Department of Agriculture inspectors, 

 besides the work of the individual State food 

 commissions, this has been brought to' a 

 minimum. The label on the bottle must 

 tell the composition of the contents. Honey 

 can bear that label only when it is pure; 

 but if mixed with other substances these 

 must appear on the label in as large type as 

 the honey. 



The most common forms of adulteration 

 which are practiced at present in the sophis- 

 tication of honey are the addition of com- 

 mercial glucose, cane sugar, and invert su- 

 gar. The adulteration of honey by dilution 

 with water is less commonly'practiced; such 

 addition is easily recognized by the increased 

 fluidity of the honey, and, there is, besides, 

 the increased danger that the i)roduct will 

 spoil through fermentation. 



Since the food standard requires the prod- 

 uct to contain less than 25 per cent water, 

 the bee-keeper can determine the water con- 

 tent of his product by accurately weighing 

 a gallon of his product. The net weight 

 should be over IH pounds, or, by means of a 

 Beaume hydrometer ranging from to 50 

 degrees, which can be obtained from any 

 chemical house, and a glass cylinder 12 

 inches high and H inches in diameter, he 

 can ascertain the weight of his product. By 

 filling the cylinder with the honey, allowing 

 the air-bubbles to come to the top, and cool- 

 ing to 70'^ Fahr., the hydrometer is allowed 

 to float in the liquid. It should float at the 

 mark of 42° for a product of less than 25 per 

 cent water. 



Commercial glucose is not used so much 

 now as formerly. Its presence is easily de- 

 tected by the chemist. For a description of 

 this product see Glucose. 



The addition of cane-sugar syrup is also 

 easily detected by the experienced chemist. 

 The standards allow 8 per cent sucrose to be 

 present, which is far in excess of what is or- 

 dinarily found in pure honey; and, while this 

 may seem an arbitrary amount, it is certain- 

 ly to the honey-producer's advantage to have 

 a standard provided. Any excess of 8 per 

 cent would surely be called an adulteration. 



The adulteration of honey with invert 

 sugar syrup is being practiced to some extent 

 in this coimtry, thougli not so widely at 

 present as in certain parts of P^urope. This 

 syrup has in many respects the same compo- 

 sition as pure honey; it is deficient, however, 

 in ash, albuminoids, and other constituents 

 which occur in honey in small amounts. It 

 is recognized by the expert chemist on ac- 

 count of some of its ash constituents and 

 other chemical constituents, while not with 

 the ease that the presence of glucose is told, 

 but with sufficient accuracy to determine its 

 presence in mixture. 



HONEY AND ITS COLORS. The va- 

 rious kinds of honey differ very much in 

 color, flavor, and density. One variety may 

 be practically colorless, while another pro- 

 duced in the same locality, under the same 

 conditions, by the same bees, but from dif- 

 ferent flowers, may be a dark brown. One 

 kind may contain less than one-sixth of 

 water, while another may contain a third. 

 The proportions of dextrose, levulose, and 

 sucrose vary considerably: but as the extent 

 of the variation is known to chemists they are 

 compelled to take this into account and an- 

 alyze it differently from the way tliey would 

 other foods. 



Ordinarily honey is judged by its color, 

 flavor, and density. There is an almost end- 

 less variety of flavors, making it practicable 

 to suit the most exacting connoisseur. Col- 

 or is a fair guide, but not always so, for the 

 famous heather honey of Europe is quite 

 dark, and yet no honey stands higher in 

 popular esteem on that continent. 



The best honeys of this country are usual- 

 ly spoken of as " water-white;" and, though 

 this is not quite correct, still it is near 

 enough for all practical purposes withoiit 

 coining a new word. 



Clover honey may be taken as tlie typical 

 white honey by which others may be con- 

 veniently judged. For the purpose of com- 

 parison some may be a little lighter, and 

 others a little darker shade; but these nice 

 points of distinction are visible only to an 

 expert. 



Taken by this standard, in the North we 

 have all the clovers— white, alfalfa, crim- 

 son, mammoth, alsike, sweet— and the Euro- 

 pean sainfoin, basswood, raspberiy (wild), 

 willow-herb (or fireweed), Canada thistle, 

 apple, cucumber (pickle), and Rocky Moun- 

 tain bee-plant. In the South we have 

 white honey from the following: Gallberry 

 (holly), sourwood, tupelo, mangrove, cotton, 

 palmetto, guajilla, catclaw, huisache, mes- 



