Natural Honey: Spotting Fakes

Edaku — Sun, 03 May 2026 09:00:00 +0300

Honey is one of the most commonly adulterated foods on the market. The reason is straightforward: real honey is labor-intensive to produce and depends heavily on season and weather, while sugar or starch syrup is cheap and can look deceptively similar. Without a lab test, there’s no foolproof way to catch every case of adulteration, but a handful of signs can help you rule out the most obvious fakes.

Why honey gets faked in the first place

The most common trick is cutting honey with cheap syrups — from beet sugar, corn, or invert sugar — or selling something that’s mostly syrup with just a trace of real honey mixed in, purely to stretch volume and cut costs. There’s also a subtler issue with unripe honey: some beekeepers extract it before the bees have finished reducing its moisture content and capping the comb, which leaves a product that ferments faster and doesn’t keep as well.

Food Quality on Edaku

Natural Honey: Spotting Fakes

Why honey gets faked in the first place