ABOUT HONEY

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According to Directive of ЕU about honey № 2001/110/ЕC of 20.12.2001 HONEY is the natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees from the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in honeycombs to ripen and mature.

The basic components of honey are carbohydrates presented by different on structure sugars:

  • monosaccharides (fructose –  fruit sugar, glucose – grape sugar),
  • disaccharides (sucrose – cane or beet sugar, maltose – malt sugar),
  • trisaccharides – melicitose.

Fructose and glucose are the basic sugars contained in honey. Their percent correlation in this product corresponds to: for fructose 33-42 %, for glucose – 27-36 %. The content of glucose in honey, as a rule, is less than of fructose. Correlation of these simple sugars substantially influences on physical properties of honey. The more glucose is in honey, the more expected is the process of crystallization, it is the one of determined factors to grade the sort of honey. So, for example, correlation of fructose-glucose in rape honey is less than 1 unity, i.e. that there is more glucose than fructose in such honey. Acacia honey, vice versa, contains more fructose, that results in the value of correlation of fructose-glucose at least 1,5.

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The content of sucrose in blossom honey must not exceed 5 %. As a result of interreacting with the enzymes, secreted by bees at processing of nectar, the sucrose almost completely fissions on glucose and fructose.

The ferments (enzymes) play an enormous role for the quality of honey, serving as biological catalysts. They are added to honey by bees at processing of nectar, and influence on decomposition of oligosaccharides, such as sucrose. The level of enzymes in honey depends greatly on the sort of honey and duration of stay of saccharated material in the honey stomach of a bee.

The so-called mass honey flows, when bees for short time collect much nectar (for example, acacia flow), have naturally less enzymes, than the sorts collected for a long time.

The enzymes are very thermosensitive, and their amount diminishes in course of time, therefore the level of enzymes in honey, as the index of hydroxymethylfurfural, is used for determination of age of honey and its proper treatment.

IT IS POSSIBLE TO MEET SUCH ENZYMES IN HONEY

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Diastase (amylase) is required for converting the pollen starch. It is present in a secretion of salivary glands of a bee. Diastase is sensible to temperature influence (a temperature of inactivation is 60 – 100 º С) and is a good indicator for determination of quality of honey. According to requirements of DSTU 4497 : 2005 (National Standards of Ukraine) “Natural honey” a diastase number must be no less than 10 (for honey No.1 Grade) and 15 (for honey of top grade) Shade units.

 

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It is important to note the role of invertase (saccharase) for the production of honey, the enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis (breakdown) of sucrose to monosaccharides – fructose and glucose. The resulting mixture of fructose and glucose is called inverted sugar. Invertase is derived both from nectar of plants and in the salivary glands of a bee. Invertase is a very fragile enzyme, which could be destroyed both under the temperature influence (even the insignificant increases of temperature can have influence on it) and at long-term storage.

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HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural) it is a water-soluble substance, which is able to oxidize quickly on air or under the influence of light. The presence of amino acids enables the formation of HMF. Raw honey has a quite low level of HMF. In course of time (upon storage and under the influence of heat), the content of HMF rises, thus, HMF is the important indicator of fresh state and optimal terms of storage of honey. According to requirements of DSTU 4497: 2005 (National Standards of Ukraine) “Natural honey” the content of HMF must be no more than 25 (for honey No.1 Grade)- 10 (for honey of top grade) mg/kg.

 

The production of honey means the enormous amount of flows for bees. They must fly around from three to five million flowers to collect nectar for one kilogram of honey. It equals approximately 60000 flights from a beehive to the flowers and back – that corresponds to the area of flight in six turns round the Earth!

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A flying bee collects saccharated material with her proboscis (tongue) and directs it to the nectar “sac”, a kind of “storage reservoir” with the volume of about 50 mm3 (or 0,05 ml). Already during collection of nectar or honeydew the rich in enzymes secretions are added to them.

Before honey is placed in the storage cells of the honeycombs, the much moisture must be evaporated from it. This process happens due to so-called “proboscis fanning”: indoor bees dry a little drop of honey, got from worker bees, making numerous flapping motions, repeatedly suck it in and pump out back. In such way the extra moisture evaporates from nectar or honey-dew, and therewith there is enrichment of honey with enzymes. These enzymes catalyze the hydrolysis (breakdown) of sucrose to fructose and glucose. Through this process, named also inverting, honey is a digestible product for us.

After honey is placed in storage cells, bees cap the storage cells with wax. Honey is considered now ripe – it has the so-called “mature cells” – and a bee-farmer can collect it. For this purpose the cells are opened with special tools. Then honey can be removed from honeycombs in a centrifuge by means of so-called “cold centrifuging”.