Honeydew honey what is it in simple words, benefits and harms

Honeydew honey is highly valued for its composition, medicinal properties and benefits for humans in European countries. Therefore, beekeepers strive to obtain a large honeydew honey collection. But in some cases, honeydew honey can be harmful to bees. Let's figure out what honeydew honey is, what are the benefits and harms of honeydew honey, is honeydew honey useful, what are the properties of honeydew honey, how is honeydew honey obtained, what is the color of honeydew honey, the taste of honeydew honey, what does honeydew honey look like. We will also deal with other issues related to the use of honeydew honey and why beekeepers do not like when there is a lot of honeydew in the hive.

Content

• Honeydew honey what is it in simple words
• What is the difference between flower honey and honeydew honey
• Honeydew honey properties - what honeydew honey looks like
• How to distinguish honeydew honey from flower
• honeydew honey color
• Consistency of honeydew honey
• Honeydew honey taste and aroma of honeydew honey
• Honeydew honey composition
• What honeydew honey looks like from different trees
• Floral honeydew honey
• Honeydew honey properties - Benefits of honeydew honey for humans
• The use of honeydew honey for medicinal purposes
• How to organize the collection of honeydew honey in the apiary

 

 

Honeydew honey what is it in simple words

What is honeydew honey? Honeydew honey - in simple terms, this is the common name for varieties of honey that bees do not make from flower nectar, but from the secret of certain insect species that feed on plant sap or honeydew. Typically, the plant sap that insects feed on and then excrete for use by honey bees comes primarily from trees rather than smaller plants because trees are a more abundant source of sap. However, honeydew honey can also be collected by bees on various bushes and even herbs.

How is honeydew honey made? Some species of small insects, such as aphids, feed on tree sap, a watery substance that contains sugar and certain amounts of various nutrients. Insects digest tree sap to gain access to its nutrients. They then secrete a sticky, sweet liquid called honeydew that sticks to various parts of the tree, such as leaves, branches, or trunk. This is why honeydew appears to be secreted directly from the tree, and many people believe that honeydew honey is made from tree sap, when instead it is made from honeydew secreted by insects that feed on tree sap.

But there is also real honeydew or plant effusion, which is water that contains a small amount of sugar secreted by plant leaves.

What is the difference between flower honey and honeydew honey

What is the difference between honeydew honey and flower honey? Honeydew honey is made from honeydew, a sticky, sugar-based mass secreted by insect pests that feed on tree sap or honeydew. Flower honey is made by bees from the nectar of flowers. Honeydew honey. Some types of trees can be honey plants from which bees collect flower honey and be a source of honeydew and bees collect honeydew honey.

For example, honeydew linden honey and linden flower linden honey consist of different substances that are produced by the same tree.

What is the difference between flower nectar and honeydew? Flower nectar and honeydew have a relatively similar composition, containing many natural sugars and generally negligible amounts of nutrients such as minerals, vitamins, and amino acids. Examples of honeydew honey: Honeydew honey includes varieties such as pine honeydew honey, fir honeydew honey, oak honeydew honey, spruce honeydew honey, beech honeydew honey, and other varieties of honeydew honey.

Honeydew honey properties - what honeydew honey looks like

How to distinguish honeydew honey from flower

Some consumers have a question, how to distinguish honeydew honey from flower? In order to distinguish honeydew honey from flower honey, it is necessary to compare the color, taste, aroma, texture, crystallization of honeydew honey and flower honey. Consider what honeydew looks like.

Honeydew honey color

What color is honeydew honey? What does honeydew honey look like, what color is honeydew honey? Usually honeydew honey is darker in color than flower honey, the color of honeydew honey varies from medium to dark amber, sometimes black, some types of honeydew honey are greenish, reddish or brown. Some varieties of honeydew honey are so dark in color that they appear almost black. What color of honeydew honey depends not only on the type of tree from which it was collected, what color of honeydew honey also depends on the time of collection of honey. There are also light varieties of honeydew honey, which have a light brown color, as a rule, it is honeydew honey collected from coniferous trees in spring and in the first half of summer. Honeydew honey collected in the second half of summer and from deciduous trees is darker. There is greenish honeydew honey collected by bees on oak trees.

Consistency of honeydew honey

What does honeydew honey look like? Most varieties of honeydew honey have a thick consistency, which makes honeydew honey even more attractive to consumers. Their consistency is peculiar sticky, viscous, sticky, viscous. Some varieties of honeydew honey take a very long time to crystallize, some varieties of honeydew honey have an average crystallization time, and honeydew honey from spruce can crystallize directly in the combs. Honeydew honey crystallizes into a fine-grained cage, forming a soapy mass. During crystallization, flakes may appear, and a water fraction may separate.

Honeydew honey taste and aroma of honeydew honey

What is the taste and aroma of honeydew honey? Honeydew honey has a special taste. As a rule, the darker the color of honeydew honey, the more fragrant it is. Honeydew honey usually has a medium flavor intensity and a moderately sweet taste. Honeydew honey does not have the usual honey aroma, most varieties of honeydew honey have a soft, warm, woody-resinous aroma with varying notes, depending on the tree and the type of insect that lives on it, from which the honeydew honey was made. For example, honeydew honey can have warm spicy, caramel, malty, smoky, resinous, fruity flavor notes, and sometimes the honey has a slight astringency to them or a subtle bitter aftertaste is present in the honey. Many varieties of honeydew honey have a sour taste that can be unpleasant.

Honeydew composition

In honeydew honey, in addition to the main simple sugars, that is: fructose, glucose and sucrose; sugars such as maltose, turanose, trehalose and isomaltose have also been identified. The average amount of all determined disaccharides in honeydew honey was less than 9 g / 100 g of honey, of which maltose was the most - an average of 3.2 g / 100 g, trehalose - 2.7 g / 100 g, turanose - 1.8 g / 100 g and isomaltose - 1.2 g / 100 g. The most characteristic of honeydew honey is the trisaccharide - melecytose, also known as larch sugar, which consists of two glucose molecules and one fructose molecule. We owe the name of this trisdashar to Marcellin Pierre Berthelotvy, a French chemist who, in 1859, discovered a new sugar in honey and called it melecytosis, i.e. larch sugar, after the name of the tree (larch in French mélèze) on which was honeydew collected by bees.
Years later, it was found that melecytosis is also found in large quantities in the fall of other trees - linden, oak, fir and spruce. This trisaccharide is not found in the conductive tissues of plants, but is formed by enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract of aphids (Bacon and Dickinson, 1957) . According to Kharagsim (1970), very rapidly crystallizing honeydew honey is the result of intensive development and feeding of aphids Cinara laricis Htg. The average content of this sugar in honeydew honey is 3.2 g / 100 g. In addition, using nuclear magnetic resonance, a volatile compound, diacylglyceryl ether, was identified as a biochemical marker of honeydew honey.
Honeydew honey is characterized by lower levels of glucose and fructose and higher levels of oligosaccharides, mainly melocytose or erlose [Földházi 1994], so carbohydrate profile analysis is used to characterize both types of honey. However, correct classification is not always possible when identifying and determining the concentrations of mono- and oligosaccharides.

Characteristic elements found in the honeydew of coniferous honeydew are, for example, microalgae - usually species of green algae (Chlorophyceae) and mold spores (for example, of the genus Alternaria or Cladosporium).

For honeydew honeys, the percentage of the main pollen is not determined, since the basis of honey is honeydew, and not the nectar of melliferous plants containing pollen, on the basis of which the belonging of flower honeys is assessed. Examining honeydew honey under a microscope, there are significantly fewer pollen grains of melliferous plants, but you can find more microparticles of plant tissues, microalgae, mold spores and pollen grains of wind pollen plants that move with the wind, sticking to the sticky secretion of aphids.
Honeydew honey can be distinguished by several physical and chemical parameters.
Honeydew honeys have a significantly higher electrical conductivity than nectar honeys, a lower content of simple sugars compared to varietal nectar honeys, including the advantage of fructose over glucose, and a higher content of disaccharides and trisaccharides, including the presence of melocytose. The content of this sugar confirms that a significant part of the honey was obtained from honeydew. The pH value is also noticeably higher compared to nectar honey and averages 4.63. Among the tested samples of honey from coniferous honeydew, a very low content of HMF was noted; below the limit of quantification (0.5 mg/kg) to less than 5 mg/kg. The table below shows the detailed quality requirements for Polish honeydew honey.
Larch honeydew honey is called “cement” in Poland because it crystallizes very quickly in chunks into a dense, hard mass that is difficult to pump out.

What honeydew honey looks like from different trees

The color of honeydew leaf honey when it is just pumped out is brown, almost black with a green tint, it has a very sticky texture, the honey is not aromatic; when honey crystallizes, it becomes somewhat lighter, honey crystallizes slowly and flakes form.

The color of honeydew spruce honey is dark green, honey is very sticky, has a resinous aroma. Honey may crystallize slowly, forming large crystals, after which the honey becomes darker. Also, spruce honey can crystallize quickly, already in the combs, if they do not have time to pump it out.

Honeydew honey from fir has a golden yellow color, honey has a malty taste and aroma.

Honeydew larch honey has a lemon-yellow or light brownish color, brown in shrunken form, the honey has the consistency of bird glue. Honey crystallizes quickly, forming large crystals.

Pine honeydew honey this variety is valued for its fragrant, resinous, slightly sweet taste, rich color, which usually varies from light brown to dark amber, with greenish and brownish hues.

Honeydew honey has a thick consistency. What is the smell and taste of pine honey? Pine honeydew honey has a very faint smell, except for a faded resinous smell. It has a mild flavor with moderate sweetness and a moderately resinous, woody, warm aroma. However, there are varieties of pine honey that are unusually sweet, with a strong vanilla flavor.

Floral honeydew honey

What is honeydew honey. Very often, honeydew is collected by bees sporadically, because bees prefer to visit flowering plants to collect nectar, and only when there is no honey flow in nature do they collect honeydew. Therefore, honeydew honey is often mixed with flower honey, forming flower honeydew honey. In this form, mixed flower honeydew honey will not differ in taste from simple flower honey.

Honeydew honey properties - Benefits of honeydew honey for humans

Often there are questions whether honeydew honey is useful, and it should be noted that honeydew honey is useful for humans.

Why honeydew honey is useful, what is the benefit for human health from honeydew honey? Due to its unique flavor profile, its composition and other special characteristics, honeydew honey has special properties and benefits. Honeydew honey useful properties such as: 

1. Strong antibacterial properties of honeydew honey. Honeydew honey owes its impressive antibacterial properties to its acidic pH and low moisture content, which reduce bacteria. But more importantly, they contain hydrogen peroxide, a powerful disinfectant found naturally in most honeys from a reaction between glucose, sugar from honey, and glucose oxidase, an enzyme secreted by honey bees during honey production. Mushrooms and yeasts are immune to honeydew honey, but for some pathogens they are 4-5 times more susceptible to honeydew than to flower honey. Thus, honeydew honey is good for sore throats, soothes coughs, and can help you recover faster from respiratory infections if you're not allergic to it.
   Lower glycemic index of honeydew honey compared to flower honey. On average, honeydew honey has a lower glycemic index than flower honey. If you're looking for a way to enjoy something sweet and healthy while also controlling your weight, honeydew honey might be your best bet. However, if you have diabetes or other conditions that can be affected by sugar intake, ask your doctor first if honeydew honey is good for you.
2. Strong soothing properties of honeydew honey. The thick consistency, low moisture content, and antibacterial action of honeydew honey make them suitable for relieving sore throats caused by upper respiratory infections. Honeydew honey can be added to tea after it has cooled (heat destroys the beneficial properties of honey), or simply eat one tablespoon of honeydew honey several times throughout the day and then not drink or eat anything for at least one hour after that. Honeydew honey can be taken in the morning on an empty stomach, one tablespoon of honey to soothe inflammation of the gastric mucosa in gastritis. Eating and drinking is delayed for about an hour after drinking honey.
3. Honeydew honey contains a large number of micro and macro elements. Honeydew honey contains small amounts of various vitamins, notably vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B5, and trace amounts of niacin, riboflavin, and thiamine. But honeydew honey contains a large number of very important micro and macro elements for the body, among which the most important are magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, calcium, selenium, copper and many others. Minerals in honeydew honey can contain 20 times more than they are contained in flower honey, which is extremely beneficial for humans. Some varieties of honeydew honey can be very rich in potassium (it can contain up to 3500 mg/100 g of honey), but the amount of minerals in honey varies greatly depending on the tree and source of honeydew, variety, season, weather conditions, the condition of the bee hive and the batch to a batch of honey can fluctuate greatly.
4. Honeydew honey contains valuable antioxidants. Darker colored honeydew honey has been found to have a higher antioxidant value than lighter colored flower honey. Antioxidants contained in honey fight oxidative stress in the body, which is caused by harmful free radicals, and prevent the accumulation of cell damage and disease. It is believed that antioxidants from honeydew honey provide antioxidant protection against disease and premature aging.
5. Tonic properties of honeydew honey. Honeydew honey is invigorating not only because of its abundant content of natural sugars, which give us instant energy and help prevent hypoglycemic conditions, but also because of its nutritional value, providing the body with important vitamins and minerals, which further increase energy levels in the body.
6. Honeydew honey has a positive effect on the skin. Honeydew honey makes a good natural face mask, the mask helps a person to clean the pores and get rid of blackheads. This, combined with its antibacterial action, makes honeydew honey an excellent remedy for preventing acne breakouts with continued use. It also tightens the skin and makes the skin more velvety.

Thus, the question of whether honeydew honey is harmful to humans can be answered no, honeydew honey is not harmful to humans. The question of whether honeydew honey is useful for a person can be safely answered - yes, the benefits of honeydew honey for a person are great and honeydew honey should be used more widely as a food product and a means of apitherapy.

The use of honeydew honey for medicinal purposes

The use of honeydew honey for medicinal purposes has been used for many years due to the wide range of therapeutic effects attributed to it, such as antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Honeydew honey is used to stimulate the healing of wounds and skin burns, as well as in the treatment of stomach ulcers, gastritis and non-healing ulcers of the lower extremities.
Moreover, honeydew honey contains much more oligosaccharides than nectar honey. Honey oligosaccharides have potential prebiotic activity, increasing the population of bifidobacteria ( Bifidobacterium ) and lactobacilli ( Lactobacillus ) in the human intestine, which contributes to the enrichment of the intestinal microflora. The higher mineral content, including more than twenty times the concentration of potassium, ten times the concentration of manganese, and three times the concentration of popular rapeseed honey confirms the mineral richness of honeydew honey, which even in small quantities can serve as a natural way to compensate for the deficiency of certain trace elements in the human diet.

How to organize the collection of honeydew honey in the apiary

However, the expression is true - honeydew honey is good for humans and harmful for bees.
If the benefits of honeydew honey for humans are obvious, then the harm to bees is also obvious - long-term use of honeydew honey is contraindicated for bees both in summer and especially in winter. Therefore, beekeepers need to properly prepare and collect honeydew in order to obtain a commercial honey collection. In this case, the beekeeper can get a large amount of marketable honeydew honey and save the bees.
How to organize the collection of honeydew honey in the apiary