# More ... > Beekeeping and the environment >  Honey in the jar True or false.

## Greengage

Honey is composed of  18% water, 35%Glucose, 40% Fructose 4% Sugars, 3% other substance, Bet you didnt know that , Only Joking.
Therefore we are told that  honey is made from the nectar bees collect from flowers. Nectar is secreted by nectaries, which are glands located in flowers, and the secretions are especially designed to attract pollinating insects. All good so far. But If you feed your bees Syrup from refined sugar can this be turned into Honey.
  If Bees break down the  sugar (sucrose) into its component parts (fructose and glucose) can this then be called Honey.
What is the definition of Honey if I sell it.

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## gavin

> Honey is composed of  18% water, 35%Glucose, 40% Fructose 4% Sugars, 3% other substance, Bet you didnt know that , Only Joking.


Plus sunbeams, fairy dust and several other magic ingredients.  Also flavour from the flowers, and protein too in some cases.

Honey has to be from nectar.  If it is contaminated with syrup or sugars from fondant then you can't really call it honey.  Most beekeepers take care to ensure that the two don't mix.

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## alancooper

I'm for the new honey standard - nectar, sunbeams and fairy dust.

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## gavin

> I'm for the new honey standard - nectar, sunbeams and fairy dust.


 :Smile: 

Of course, I forgot aphid/scale insect excretia too  :Wink: .

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## fatshark

and legs ... i don't think my filter is any good

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## Kate Atchley

... no wings ... no flights of fancy ?

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## Greengage

> Plus sunbeams, fairy dust and several other magic ingredients.  Also flavour from the flowers, and protein too in some cases.
> 
> Honey has to be from nectar.  If it is contaminated with syrup or sugars from fondant then you can't really call it honey.  Most beekeepers take care to ensure that the two don't mix.


But do they, How can a punter be sure that the honey in the jar is not diluted with syrup after all beekeepers feed bees syrup to keep them from starving. Syrup is fairly cheap and readily available unlike nectar. All nectar produced by flowers and taken back to the hive is converted to honey, by the same token all syrup taken back to the hive can be converted to honey, my origional question is what is the definition of Honey if it is put in a jar for sale. The WHO defines honey as “Honey is the natural sweet substance, produced by honey 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 there own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in honeycombs to ripen and mature.” http://www.honeytraveler.com/types-o...ney-standards/ as you can see further down on that page in America, “…honey does not require official inspection in order to carry official USDA grade marks…there are no existing programs that require the official inspection and certification of honey…” does not mention sunbeams, fairy dust or flavours.

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## alancooper

> that page in America does not mention sunbeams, fairy dust or flavours.


What! - no fairy dust in American honey? - no wonder they have bee problems.

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## Greengage

I just came across this discussion on the BBKA page.Thymallus further down the page says:Some of the health food magazines are shouting in horror about how we feed our bees with sugar syrup and sell it as honey. I've lost a few sales when I explain that "yes I do feed them sugar syrup, to get them through the winter".
 I know it's a misconception by the health food firms, but people do read and listen to what they say. http://www.bbka.org.uk/members/forum.php?t=7849
and then there was this: http://www.bbka.org.uk/members/forum.php?t=6121

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## prakel

> I just came across this discussion on the BBKA page.Thymallus further down the page says:Some of the health food magazines are shouting in horror about how we feed our bees with sugar syrup and sell it as honey. I've lost a few sales when I explain that "yes I do feed them sugar syrup, to get them through the winter".
>  I know it's a misconception by the health food firms, but people do read and listen to what they say. http://www.bbka.org.uk/members/forum.php?t=7849
> and then there was this: http://www.bbka.org.uk/members/forum.php?t=6121


A few years ago, maybe 04 or 05 we had a particularly wet spring and I had a few overwintered nucs which were on the verge of starvation. Went into the local coop and bought some emergency sugar rations; got to the till to be served; young woman stood behind me comments on the amount of sugar I was buying; I reply that its to feed my bees. BANG. She proceeded to 'lecture' me in a suitably loud voice on how it's totally unacceptable to cheat by putting sugar in the hive and that honey should be gathered naturally straight from the flowers. Couldn't get a word in edgeways.

Suffice to say, from that day on I became a 'jam maker' when buying sugar.

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## Greengage

And still no one has answered the question. What is the definition of Honey if I sell it.
I could feed my bees during a wet Spring/Summer and sell it a honey.
If i had hives in a desert could I feed them non stop and sell it as desert honey from Quatar or wherever.

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## Jon

Trading standards can detect sugar in honey so if you plan to sell it you might get caught.
Local council officers and suchlike do spot checks for weight, sugars and pollen content as some people have been known to repackage cheap foreign honey and that is easily detectible via pollen content.
If you are feeding and they are storing what you feed, it is not honey. It is syrup with perhaps a little honey and pollen in it.

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## gavin

> And still no one has answered the question. What is the definition of Honey if I sell it.
> I could feed my bees during a wet Spring/Summer and sell it a honey.
> If i had hives in a desert could I feed them non stop and sell it as desert honey from Quatar or wherever.


As above, and ....

ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0842e/i0842e10.pdf

Definition of honey according to the EU

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 EU definition states that honey is only honey according to the definition when it is produced by Apis mellifera honeybees.

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## Bumble

> If you are feeding and they are storing what you feed, it is not honey. It is syrup with perhaps a little honey and pollen in it.


It's surprising how many new beekeepers, who have been told to feed, feed, feed, their nucs and then put them into full sized boxes because they need the space, take a little of the 'honey' and comment on how watery it tastes. It's their first practical experience of how syrup gets stored, how the stores look the same as sealed honey but tastes like sugar.

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## prakel

Greengage: common sense plays quite a large part.

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## Jimbo

There is a quick test to see if honey had been adulterated with sugar syrup
Take a jar of water and run some honey into it
It should easily sink to the bottom of the jar
If there is sugar syrup in the honey you will see the mixing of the sugar syrup with the water


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## Greengage

I couldnt open the link by Gavin but i found this: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1348/made
It is for England so I assume it would not be much different over here.

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