Can Honey Be Heated Above 40 Degrees: What Experts Say 0 19

To understand this issue, we consulted the founder of the Telegram channel Food and Science, Vsevolod Ostakhnovich.

How Honey Is Obtained

It all starts with simple flower nectar. This is what hungry bees hunt for to process and store for the winter for their colony. Initially, humans learned to take these reserves, and then to participate in their creation.

Nectar is very different from the future honey. In fact, it is an 80% solution of sucrose. Foraging bees collect it with their proboscises into their honey stomachs and carry it back to the hive, where nectar is transformed into honey. An interesting fact: to collect four kilograms of honey, a bee must fly a distance equal to three diameters of the Earth.

On the way home, they add invertase to the nectar. This is an enzyme found in the salivary glands of insects. It breaks down sucrose into monosaccharides: fructose and glucose — simple sugars. When foragers arrive at the hive, they pass the processed nectar to worker bees. They drink it and regurgitate it back several times over a period of 20 minutes. The only more exotic product might be civet coffee, which also undergoes natural processing by the Asian palm civet. However, it comes out of the mammal only once.

The cycle continues until the nectar contains 40–50% moisture. Then the bees move it into the honeycomb and fan it with their wings to speed up the evaporation of excess liquid to a level of 17–18%. Honey is ready, and it can now be sealed with wax and moved to a special sweet storage until a human takes the excess as a tribute. For bees — feudalism, for humans — beekeeping.

Is Honey Sugar?

Honey is 80% composed of various sugars. Mainly, it consists of fructose and glucose in varying proportions. Thanks to the action of bee enzymes, honey becomes a supersaturated solution during its production. This means it is unstable. To return to a stable saturated state, any honey will crystallize over time. This product is called "set." It is quite easy to "raise" it. You can place the jar in warm water, use a microwave, or hold it against your chest. Any heating helps honey become a supersaturated solution again.

Does Honey Become Carcinogenic — Myth or Truth

On the internet, you can often find information that rapid and sharp heating of honey at high temperatures is not recommended because it produces carcinogens. But what does science say about this?

So, there is a substance called hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) — this is an intermediate product of sugar decomposition. This word scares those who want to cook with honey because HMF can potentially be a carcinogen. HMF is formed when sugars are heated. They are found not only in honey but also in fruit juices, dried fruits, alcohol, jams, baked goods, and sweet carbonated drinks. A regular morning toast contains as much HMF as you would not heat honey in your entire life.

Bees are often fed with syrups that also contain HMF. For insects, this substance is considered dangerous. At high levels of HMF, they simply die. This fact scares people, and perhaps this is why a kind of myth arose that honey should not be heated or cooked with.

Indeed, when heated, the beneficial properties of honey suffer, beneficial enzymes are deactivated, and small amounts of HMF are formed. But this is not life-threatening if you do not consider a glass of apple juice and a poppy seed bun dangerous for yourself.

So Why Should Honey Not Be Heated

According to the Codex Alimentarius, a collection of international food standards, heat negatively affects the beneficial qualities of honey — that is why honey should not be heated above a certain temperature. However, we are not even talking about a teaspoon in a glass of hot milk.

How to Properly Heat Honey

You can simply place the jar of honey in warm water. Honey should not be heated above 40–50 °C: this temperature is considered safe. If you are a more extravagant person, I recommend using an immersion heater, electric plates, or ultrasound.

According to Czech studies, brief exposure to microwaves does not have a significant negative impact on honey, especially in home conditions. So brew your tea and feel free to send your honey into the microwave!