Bee Honey and viscosity?!
Bee Honey and viscosity?
Why is some types of bee honey more runny than others? Are all honeys the same? does it matter what type of bee's make it?
Answers:
There are two main things that affect viscosity: water content and degree of granulation. When honey begins to crystallize it gets thicker-that's obvious. Between different liquid honeys water content can vary from 13-25%! Honey is essentially a highly concentrated water solution of two sugars, dextrose and levulose, with small amounts of at least 22 other more complex sugars and all honey is *basically* the same in that regard. There are many different kinds of honey made from different kinds of nectar. The differences in color, flavor, and aroma are dependant on what kind of flowers the bees visit rather than what kind of bees they are.
Sure it does. There's honey from pinetrees, from bees, from flowers, etc etc. Some kinds of honey are darker than the others. They say the ones that aren't runny are better.
You talking about what you buy in the store or do you take samples from the actual bees? I imagine that stuff in the store may have some water in it.
I don't think the bee type matters as much as the location. although when I was younger I lived in a very rural area in Louisiana and my uncle kept bees as well as occasionally raiding wild bee trees we found in the woods. The wild honey had a very strong flavor and was very dark.
The location affects flavor and consistency because of the bees diet, pollen they touch, etc.
The clarity is often affected by the processing with raw honey typically being cloudier than processed. This is also true with consistency, wild honey is runnier than processed.
R&KBen has covered all there is to know in the difference in honey ,type & consistency ,the colour & thickness varies not by bee colony but the type of flower & blossoms which has been the main source of nectar.Flavour is greatly contributed by the crop or tree blossoms visited by the bee colony,some labels on honey bottles give this information.