5 Ways To Tell If Honey Is Fake

There's a reason why the word honey is used to fondly address someone — it's sweet, healthy, and indispensable to daily life. It's no surprise that Americans consume over 400 million pounds of honey annually, drizzling it over cereal, toast, and everything in between. So when a jar labeled "pure honey" catches your eye on one of the shelves at the supermarket, you feel like you've just won a treasure hunt. Finding high-quality honey — one without preservatives or sneaky added sugars – feels like hitting the pantry jackpot. But here's the sticky truth: honey ranks as the third most faked food in the world, walking right behind olive oil and milk.

Yep, you read that right. Because it is one of the foods that cannot be differentiated by sight, honey is often adulterated with sugar syrups made from cane or corn and paraded around as "pure." The market is flooded with imposters that can be downright harmful to your health. So how do you ensure the golden nectar in your pantry is legit? Start at the source. While the term "pure honey" may feel reassuring, it doesn't carry legal weight. Instead, look for a label like "true source certified," besides looking for the botanical source, which verifies the honey's ethical origins. Beyond that, there are a couple of fun DIY tests you can perform to check if the honey you bought is authentic. 

If you've been impressed by advertisements showing honey flowing out of a jar in a silky, slow-motion drizzle, don't be fooled — that's not the real deal. Real honey is thick, dense, and unapologetically rich. One way to check if your honey is legit is by trying the thumbnail test, which will help you gauge its viscosity. Just take a drop of the honey you just bought, place it on your thumbnail, and watch what happens. Does it sit there stubbornly, like a bee on a flower? If it does, then voila — that's exactly what you want. On the other hand, if it runs off faster than you can say "sugar syrup," it's time to start questioning your jar's authenticity.

This test can also help you check for added moisture. Impure honey often has added water and tends to spread easily. A runny texture could also be a sign of poor harvesting or storage, where the honey absorbed too much moisture from the air — definitely not a marker of good-quality honey. Keep in mind that warm honey will always be runny, no matter how pure, so make sure it's cool before trying this sticky little experiment.

Another easy way to test if your honey is pure or not (without making your thumbnails sticky) is by dropping a drop of honey in a glass of water. If the honey forms a lump after sinking to the bottom, most likely it is unadulterated. But if it dissolves instantly, blending uniformly with water, chances are it's been adulterated with sugar or corn syrup. Why does this work? Pure honey is naturally concentrated, making it resistant to breaking down in water. It's packed with more sugar than water can typically hold at room temperature. Plus, its unique molecular structure — a mix of fructose and glucose — makes it less soluble in water, one of the reasons why honey never goes bad. Sugar syrups, on the other hand, are heavy in sucrose, which dissolves quickly and easily. 

You'll usually need to give real honey a stir before it fully blends in water. Anything that vanishes instantly? Let's just say your honey's got a sweet secret. While this method isn't foolproof, it's a handy first step to check if your honey is worth its buzz.

An interesting fact about honey is that it is naturally acidic, with a pH usually between 3.4 and 6.1 (for context, anything below 7 is acidic). This is why vinegar — a fellow acidic substance – can be a clever tool to test honey's purity. When two acidic substances meet, there's usually no reaction. In fact, this combination, known as oxymel, has been used as a medicinal tonic since ancient times, believed to help with ailments like asthma and type 2 diabetes. Another fun fact? Honey itself can be fermented and turned into vinegar.

But here's the twist: If your honey isn't pure, you'll notice foaming when you add vinegar, especially if it has been adulterated with chalk powder (yes, they do that, too). So the reaction is a clear sign that your jar of honey likely isn't as pure as you'd hoped and that something extra has snuck into it. So next time you're questioning your honey, grab some vinegar for a quick and easy test. Oh, and if you can't get the chalk factor out of your head, a good way to detect its presence is by mixing a sample of the honey with water and observing if a visible sediment settles at the bottom.

While we've already given you a few fun facts about honey, perhaps the most interesting one is that honey is flammable. Not that you can use it to set a house on fire or even light a bonfire — it has too much moisture to readily catch fire. However, the sugars present in honey can burn if heated enough, before caramelizing into a dark, thick substance. Honey that has been adulterated with water, however, may not burn at all.

To check if you've invested in the right jar, simply dip a matchstick or cotton swab into the honey, then strike it against a flame. If it lights easily and burns steadily, congratulations — you've got the real deal. But if the flame struggles or doesn't ignite at all, it's likely your honey has been tampered with, possibly mixed with water or other additives. This simple, old-school trick can reveal a lot about the authenticity of your honey.

No matter the type of honey, it will primarily consist of natural sugars like glucose and fructose from harvested flower nectar (at least in the real deal), and will eventually crystallize over time. If you've ever discovered a jar of honey you bought months ago, only to find it nearly turned into a solid block that's nearly impossible to scoop, you know exactly what we mean.

This happens because, when making honey, bees create a "supersaturated solution" with just enough water to keep it in liquid form. While some honey varieties contain more glucose than fructose and will crystallize faster (since glucose crystallizes more readily), this process is unavoidable. However, if your honey is fake, it will typically resist crystallization, often due to heavy processing or the presence of synthetic ingredients. While this test might need you to invest a good amount of time, it is one of the best ways to gauge the quality of your honey. Once you find out that the claims on your bottle were too good to be true, you can bid it adieu for good and invest in something that'll guarantee more bang for your buck.