Water Content in Honey
Lexikon
Water content is one of the most important quality characteristics of honey, because it shows whether the bees have thickened the nectar or honeydew sufficiently and whether the beekeeper has extracted honey that was harvested ripe.
Water content is one of the most important quality characteristics of honey, because it shows whether the bees have thickened the nectar or honeydew sufficiently and whether the beekeeper has extracted honey that was harvested ripe. The lower the water content, the safer the honey is from fermentation, because moist honeys provide a breeding ground for yeasts and can start to ferment, which is first noticeable as a fruity taste and later as an unpleasant one.
By law, the Honey Ordinance prescribes a water content of at most 20 percent; for heather honey and baker's honey up to 23 percent is allowed. If this value is exceeded, the honey no longer counts as table honey and may not be sold at all. The German Beekeepers' Association requires considerably stricter values for its trademark Echter Deutscher Honig, at most 18 percent, and 21.4 percent for heather honey. If only this stricter association value is exceeded, the honey may still be sold, but no longer in the beekeepers' jar with the DIB mark, only in a neutral jar.
In everyday practice, beekeepers determine the water content themselves with a hand-held refractometer directly after extraction. A common mistake is to extract too early, before the bees have fully capped the combs, because then the honey is often still too moist. Damp storage or a damp extraction room can also increase the water content afterwards, because honey is strongly hygroscopic and draws moisture from the air.