Honey Tasting

Most ancient civilizations worshiped honey . Over the centuries, it remained incredibly popular, possessed symbolic value and healing properties, was considered a noble food, and rarely - a product of daily consumption. However, times are changing and today you can find honey on almost every table.

There is no better means in nature that can saturate our body with the optimal amount of trace elements than honey . It contains more than 400 vital substances, its composition includes 30 trace elements. Honey also has antioxidant properties, for example, only honey and propolis contain the unique antioxidant pinosembrin, which increases vitality.

And yet, the more we learn about honey , the more questions we have.

The profession of a honey taster is still very rare. The world's only honey sensory analysis courses are held in Italy. The course consists of 3 two-day levels, where you study the theory of tasting and learn to determine the type of honey using the 4 senses.

Honey tasting originated in France and developed in Italy. The system of evaluation and classification of honey was developed by Michel Gonnet, a scientist-zooengineer of the beekeeping station of the French National Institute of Agronomic Research (Avignon), who devoted most of his life to the study of honey , and Gabriel Vach, an engineer in the field of agricultural works, an unsurpassed connoisseur of wines. In preparing their honey tasting program, the scientists were guided by the experience of their colleagues from the field of winemaking.

M. Gonne and G. Vash presented their developments in the book " Honey Tasting ". The authors offered tasters a general method, according to which the evaluation of honey is based on visual, olfactory, taste and tactile criteria, developed the necessary tests. They also formulated the requirements for a professional taster , the main of which are excellent knowledge of the product being tasted, its main characteristics and technologies, the availability of elementary knowledge in the field of anatomy and physiology of sensations, dedication to work and regular exercises. And finally, the authors tried to form a dictionary for a professional honey taster — they proposed a basic dictionary to describe all types of honey and descriptive analysis of about 20 varieties of monofloral honey .

So what is a sensory analysis, that is, a tasting of honey ?

Sensory analysis is the only system that allows you to learn how a product is perceived by consumers at the level of the human sensory system. Organoleptic characteristics of honey assessment are carried out by sight, smell, taste, tactile sensitivity, kinetic, thermal and general chemical sensitivity. Assessment of sensory characteristics of honey , in most cases, cannot be replaced by physical and chemical analysis.

Tasting honey is both a science and an art. The task of the taster is to evaluate the smell, aroma of honey , its taste and physical condition. First of all, it is necessary to choose the right room for tasting , in which the regime of temperature and air humidity, lighting is maintained. The workplace of the taster is completely closed from extraneous sounds and smells. He does not come into contact with anyone, is fenced off from the outside environment and concentrates only on the sample of honey . The taster must be half-starved, and must not use any perfumes. This is the only way to give an accurate, honest assessment.

The choice of dishes for tasting is also important. For honey , glasses with a long stem are optimal, similar to wine glasses, but more open at the top, the rounded shape helps to concentrate the volatile aromas of honey . 30-40 g of honey is placed in a glass . The taster is given a spatula — a plastic stick or spoon.

Tasting is carried out in two stages: first, honey is looked at, evaluating its appearance - color, brightness, presence of impurities, consistency; then honey is tasted. At the same time, specific rules must be strictly followed: the tasting of several types of honey begins with the sample with the least pronounced smell, goes to stronger varieties and ends with the sampling of the sample with the strongest smell (as a rule, these can be dark and bitter varieties). To analyze the smell of honeyit must be stirred and spread a little on the walls of the glass to release the volatile substances. The strongest olfactory sensations occur during the first seconds. After that, the receptors get used to the smell, and you should take a break for 5-20 seconds. To evaluate the taste characteristics and aroma, it is enough to try 1-2 g of honey and swallow them slowly. Repeatedly trying honey , the taster can evaluate its consistency, size and softness of crystals, for this it is worth kneading the honey between the tongue and the palate. To restore the operation of honey receptors between different types of honey , you can eat a piece of apple or rinse your mouth with water.

The taster does not have the right to express his personal preferences. For example, an expert likes buckwheat honey , he looks for its taste in all samples, and where he finds it, he gives a high rating - this is unacceptable. Tasting is a technique that excludes personal preferences. Because a competent taster , performing the role of a measuring device, compares samples with a standard.

The standard is determined in different ways. One of them is "hedonic analysis", when a wide range of consumers, at least 100-300 people of different ages and sexes, are encouraged to study. They try many different varieties and types of honey , and rate them. This data is collected, the best samples are determined, and the winner becomes the benchmark for the expert's evaluation. The taster compares the honey submitted to the competition with the honey chosen by the consumer. That is, the consumer dictates to the expert what to consider good or bad honey .

Honey is among the top ten most frequently counterfeited products. Prices for it are 5-10 times higher than for sugar. At the same time, honey produced in violation of sanitary standards can pose a danger to human health. For this reason, international requirements for the purity of honey are becoming stricter every year.

The method of sensory analysis of honey , widely recognized in European countries, allows you to quickly determine the suitability of the product for sale. If the honey does not meet the requirements of the tasting , this raises doubts about its naturalness, and it is again sent for analysis to the veterinary laboratory for physical and chemical studies. 

Also, tasting honey helps to bring the product to a new quality level. Honey tasters should create a barrier that will prevent low-quality and falsified products from entering the market.