drawn comb

[busybeephilip]

Rosie,

Perhaps you could elaborate on your glucose oxidase test ? do you also test for HMF

[Rosie]

Rosie,

Perhaps you could elaborate on your glucose oxidase test ? do you also test for HMF

I know of no domestic scale method of testing for hmf but it is quite easy to get an idea about glucose oxidase activity.

The method I use is to dilute honey in room temperature water (1 part honey to 4 of water - ideally distilled), stir and allow to stand for 1 hour. During this time hydrogen peroxide is produced and its concentration is an indication of the enzyme activity. After the hour I just dip a peroxide test strip into the water as per the instructions on the test strip container and read off the concentration. The test strip works a bit like litmus paper and changes colour in proportion to the concentration.

Cold processed honey will be found to contain about 20 parts per million. Cheap honey from a well-known supermarket contains none (according to my test) and 2 parts per million is said to be roughly equivalent to the legal minimum. By implication the enzyme activity also gives a clue about hmf concentration as they are both affected by heat and time. I am not sure about hmf but I have found that enzyme activity is also affected by exposure to sunlight.

I found that formerly granulated rape honey from my decapping tray was dead and so I sold the tray and developed my own method of processing granulated combs. It turned out to be cheaper, faster and easier to clean than a decapping tray as well as capable of producing better honey.

[busybeephilip]

Thats really interesting and I must try this. I notice that RS components sell H2O2 test sticks at a reasonable price. It would make for an interesting club nite topic testing different persons honey for over heating. If the commercial honies fail the test then it shows just how valuable the product that we produce really is.

[Rosie]

We did exactly that when I was with Derbyshire beekeepers about 6 years ago. 2 samples failed out of 14 and one had been bought-in by an old lady who's crop had failed and the other was a commercial one in a dark jar and sold as active honey. Actually a third one failed but it was one that I had deliberately overheated to show people how a spoilt sample came out (I had expected every sample to pass). The lady with the bad sample was very embarrassed although we all tried not to rib her so you have to tread carefully.

I forgot to add that the water/honey proportions are by weight.

I got my second and subsequent tubes of strips from RS and paid about twice what I paid for my first ones but my original supplier refused to sell me more in retail quantities. I think I would have had to buy around 1000 strips instead of my usual 50. RS strips measure up to 100ppm but 25ppm strips would be more appropriate. Unfortunately I have never found 25ppm strips in this country.