Honey is not only fragrant, but also a useful delicacy, so every year lovers of this product stock up on it for future use. Among the large number of its varieties, mustard honey is especially popular. Due to its monoflora, it perfectly concentrates all the beneficial properties of the honey plant in itself. This article will examine in detail the properties of mustard honey, as well as describe how it is beneficial to human health.
Characteristics and features of honey
Such a plant as mustard is known to many. It has been used in human culture for many centuries, but not everyone knows the fact that this plant is an excellent honey plant. Every year, mustard crops attract a lot of bees, and its nectar often becomes the main raw material for an aromatic product with special characteristics and taste.
Colour
Mustard honey has an almost perfect golden hue. Sometimes on store shelves you can find almost transparent shades with a slight yellowness. After prolonged storage, the shade changes to light yellow or cream tones.
Smell and taste
The taste of mustard honey is characteristic, rich and sweet. Despite the properties of the honey plant, bitterness and excessive piquancy are not peculiar to the product, the taste is moderate, with a light and unobtrusive flavor. At the same time, the product has a light floral aroma, which is inherent in products from field herbs.
Crystallization
Crystallization activity is the main feature of mustard honey. Almost immediately, it loses its ideally liquid consistency after collection, and after 7-10 days it acquires a characteristic finely dispersed structure, with numerous inclusions of sugar crystals. A few weeks after pumping it out completely thickens.
Important! Lack of crystallization — the main sign of low-quality or falsified honey, it is better to refuse such nectar.
Composition and calorie content
Depending on the harvesting time, the honey plant variety, as well as the climatic features of the cultivation of mustard, its nectar can seriously differ. This undoubtedly affects the composition of the bee product. Although usually the concentration of basic substances is always in a certain balance.The main substances that make up the product:
A type | amount |
Water | 17–19% |
Sugar (glucose, fructose, sucrose, etc.) | About 85% |
Amino acids, enzymes, proteins, dextrins | About 1.5% |
Vitamins and Acids | About 1.3% |
Minerals | 1–1,2% |
The main source of all the beneficial qualities of mustard honey is honey pollen, it saturates it with the following list of macro- and microelements:
- magnesium;
- potassium;
- aluminum;
- chromium;
- calcium;
- sodium;
- silicon;
- phosphorus;
- iodine;
- iron.
Did you know? The most expensive variety of honey is considered Elvish variety worth about 7 thousand US dollars per 1 kg. They get it in one of the caves of the Sarikair valley, near the Turkish city of Artvin.
The product is rich in all kinds of vitamins, the most common among them are:
- B vitamins;
- Vitamin C
- vitamin PP;
- Vitamin A
- vitamin D.
The energy value of the bee product from mustard is high.So, in 100 g of mustard honey contains:
- proteins - 0.3 g;
- carbohydrates - 82 g;
- fats - 0 g;
- calories - about 300 kcal.
Useful properties of mustard honey
Due to the lack of prevalence, mustard honey is a rare beekeeping product. Most often it is found in the composition of a product from field and garden herbs. However, in its pure form, it has the highest value, due to the many positive properties for health.
He showed the greatest health effect in the treatment of colds, thanks to the ability:
- increase immunity;
- reduce cough and increase sputum waste from the bronchi;
- inhibit the development of parasitic microorganisms.
In addition, mustard honey is useful for the body due to the following properties:
- strengthens blood vessels;
- improves blood supply to organs and tissues;
- cleanses the body of toxins;
- reduces tissue swelling;
- has a regenerative effect, promotes the restoration and healing of both tissues and individual cells;
- makes it possible to reduce local inflammatory processes.
Do not forget about its high cosmetic properties, which provide the highest demand for beekeeping products in the manufacture of a variety of cosmetic preparations. Such products can tone and nourish the skin, give it freshness, as well as reduce the manifestations of acne. But this product is of particular importance for the hairline.As part of hair masks, honey makes it possible:
- saturate the scalp and hair with vitamins and minerals;
- restore hair follicles and supply them with oxygen;
- protect hair from fading and premature gray hair;
- improve the condition of hair and smooth out curls;
- increase blood microcirculation in the scalp and follicles;
- normalize the lipid balance of the skin of the hairline;
- saturate the hair with calcium, which improves their structure and growth activity.
Did you know? Honey bees are contemporaries of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. These insects appeared in the Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago.
Possible contraindications
Undoubtedly, beekeeping derivatives bring many benefits to human health, however, if abused or misused, they can easily cause irreparable harm to health.
It is strongly recommended not to use honey for:
- any allergic reactions to bee products;
- obesity, since honey is a fairly high-calorie product;
- diabetes, since a high percentage of carbohydrates and sugars can exacerbate the course of the disease;
- hypotension, because it helps to lower blood pressure;
- pathologies of the kidneys and urinary tract, as the product has a strong diuretic effect.
How to choose a quality product
To choose high-quality honey, during its acquisition should pay attention to the following features:
- consistency - in liquid form, it is quite rare, most often you can find dense candied honey with various inclusions of sugar;
- harvest time - it is collected from June to mid-October;
- Colour - a quality product has a fairly light shade: from golden yellow to cream tones;
- taste - it should not be pronounced, but often a slight mustard spice can still be present;
- the scent - high-quality nectar does not have a bright and rich aroma; instead, light floral smells are felt;
- weight - 0.5 l of honey nectar should weigh about 800 g;
- reaction to iodine solution - if a drop of alcoholic iodine infusion falls into a homogeneous mixture of water and honey (1: 1), no chemical reaction should be observed, otherwise various impurities will occur;
- when mixing a glass of warm water and 1 tsp. honey, the resulting liquid should not form a precipitateotherwise you can talk about a surrogate.
Important! Honey should not have sharp chemical odors, this indicates a low quality of the feedstock or a fake.
Home storage
Most often, bee derivatives are seasonal delicacies, so they are consumed even before winter frosts. This is due to the fact that the concentration of most substances valuable to humans sharply decreases in the substance already 6 months after pumping, therefore it is undesirable to use nectar for long-term storage. However, under optimal conditions, storage periods can be extended up to 10-12 months.To extend the preservation of beekeeping products to the maximum, it is necessary to create the following conditions:
- a dry place protected from direct sunlight;
- temperature is about 0 ... + 5 ° С;
- protection of nectar from direct access of oxygen;
- inert packaging (glass or wood).