# Honey

Honey differs from jar to jar in two ways: the plants the bees foraged set flavour, colour and how fast it sets, and the packer's heating and filtering decide whether pollen and enzymes survive. Manuka is a separate catalog graded on one antibacterial number. Raw, pure and Grade A are mostly unregulated words; origin and third-party testing tell you more.

## How it works

Bees collect nectar, add their own enzymes, fan off water until the mix is under about 18%, and cap it. The enzymes split the nectar's sucrose into fructose and glucose, so finished honey is roughly 30 to 44% fructose, 25 to 40% glucose and under 20% water, plus traces of acids, enzymes, pollen and plant flavour compounds. That supersaturated sugar solution is why honey keeps for years, why it crystallises (glucose is the less soluble sugar and drops out first), and why it ferments if the water creeps above about 18%. Two things vary between jars. The plant source sets flavour, colour, phenolic content and the glucose-to-fructose balance that decides crystallisation speed, and in Manuka it also sets the methylglyoxal (MGO) that gives the antibacterial grade. The packer's heating and filtering decide whether yeast is dead, how long the jar stays liquid, and whether pollen and enzymes survive. [1] [16] [10] [2] [37] [39] [23] [24]

| Family | What it is | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Blossom (nectar) honey | Made from flower nectar. Nearly everything on the shelf, from clover to acacia to buckwheat, and the family where floral source and colour do the work of telling jars apart. | Everyday use: toast, tea, baking, drizzling. |
| Honeydew (forest) honey | Made from the sugary secretions that sap-sucking insects leave on trees rather than from nectar. Darker, less sweet and higher in minerals, so it conducts electricity above 0.8 mS/cm, the line Codex sets for honeydew and chestnut honey while most blossom honeys sit below it (Manuka, heather, lime and eucalyptus are named exceptions). Sold under names like forest, fir, pine or oak honey. | People who want a dark, savoury, malty honey. |
| Manuka (graded) honey | Blossom honey from the New Zealand Leptospermum shrub, bought for its methylglyoxal content rather than its taste and priced by that number. Botanically it is blossom honey, but it is a separate catalog with its own grading, testing and price class. | People buying for the antibacterial rating, for sore throats, wound care or as a daily spoonful. |

## How an expert narrows the choice

```mermaid
timeline
  section 1 · Honey type
    Manuka (graded) : ask MGO level, UMF grade : skip Colour class
    honeydew (forest) honey : skip Colour class
  section 2 · Processing
    raw, unpasteurised : ask Crystallisation tendency
    heated or pasteurised : skip Crystallisation tendency
  section 3 · Colour class
    Pale and mild, or dark and strong?
  section 4 · Form
    creamed or whipped / crystallised or set : skip Crystallisation tendency
    comb : skip Processing
```

1. **Honey type.** Graded Manuka, dark forest honeydew, or ordinary flower honey?
   Manuka is a different catalog, priced far above table honey and sold on its own grade, so asking first isolates it. Honeydew is a small, distinct family. Most people answer flower honey, leaving the next two questions to narrow.
   If Manuka (graded): ask MGO level, UMF grade; skip Colour class.
   If honeydew (forest) honey: skip Colour class.
   Skip if already known: memory.honey.manuka_buyer, an earlier answer that named an MGO or UMF grade.

2. **Processing.** Raw (keeps pollen, sets solid) or heated and stays pourable?
   Raw versus heated and filtered is the one processing fact every listing signals, and it splits the catalog roughly in half. It also predicts crystallisation, which is the thing novices complain about after buying.
   If raw, unpasteurised: ask Crystallisation tendency.
   If heated or pasteurised: skip Crystallisation tendency.
   Skip if already known: memory.diet.prefers_unprocessed, memory.honey.dislikes_crystallised.

3. **Colour class.** Pale and mild, or dark and strong?
   Colour predicts flavour strength and plant-compound content, and the buyer can answer from the photo: pale acacia and clover at one end, dark buckwheat and chestnut at the other. It halves what is left after processing.
   Skip if already known: memory.taste.prefers_strong_flavours, an earlier answer naming a floral source.

4. **Form.** Pourable, creamed and spreadable, or a piece of honeycomb?
   Most of the catalog is liquid, so this removes little for most people, but the people who want creamed or comb honey cannot be served without it.
   If creamed or whipped or crystallised or set: skip Crystallisation tendency.
   If comb: skip Processing.
   Skip if already known: memory.honey.preferred_form.

## What to surface

### Honey type

Whether the honey comes from flower nectar, from the secretions insects leave on trees (honeydew), or is Manuka sold on an antibacterial grade. The three types are bought for different reasons and priced on different scales. Manuka is graded and priced by its methylglyoxal (MGO) content, or by UMF, the licensed New Zealand grade built on it, and sells per gram far above table honey. Honeydew honey is darker, less sweet and higher in minerals. Codex requires honeydew and chestnut honey to conduct electricity above 0.8 mS/cm and most blossom honeys to sit below it, with named exceptions. [1] [2] [37] [10]

Values: blossom (flower) honey, honeydew (forest) honey, Manuka (graded).
Question to ask: Graded Manuka, dark forest honeydew, or ordinary flower honey?

Used as: top-level split, filter. Data: on the listing, backfill cost none. Look for it as: The title. Manuka listings say Manuka and carry an MGO or UMF number. Honeydew listings say honeydew, forest, fir, pine or oak honey. Anything else is blossom honey.
Default to blossom honey when the title names neither Manuka nor a honeydew word.

### Processing

Whether the honey was heated and filtered after extraction or left raw, which decides whether its pollen, enzymes and yeasts are still in it. Raw honey is strained but not heated, so it keeps its pollen and enzymes and crystallises within months. Pasteurised honey is heated to about 63 °C for 30 minutes, which kills yeasts that cause fermentation and keeps it liquid, but loses enzymes and gains the heat marker HMF. Ultrafiltration removes pollen, and without pollen a laboratory cannot check origin. Raw has no legal definition in the US or EU, so it only means the packer chose not to pasteurise. [12] [13] [16] [15] [11] [5]

Values: raw, unpasteurised, heated or pasteurised, unspecified.
Question to ask: Raw (keeps pollen, sets solid) or heated and stays pourable?

Used as: top-level split, filter, shown on the card. Data: on the listing, backfill cost low. Look for it as: Title and bullets: raw, unpasteurised, unfiltered, unheated, never pasteurized. Amazon sometimes puts raw under Specialty. Pasteurised honey almost never says so, so the absence of a raw claim is the signal.
When no claim appears, record unspecified rather than pasteurised, then let the brand page settle it for the top of the catalog. Treat the word unfiltered as a pollen-kept claim and strained as compatible with raw.

### Colour class

Where the honey sits on the seven-step USDA colour scale, from water white to dark amber, measured in millimetres on a Pfund grader. Colour is the cheapest predictor of flavour strength and of phenolic content. Two Polish studies found browning and colour positively correlated with total phenolics and antioxidant activity, with buckwheat darkest and highest and acacia, linden and rapeseed lightest. Water white and extra white honeys taste delicate, amber and dark amber honeys taste strong and sometimes bitter. The class is separate from the USDA quality grade: dark amber is a colour, Grade B is a score. [26] [27] [29] [30] [19]

Values: water white (8 mm or less), extra white (over 8 to 17 mm), white (over 17 to 34 mm), extra light amber (over 34 to 50 mm), light amber (over 50 to 85 mm), amber (over 85 to 114 mm), dark amber (over 114 mm).
Question to ask: Pale and mild, or dark and strong?

Used as: top-level split, filter, shown on the card. Data: derived from listing fields, backfill cost low. Look for it as: Sometimes in the title or bullets as light amber or dark amber. Otherwise it comes from the product photo or from the floral source's known average colour.
Derive from the label words first, then from the image, then from the floral source average (acacia about 13 mm, citrus 15, rapeseed 26, chestnut 88). Photo lighting and jar glass shift the apparent colour, so prefer label words when present.
Chart: Pfund colour scale.

### Form

Whether the honey is sold liquid, as a creamed spread, in the comb, or as comb pieces in liquid honey. Creamed honey is honey crystallised on purpose into very small crystals so it spreads like butter, never drips and never surprises you by setting; it is not whipped and contains no air. Comb honey is the least processed form, since it arrives sealed by the bees, but it includes the wax and costs more. Liquid honey is the default and the only form that dissolves quickly in a drink. [12] [14] [17] [1]

Values: liquid, creamed or whipped, comb, chunk (comb pieces in liquid honey), crystallised or set.
Question to ask: Pourable, creamed and spreadable, or a piece of honeycomb?

Used as: top-level split, filter. Data: on the listing, backfill cost none. Look for it as: Title and the Amazon field Item Form. Creamed appears as creamed, whipped, spun, churned or set honey. Comb and chunk appear in the title.
Default to liquid when nothing is said. The product photo confirms comb and creamed.

### Crystallisation tendency

How fast the honey is likely to set solid in the cupboard, which depends on its floral source and on whether it was heated. Honey with more glucose than fructose sets within weeks to months; rapeseed, clover, dandelion, alfalfa, mustard and sunflower are quick. Honey with much more fructose stays liquid for years; acacia, tupelo, sage and sidr are slow, and acacia's premium rests on this. Raw honey sets faster because the pollen and wax specks it keeps act as seeds. Crystallised honey is not spoiled: a warm-water bath at 35 to 40 °C reverses it; past 40 °C damages it. [16] [17] [18] [19] [10] [36]

Values: very slow (stays liquid for years), slow, moderate, rapid (weeks to a few months).
Question to ask: Fine if it sets solid, or must it stay liquid?

Used as: filter, shown on the card. Data: derived from listing fields, backfill cost low. Look for it as: Not a listing field. Derived from floral_source using the published speed tables, then moved one step faster if the honey is raw.
Use the floral source tables from Hamdan and the National Honey Board where they agree. For blends and wildflower, record moderate. Creamed honey has already set, so mark it not applicable.
Chart: Crystallisation speed scale.

### Organic certification

Whether the honey carries an organic certificate, which in honey means the forage around the hives was free of prohibited substances, not that the honey was processed any differently. Organic says nothing about raw, pollen or heating. The US National Organic Program has no honey-specific standard, so certifiers apply livestock rules and each sets its own forage radius, usually 2 to 5 miles. The EU requires 3 km of organic or wild forage. Because almost no US farmland meets that, most organic honey on US shelves is imported, Brazil first. An organic seal is therefore a weak hint about origin and no hint about processing. [34] [35]

Question to ask: Certified organic, or doesn't matter?

Used as: shown on the card. Data: on the listing, backfill cost none. Look for it as: The word organic in the title, a USDA Organic or EU leaf seal in the images, or the Amazon Specialty field.
Absent means not certified.

### Country of origin

The country or countries the honey was produced in, which the label must state, and for EU blends from June 2026 must state with percentages. Honey is one of the most adulterated foods traded, and origin is the first thing testers look at. The EU's 2021 to 2022 checks flagged 46% of 320 imported consignments as suspicious, and the 2015 to 2017 checks found more than 10% of 2,264 samples failed sugar-purity tests. Chinese honey has been shipped through third countries to dodge duties. From 14 June 2026 EU labels must list each country in descending order with its percentage. [9] [10] [8] [5] [6] [34] [32]

Values: single country named, named blend with percentages, blend with countries listed but no percentages, blend of EU and non-EU honeys (pre-2026 wording), unspecified.
Question to ask: A particular country, your own region, or anywhere?

Used as: filter, shown on the card. Data: needs research, backfill cost medium. Look for it as: EU and UK listings carry it as a label line; US jars of imported honey print Product of; Amazon has a Country as Labeled field that is often blank. The label photo is the usual place it survives.
Treat as researched because the field is blank on many US marketplace listings. Backfill from the label photo or brand page for the top of the catalog. Blends are the hard case: record every country named and any percentage. Where only a region is given (local, mountain), record the country of the seller as unverified.

### Floral source

The plant the bees mainly foraged, which the label may name when the honey comes wholly or mainly from it. The plant sets almost everything a taster notices: acacia is pale, mild and stays liquid for years, buckwheat dark, malty and high in phenolics, chestnut dark, bitter and long, rapeseed pale, vegetal and quick to set. In the US the name is self-declared; the FDA only asks the packer to have supporting information. In the EU a monofloral claim is checked by pollen analysis, with a 45% convention and source-specific exceptions. Wildflower, polyfloral and blend all mean no single source. [7] [19] [20] [10] [16] [40]

Values: clover, wildflower or multifloral, acacia (black locust), orange blossom or citrus, alfalfa, buckwheat, tupelo, sage, linden or basswood, chestnut, heather, eucalyptus, lavender, rapeseed or canola, sidr or jujube, Manuka monofloral, Manuka multifloral, honeydew (fir, pine, oak, forest), other named source, unspecified.
Question to ask: Any flower source you already like, say clover or acacia?

Used as: filter, shown on the card. Data: on the listing, backfill cost low. Look for it as: The title (Clover Honey, Orange Blossom Honey). Amazon appears to carry it as Flavor or Honey Type, seen only in search-result digests. Manuka listings say monofloral or multifloral on the label.
Missing means a blend or wildflower; record unspecified, not wildflower. Do not infer a source from colour alone.
Chart: Pfund colour scale.

### MGO level

The methylglyoxal content of a Manuka honey in milligrams per kilogram, the compound that gives it its antibacterial activity. This is the number Manuka is priced on, and the only honey number that reliably sits on the front of the jar. The licensed UMF grades start at 83, 261, 512, 826 and 1197 mg/kg for UMF 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25. Price per jar rises faster than the number, so experts work out price per gram of MGO. An MGO figure alone does not prove genuine Manuka; UMF and New Zealand's export definition add that check. [2] [37] [38] [4]

Range: 83 to 1197 mg/kg. The span of the licensed UMF grades. Brands sell jars below and above it on MGO alone.

Used as: filter, sortable, shown on the card. Data: on the listing, backfill cost none. Look for it as: In the title as MGO 400+ or MGO 263+. When only a UMF grade is given, the minimum MGO follows from the UMF table.
Fill from the UMF grade when MGO is missing. Record the UMFHA table minimum, not a brand chart figure.
Chart: MGO ladder with UMF marks.

### UMF grade

A licensed grade for New Zealand Manuka honey that tests four markers (methylglyoxal, leptosperin, dihydroxyacetone and HMF) rather than methylglyoxal alone. UMF is the grade that checks the honey is genuine Manuka and will keep its potency. Leptosperin proves Manuka origin, dihydroxyacetone is the precursor that keeps converting to methylglyoxal in the jar, and HMF under 40 mg/kg shows no overheating or long storage. An MGO-only label skips the first two checks. Every UMF grade carries a published minimum MGO, so UMF implies MGO but not the reverse. Brands pay a licence fee, so some sell on MGO alone. [2] [4] [38] [3]

Values: not UMF graded, UMF 5+, UMF 10+, UMF 15+, UMF 20+, UMF 25+.

Used as: filter, shown on the card. Data: on the listing, backfill cost none. Look for it as: In the title as UMF 10+ and on the label with a licence number. Manuka listings without a UMF mark usually say MGO only.
Record not UMF graded when absent. Do not infer a UMF grade from an MGO number, because MGO alone does not test the other three markers.
Chart: MGO ladder with UMF marks.

### Authenticity verification

Whether a third party has tested or audited the honey for added sugars and true origin, and which scheme says so. With adulteration this common, a lab test is worth more than any label adjective. True Source Certified means a hive-to-jar audit plus isotope analysis and NMR or mass spectrometry. NMR works even when pollen has been removed. For Manuka, a UMF licence number or an MPI export test means the marker definition was met. Grade A on a US label is not verification: grading is voluntary, self-declared on most jars, and tests clarity and moisture, not purity. [21] [10] [9] [25] [27] [2]

Values: True Source Certified, NMR or isotope tested, stated by brand, UMF licensed, MPI Manuka definition tested, none stated.

Used as: shown on the card, filter. Data: needs research, backfill cost medium. Look for it as: Occasionally a seal in the listing images or a bullet: True Source Certified, NMR tested, UMF licence number, tested and certified. Most marketplace listings carry nothing, so the field has to be found on the brand page.
Treat as researched: the listing rarely states it. Backfill from the brand page for the top of the catalog and lazy-load the rest. A brand's own purity guarantee without a named method counts as none stated.

### Flavour profile

The tasting descriptors for the honey, drawn from the roughly 100 words on the UC Davis Honey Flavor and Aroma Wheel. Honey tasters describe honey the way wine tasters describe wine. The UC Davis wheel groups descriptors under fruity, floral, herbaceous, woody, spicy, nutty, confectionary, caramel, earthy and animal, and the International Honey Commission publishes a sensory sheet for each European single-source honey: chestnut is woody, bitter and long; rapeseed is fresh fruit and vegetal; acacia is very light and delicately floral. Descriptors let a buyer who liked one honey find its neighbours on the wheel. [28] [19]


Used as: shown on the card. Data: needs research, backfill cost medium. Look for it as: Tasting notes in bullets on brand and specialist pages. Marketplace listings rarely go beyond sweet, rich or floral.
For named single-source honeys, fill from the International Honey Commission sheets. For others, extract descriptors from the brand page for the top of the catalog and lazy-load the rest.
Chart: UC Davis honey flavour wheel.

### Moisture content

The percentage of water in the honey, which decides whether it can ferment and whether it meets the legal limit of 20%. Up to about 18% water the honey is stable. Above 18% the yeasts honey always carries can ferment it, and the risk is real above 18.6%, the USDA Grade A ceiling. Codex allows up to 20% (23% for heather). Buyers never see it, but a producer who states it is telling you the honey was ripe when harvested. Crystallised honey can ferment even when the whole jar was safe, because water concentrates in the liquid between the crystals. [1] [10] [15] [23] [24] [25]

Range: 13 to 23 %. Bees cap honey at about 17 to 18%, so ripe honey sits there. Anything a packer states is almost always 17 to 18.5.

Used as: shown on the card, sortable. Data: needs research, backfill cost high. Look for it as: Not on listings. Occasionally on a producer page or a certificate of analysis.
Backfill from producer certificates of analysis for the top 100 honeys and lazy-load the rest. Record unknown rather than guessing from the grade.
Chart: Moisture and HMF limit bars.

### HMF level

The hydroxymethylfurfural content in milligrams per kilogram, a compound that starts near zero in the comb and rises with heating and with time spent warm. HMF is the only number that says whether a jar was cooked or stored hot, the honey equivalent of a harvest date. Fresh extracted honey usually tests under 10 mg/kg. Codex and the EU cap it at 40 mg/kg, or 80 for tropical origin, and UMF requires under 40 at every grade. Diastase, an enzyme heat destroys, is the companion check: at least 8 Schade units, or 3 for low-enzyme honeys such as citrus. [1] [10] [22] [2]

Range: 0 to 150 mg/kg. Fresh honey under 10 mg/kg. Legal limit 40. Old or overheated honey can exceed 100.

Used as: shown on the card, sortable. Data: needs research, backfill cost high. Look for it as: Not on listings. UMF-graded Manuka has it tested but rarely printed. Producer certificates of analysis carry it.
Backfill from certificates of analysis for the top 100 honeys and lazy-load the rest. Where only a pasteurised claim exists, do not estimate a number.
Chart: Moisture and HMF limit bars.

## Numbers worth computing

| Metric | Formula | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Price per gram of MGO (currency per g) | `price / (mgo_level * sizing.net_quantity_kg / 1000)` | Manuka is bought for its methylglyoxal, and jar prices rise faster than the MGO number. This puts a 250 g MGO 400 jar and a 500 g MGO 250 jar on the same footing. [2] [37] [38] |
| Minimum MGO implied by the UMF grade (mg/kg) | `lookup(umf_grade): 5 -> 83, 10 -> 261, 15 -> 512, 20 -> 826, 25 -> 1197` | Fills mgo_level when a jar shows only a UMF grade, so every Manuka jar can be sorted on one number. It only runs one way: an MGO number does not imply a UMF grade. [2] |
| Price per 100 g (currency per 100 g) | `price / sizing.net_quantity_g * 100` | Honey is sold in 250 g jars, 12 oz bears and 5 lb jugs in three unit systems, and the acacia and single-source premiums only show once everything is on a per-weight basis. [39] [40] |
| Fermentation risk flag | `moisture_content > 18.6` | The line beekeepers and the USDA Grade A standard both use. Above it the honey can ferment in a warm cupboard, and a crystallised jar can ferment at a lower whole-jar reading. [15] [24] [25] |
| Glucose to water ratio | `glucose_g_per_100g / moisture_content` | The number the International Honey Commission uses to characterise crystallisation: low ratios stay liquid, high ratios set fast. It needs a certificate of analysis, so it only exists for the few honeys with one; for the rest, crystallisation_tendency from the floral source stands in. [19] [17] [16] |

## What you give up

- Choose raw and you keep the pollen, the enzymes and the specks that seed crystals, so the jar sets within months and needs a warm-water bath. Choose heated and filtered and it pours for a year or more, but the enzymes are gone and the heat marker has risen. [16] [15] [12] Board branch: "See more honeys that stay liquid".
- Dark honeys carry more phenolics and a flavour that stands up to tea and baking, but they can be bitter and they take over anything delicate. Light honeys are mild enough for everything and have less of the compounds the dark ones are praised for. [30] [29] [19] Board branch: "See more bold dark honeys".
- A named single-source honey tastes of one place and can be checked by its pollen, but it costs more and the claim is self-declared in the US. A blend tastes the same every year and costs less, but its countries of origin are mixed and the flavour is averaged out. [7] [19] [10] Board branch: "See more single-source honeys".
- Pushing the MGO number up buys more antibacterial activity at a rising price per gram, and the honey tastes more medicinal. For a daily spoonful or toast, the everyday grades give most of the pleasure for a fraction of the price. [2] [4] [38] Board branch: "See more everyday-strength Manuka".
- Creamed honey spreads, never drips and never sets unexpectedly, but it will not drizzle and dissolves slowly in a drink. Comb honey is the least processed form, but you pay for the wax and cannot pour it at all. [14] [12] Board branch: "See more creamed and comb honeys".
- If you want a honey that stays liquid without heating, you are choosing from the high-fructose sources: acacia, tupelo, sage and sidr. Most of the honeys people grow up on, clover, wildflower and rapeseed, set fast. [16] [17] [18] Board branch: "See more slow-setting honeys".

## How to draw it

**Pfund colour scale** (swatch grid, shows Colour class, Floral source). A row of seven colour swatches from water white to dark amber with each honey, or each floral source, placed on it. The buyer sees mild to bold at a glance and sees that acacia and clover sit at one end and buckwheat and chestnut at the other. Used today by the USDA extracted honey standard and the International Honey Commission, who measure colour in millimetres on a Pfund grader. [26] [27] [19]

**UC Davis honey flavour wheel** (wheel, shows Flavour profile). A wheel of about 100 descriptors grouped into fruity, floral, herbaceous, woody, spicy, nutty, confectionary, caramel, earthy and animal. Highlight a honey's descriptors and a buyer who liked one honey can find its neighbours. Used today by the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, which developed it in 2013 to 2014 with a sensory scientist. [28]

**MGO ladder with UMF marks** (scale, shows MGO level, UMF grade). One horizontal scale of MGO from 0 to about 1,200 mg/kg with the five UMF thresholds drawn as marks, and each Manuka jar placed on it. The buyer sees how far apart MGO 100 and MGO 400 really are and which jars carry the licensed grade. Used today by the UMF Honey Association as a grading table, and by brands as conversion charts. [2] [4]

**Crystallisation speed scale** (scale, shows Crystallisation tendency, Floral source, Processing). A horizontal scale from stays liquid for years to sets in weeks, with named floral sources as tick marks and the chosen honey placed on it, shifted toward fast if it is raw. Shows the buyer why acacia costs more and why their clover went solid. The source tables are published by beekeeping primers and the National Honey Board; nobody draws them as a scale yet. This is a proposal, nobody draws it this way yet. [16] [17]

**Moisture and HMF limit bars** (range, shows Moisture content, HMF level). Two horizontal bars. Moisture with the 18, 18.6 and 20% marks, HMF with the 10, 40 and 80 mg/kg marks, and the honey's value on each. The buyer sees ripe and fresh without knowing what either number means. The marks come from Codex and the USDA grade standard. This is a proposal, nobody draws it this way yet. [1] [25] [22]

## Words you will meet

- **Raw honey**. Honey that was strained but not heated, so its pollen and enzymes are still in it; the word has no legal definition.
- **Pasteurised honey**. Honey heated to about 63 °C for 30 minutes to kill yeasts and delay setting, which also destroys enzymes.
- **Strained honey**. Honey passed through a mesh to remove wax and debris while keeping the pollen.
- **Filtered honey**. Honey pushed through a fine filter that removes pollen as well as debris; in the EU this will no longer be a permitted honey name from June 2026.
- **Ultrafiltered**. Filtered through membranes fine enough to remove pollen, proteins and enzymes, which the US FDA has said it does not consider honey.
- **Crystallised or granulated honey**. Honey in which the glucose has come out of solution as crystals, which is natural and reversible.
- **Creamed, whipped or set honey**. Honey crystallised on purpose into very small crystals so it spreads; it contains no air.
- **Comb honey**. Honey still sealed in the beeswax comb the bees built.
- **Chunk honey**. Liquid honey with one or more pieces of comb in the jar.
- **Blossom or nectar honey**. Honey made from flower nectar, which is nearly all honey.
- **Honeydew or forest honey**. Honey made from the sugary liquid that sap-sucking insects leave on trees; darker, less sweet and higher in minerals.
- **Monofloral or unifloral**. Honey that comes wholly or mainly from one plant, usually checked by counting its pollen.
- **Multifloral, polyfloral or wildflower**. Honey from many plants with no single source claimed.
- **Pfund scale**. The millimetre scale on which honey colour is measured, from 0 for water white to over 114 for dark amber.
- **HMF**. Hydroxymethylfurfural, a compound that builds up when honey is heated or stored warm, used as a freshness check with a legal limit of 40 mg/kg.
- **Diastase**. An enzyme the bees add that heat destroys, so a low reading means the honey was overheated or is old.
- **Moisture content**. The share of water in the honey, legally at most 20%, with fermentation possible above about 18%.
- **MGO**. Methylglyoxal, the compound in Manuka honey that gives its antibacterial effect, printed as milligrams per kilogram.
- **UMF**. Unique Manuka Factor, a licensed New Zealand grade that tests MGO plus three other markers, printed as 5+, 10+, 15+, 20+ or 25+.
- **NPA**. Non-peroxide activity, an older single-measure Manuka rating that some brands still print in place of UMF.
- **Leptosperin**. A compound found only in Manuka nectar, tested in the UMF grade to prove the honey is genuine Manuka.
- **DHA**. Dihydroxyacetone, the compound in Manuka nectar that turns into MGO over time, tested so the grade holds through the jar's life.
- **MPI Manuka definition**. New Zealand's export test for Manuka: four chemical markers plus Manuka pollen DNA, with monofloral set at 400 mg/kg of 3-phenyllactic acid and multifloral at 20 to 400.
- **True Source Certified**. A North American scheme that audits the honey's path from hive to jar and tests it in a lab for added sugars.
- **NMR tested**. Checked by nuclear magnetic resonance, a lab method that compares the honey's chemical fingerprint against a database of genuine honeys.
- **Grade A**. The top of the voluntary USDA score for clarity, defects, flavour and moisture; most retail jars print it without inspection and it says nothing about purity.
- **Codex**. The Codex Alimentarius honey standard, the international rulebook that sets the moisture, HMF and sugar limits most countries copy.
- **Heather honey**. Honey from ling heather that is jelly-like until stirred and is allowed up to 23% water.
- **Baker's honey**. Honey that may have been overheated or started to ferment and is sold only for cooking.
- **Infant botulism warning**. No honey of any kind for children under 12 months, because honey can carry spores that cause botulism in infants.

## Where we made a call

- Raw has no legal definition in the US or EU: treat it as a packer's claim meaning not pasteurised or pollen-filtered, never a quality grade. (confidence high). The National Honey Board definition, the FDA's informal sentence and the beekeeping community all say the same thing; none carries legal weight. Our call. [12] [13] [8]
- Grade A on a US retail label should be ignored for ranking. (confidence medium). USDA grading is voluntary and fee-based, most retail jars print the grade without inspection, and the score tests clarity, defects and moisture rather than purity or heating. We did not read the AMS standard itself; the 18.6% ceiling and the 90/80/70 scores come from two secondary pages that agree. [25] [27]
- Colour is a good enough proxy for flavour strength and phenolic content to be the novice's flavour question. (confidence medium). Sources disagree. Two Polish studies show colour and browning correlate with phenolics and antioxidant activity. The colour-to-flavour link is from the International Honey Commission sensory sheets and is looser; Raw Honey Guide warns that varieties cross colour class boundaries. We use colour as the question and floral source as the filter. [29] [30] [26] [19]
- Crystallisation speed can be predicted from floral source for the common sources, and raw honey sets faster than heated honey. (confidence high). Sources disagree. Hamdan's table and the National Honey Board table (adapted from USDA work by White) agree on acacia, tupelo and sage as slow and clover, rapeseed, dandelion and alfalfa as fast. They disagree on raspberry and sunflower, so those are left out of the facet values. [16] [17] [18]
- Glucose-to-water ratio thresholds (below about 1.7 stays liquid, above about 2.1 sets fast) are real but not sourced well enough to filter on. (confidence low). The thresholds appeared only in search digests of two papers. The International Honey Commission uses the ratio as a characterising parameter without a threshold. Kept as a derived metric for honeys with a certificate of analysis, not as a cut-off. [19] [17]
- UMF to MGO minimums are 83, 261, 512, 826 and 1197 mg/kg; labels printing 263, 514, 829 or 1200 use an earlier, immaterially different table. (confidence high). Sources disagree. The UMF Honey Association's own page prints the first set. Comvita's UMF 10+ jar prints MGO 263+ and several brand charts print the second set. We use the official page for the lookup. [2] [37] [38]
- An MGO-only label is weaker evidence than a UMF grade, because UMF also tests leptosperin, DHA and HMF. (confidence high). Brands that sell on MGO alone say they avoid the UMF licence fee, which is true and does not change the point. [2] [4]
- Country of origin and third-party testing signal a genuine jar better than any label adjective, because a large share of traded honey fails authenticity tests. (confidence medium). Sources disagree. The EU's 2021 to 2022 action flagged 46% of imported consignments as suspicious; the 2015 to 2017 action found more than 10% failed sugar-purity tests. The honey industry body disputes the 46% as over-counting. Either figure is high enough to justify the facet. [9] [10] [8]
- Pollen-free honey is still legally honey in the US but will not be in the EU from June 2026. (confidence medium). The 2024 EU directive removes filtered honey as a permitted name and asks that pollen not be significantly removed; we read the full text only through the Irish regulator's summary and a laboratory's summary. The FDA's position is a letter to industry, not a rule. [5] [6] [11]
- An organic seal on honey tells you about the forage around the hives and hints that the honey is imported; it says nothing about processing. (confidence medium). Two secondary sources agree that the US program has no honey standard, that certifiers set their own radius, and that most organic honey on US shelves is Brazilian. We did not read the EU organic regulation itself. [34] [35]
- Fresh honey tests under 10 mg/kg HMF; the 40 and 80 mg/kg limits are legal ceilings, not targets. (confidence medium). The limits are verbatim from Codex and the Eurofins chapter. The under-10 figure comes from a producer's explainer and two primers, not a standard. [1] [10] [22]
- A named floral source on a US jar is self-declared; in the EU pollen count checks it, with a 45% convention and source-specific exceptions. (confidence high). Sources disagree. The FDA asks only that the packer have information to support the claim. The 45% rule traces to Louveaux and colleagues in 1978; acacia passes at 20% and chestnut needs about 90%. The viper's bugloss paper we cite proposes 70% for its own honey: thresholds are set per source. [7] [20] [10] [19]
- The nutrition panel should not be used to rank honeys. (confidence high). A clover honey and a Manuka honey checked in October 2026 differed by 10 calories and 2 g of sugar per 21 g serving, which is label rounding, not a difference between honeys. [39] [37]
- Manuka's value is its antibacterial MGO, not antioxidants; a dark buckwheat honey beat Manuka on antioxidant measures in one 2024 study. (confidence medium). One study on Polish-market honeys. Enough to stop the assistant implying Manuka is the healthiest honey on every axis. [29]
- A best-before date on honey is a legal formality, not a freshness signal. (confidence high). UK and EU rules require a best-before on any honey with a shelf life over three months; honey with safe moisture keeps indefinitely. HMF is the freshness number. [32] [33] [1]
- No honey of any kind is suitable for infants under 12 months, raw or pasteurised. (confidence high). A category constant, not a facet. Pasteurisation does not kill the spores. Manuka labels carry the warning. [31] [13] [37]

## References

1. [Codex Standard for Honey, CODEX STAN 12-1981 (rev. 2001)](https://www.fao.org/input/download/standards/310/cxs_012e.pdf) (standards body). Supports: definition of honey, blossom honey and honeydew honey; moisture not more than 20% (heather 23%); HMF not more than 40 mg/kg, 80 for tropical origin; diastase not less than 8 Schade units, 3 for low-enzyme honeys; conductivity: honeydew and chestnut at least 0.8 mS/cm, others at most 0.8; exceptions include Manuka, heather, lime, eucalyptus; filtered honey must be named as such; pollen may not be removed; no treatments to influence crystallisation.
2. [UMF Honey Association, UMF grading system overview](https://www.umf.org.nz/umf-comparison/overview/) (standards body). Supports: the four markers tested: MGO, leptosperin, DHA, HMF; minimum MGO per grade: 83, 261, 512, 826, 1197 mg/kg; HMF under 40 at every grade; NPA is a single-compound measure.
3. [The True Honey Co, 'Test for the best: MPI releases its scientific definition of manuka honey'](https://truehoney.co.nz/blogs/the-true-honey-co-blog/test-for-the-best-mpi-releases-its-scientific-definition-of-manuka-honey) (primer). Supports: the four chemical markers and DNA test in New Zealand's export definition; monofloral threshold of 400 mg/kg 3-phenyllactic acid; export testing from February 2018.
4. [Manuka Doctor NZ, 'How to read a Manuka honey label'](https://www.manukadoctor.co.nz/blogs/content/how-to-read-a-manuka-honey-label) (spec sheet). Supports: what a Manuka label shows: MGO, UMF, MPI sticker, monofloral or multifloral, country; multifloral band of 20 to 400 mg/kg 3-phenyllactic acid; brands pay a royalty to print UMF.
5. [Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Honey legislation page on Directive (EU) 2024/1438](https://www.fsai.ie/enforcement-and-legislation/legislation/food-legislation/honey) (regulator). Supports: countries of origin in descending order with percentages; 5% tolerance per share; country codes allowed under 30 g; application from 14 June 2026; filtered honey omitted from permitted definitions; pollen is not an ingredient.
6. [Eurofins, 'Origin labelling for honey'](https://www.eurofins.com/de-de/food-analysis/food-news/food-testing-news/origin-labelling-for-honey/) (specialist review). Supports: blend of EU and non-EU honeys wording no longer acceptable; percentages per country with 5% tolerance; transposition by 14 December 2025, application 14 June 2026; pollen analysis verifies declared proportions.
7. [FDA, Guidance for Industry: Proper Labeling of Honey and Honey Products (2018)](https://www.fda.gov/files/food/published/PDF---Guidance-for-Industry--Proper-Labeling-of-Honey-and-Honey-Products.pdf) (regulator). Supports: floral source may be named if the packer has information that it is the chief source; honey plus a sweetener cannot be called honey; must be named as a blend; honey is a single-ingredient food.
8. [Congressional Research Service, 'Ongoing Efforts to Address Fraud and Adulteration of Honey' (IF12185)](https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/IF12185.html) (other). Supports: FDA has not established a standard of identity for honey and denied the 2006 petition in 2011; 2021 US import shares: India 26%, Vietnam 25%, Argentina 20%, Brazil 16%; transshipment of Chinese honey through third countries; adulteration with corn, rice, beet and cane syrups.
9. [European Commission Joint Research Centre, 'Food fraud: how genuine is your honey?' (2023)](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/food-fraud-how-genuine-your-honey-2023-03-23_en) (regulator). Supports: 320 imported consignments from 20 countries sampled 2021 to 2022; 147 (46%) suspicious of adulteration; syrups now mostly from rice, wheat or sugar beet.
10. [Raezke, K.-P., 'Honey', in Food Integrity Handbook (Eurofins, 2018)](https://cdnmedia.eurofins.com/european-west/media/12153881/10_chapter-honey_final.pdf) (academic). Supports: mature honey 13 to 23% water; fermentation risk over 18%; EU low-enzyme rule: diastase 3 with HMF under 15; resin treatment removes pollen and lightens colour; acacia premium rests on staying liquid; pure acacia at 20% Robinia pollen; rapeseed crystallises readily; citrus and lavender pollen under-represented, forget-me-not over-represented; HMF rises with heating and storage; NMR works independently of pollen; 2015-17 EU plan: 2,264 samples; over 10% failed sugar purity; about 20% of EU-blend or named-origin honey suspected added sugar.
11. [Food Safety News, 'Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey' (2011)](https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/) (specialist review). Supports: 76% of grocery samples, 100% of drugstore samples and 77% of big-box samples had no pollen; more than 60 jars in 10 states, analysed by Vaughn Bryant; FDA letter: ultra-filtered honey is not honey; without pollen origin cannot be traced.
12. [National Honey Board, 'Definition of Honey and Honey Products' (1996)](http://www.ccnybees.org/uploads/1/0/5/8/10585924/honeydefs.pdf) (standards body). Supports: definitions of raw, commercially raw, strained, filtered, whipped or creamed, crystallised, comb and chunk honey; ultrafiltered sweetener removes proteins and enzymes.
13. [Honey Bee Suite, 'The truth about raw honey: is it really better?'](https://www.honeybeesuite.com/raw-honey-means-buyers-sellers/) (enthusiast community). Supports: raw honey definition carries no legal weight; FDA's informal sentence on raw honey; raw does not make honey safe for infants.
14. [Honey Bee Suite, 'Whipped honey is crystallized, not whipped'](https://www.honeybeesuite.com/monday-night-myth-creamed-honey-is-whipped-honey/) (enthusiast community). Supports: creamed honey is controlled granulation into very small crystals; creamed honey contains no air.
15. [Honey Bee Suite, 'Why did my honey crystallize and then ferment?'](https://www.honeybeesuite.com/why-did-my-honey-crystallize-and-then-ferment/) (enthusiast community). Supports: 18.6% water or less for long-term storage; crystallisation concentrates water in the liquid phase and can trigger fermentation; pasteurisation at 145 °F for 30 minutes kills yeast and damages honey.
16. [Hamdan, K., 'Crystallization of Honey' (beekeeping primer)](https://oygardsbi.com/onewebmedia/XXX_2BHoney_Crystallization.pdf) (primer). Supports: fructose 30 to 44%, glucose 25 to 40%; glucose crystallises; fast and slow floral sources; raw honey crystallises faster than heated and filtered honey; crystallisation fastest at 10 to 15 °C; crystals dissolve at 40 °C; above 40 °C damages honey; re-liquefy at 35 to 40 °C; US packers heat to 63 °C for 30 minutes.
17. [National Honey Board fact sheet, 'Honey Crystallization' (adapted from White et al. 1962)](https://legacy.bjcp.org/mead/crystal.pdf) (standards body). Supports: low glucose-to-water ratio stays liquid; floral sources with higher and lower than average crystallisation tendency; the Dyce process for creamed honey; 10 to 21 °C encourages crystallisation.
18. [Smiley Honey, 'What kinds of honey crystallize fastest and why?'](https://www.smileyhoney.com/blogs/honey-school/kinds-of-honey-crystallize-fast) (primer). Supports: clover sets in 2 to 6 months, canola in 2 to 4; acacia and tupelo stay liquid for one to two years or more.
19. [Persano Oddo, L. and Piro, R. (2004), 'Main European unifloral honeys: descriptive sheets', Apidologie 35](https://www.ihc-platform.net/descriptivesheets.pdf) (academic). Supports: unifloral identification needs pollen, sensory and physicochemical data together; average Pfund mm and F/G ratio: acacia 12.9 and 1.61, citrus 15.0, rapeseed 26.2 and 0.95, chestnut 87.9 and 1.48; acacia pollen under-represented; chestnut over-represented, at least 90% required; rapeseed quick, chestnut slow, heather moderate crystallisation; sensory descriptors per source; glucose-to-water ratio as a characterising parameter.
20. [Viper's bugloss honey typing and establishing the pollen threshold for monofloral honey (PMC5627913)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5627913/) (academic). Supports: 45% pollen convention for monofloral honey; the convention traces to Louveaux, Maurizio and Vorwohl 1978; the paper proposes raising the Echium threshold to 70%, so 45% is a convention, not a universal cut-off.
21. [True Source Honey, FAQs](https://www.truesourcehoney.com/faqs) (standards body). Supports: the seal requires traceability from hive to table, lab testing and third-party audit; methods: EA/LC-IRMS plus NMR or HRMS.
22. [Sweetree Honey, 'What is HMF?'](https://www.sweetreehoney.co.nz/blog/post/45795/What-is-HMF/) (primer). Supports: in the hive HMF is below 1 mg/kg; fresh extracted honey usually below 10 mg/kg; levels rise above 20 °C.
23. [Honest Beekeeper, 'What is the proper moisture content of honey?'](https://honestbeekeeper.com/what-is-the-proper-moisture-content-of-honey/) (enthusiast community). Supports: more than 18% moisture can ferment; guidelines put good honey below 20%, ideally near 18%.
24. [Goodfriend Honey glossary, 'Honey fermentation'](https://goodfriendhoney.com/glossary/honey-fermentation.html) (primer). Supports: fermentation when moisture exceeds about 18 to 20%; above 18.6% is elevated risk; osmophilic yeasts are always present.
25. [Raw Honey Guide, 'Honey Quality & USDA Grade Estimator'](https://rawhoneyguide.com/tools/honey-quality-grader) (primer). Supports: Grade A at least 90 points and 18.6% moisture; B 80 and 18.6; C 70 and 20.0; USDA grading is voluntary and fee-based; grading is not required to sell honey; the USDA AMS standard returned 403, unread; the 18.6% and score figures rest on this page and Hive to Honey.
26. [Raw Honey Guide, 'Honey Color Scale Chart: 7 USDA Pfund Color Classes'](https://rawhoneyguide.com/tools/honey-color-scale) (primer). Supports: the seven Pfund colour classes and their millimetre ranges; colour class is separate from quality grade; variety colours cross class boundaries.
27. [Hive to Honey, 'Honey Grades Explained: U.S., Canada & EU Guide'](https://hivetohoney.com/honey-grades-explained/) (primer). Supports: Grade A 90, B 80, C 70 points; voluntary; Pfund ranges for water white, extra white, light amber and dark amber; dark amber is a colour class, not a grade; the EU has no retail A/B/C grade.
28. [UC ANR Bug Squad, 'A Taste of Honey' on the UC Davis Honey Flavor and Aroma Wheel](https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/taste-honey-5) (academic). Supports: the wheel has almost 100 descriptors; categories: fruity, floral, herbaceous, woody, spicy, nutty, confectionary, caramel, earthy, animal; developed by the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center with a sensory scientist.
29. [Comparison of Antioxidant Properties and Color of Selected Polish Honeys and Manuka Honey, Foods 2024](https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13172666) (academic). Supports: dark honeys such as buckwheat have higher phenolic content and antioxidant activity; phenolic content, antioxidant capacity and colour are correlated; buckwheat beat Manuka on antioxidant measures.
30. [The Relationship between the Browning Index, Total Phenolics, Color, and Antioxidant Activity of Polish-Originated Honey Samples, Foods 2021](https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10050967) (academic). Supports: phenolic order buckwheat > heather > acacia > multiflorous > linden > rapeseed; browning, phenolics and antioxidant measures positively correlated.
31. [CDC, 'Foods and Drinks to Avoid or Limit' (infant and toddler nutrition)](https://www.cdc.gov/infant-toddler-nutrition/foods-and-drinks/foods-and-drinks-to-avoid-or-limit.html) (regulator). Supports: no honey before 12 months because of botulism.
32. [Thorne, 'Advice on Honey Labelling' (UK)](https://www.thorne.co.uk/honey-labelling-advice) (other). Supports: UK label must carry name, producer, country of origin, best-before, lot and weight; best-before required when shelf life exceeds three months.
33. [Pembrokeshire County Council Trading Standards, 'Labelling of honey'](https://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/trading-standards-information/labelling-of-honey) (regulator). Supports: permitted names: blossom, honeydew, comb, chunk, drained, extracted, pressed, filtered, baker's honey; best-before is a mandatory label element; baker's honey may have been overheated; pressed honey may use heat up to 45 °C.
34. [NorCal Nectar, 'Organic vs conventional honey'](https://norcalnectar.com/blog/organic-vs-conventional-honey) (primer). Supports: EU organic requires a 3 km organic or wild forage radius; most organic honey on US shelves is imported, Brazil first; about 70% of US honey is imported.
35. [PollenOps, 'Organic honey certification: requirements and market opportunities'](https://pollenops.com/organic-honey-certification) (primer). Supports: USDA NOP has no honey-specific standard; certifiers use livestock rules; US certifiers require a 2 to 5 mile clean forage radius and vary.
36. [FoodCrumbles, 'Why honey crystallizes and how to decrystallize honey'](https://foodcrumbles.com/why-honey-crystallizes/) (primer). Supports: sugars redissolve at about 40 °C; warm-water bath, not microwave or direct heat.
37. [Vitacost listing, Comvita Manuka Honey UMF 10+ MGO 263+ 250 g](https://www.vitacost.com/products/comvita-manuka-honey-umf-10-mgo-263-8-8-oz-250-g-88563) (retail listing). Supports: listing fields present: country of origin, raw, unpasteurised, certified UMF, kosher, non-GMO; label prints MGO 263+ for UMF 10+; nutrition per 21 g: 60 calories, 15 g sugars; infant warning on the label.
38. [Manuka Hut listing, Comvita Manuka Honey MGO 263+ (UMF 10+)](https://manukahut.com/products/comvita-manuka-honey-mgo-263-umf-10) (retail listing). Supports: UMF licence number printed; monofloral, raw, sizes 250 g and 500 g; use-by dates printed.
39. [Nate's Honey Co, Raw & Unfiltered Honey product page](https://nateshoney.com/products/raw-unfiltered-honey) (spec sheet). Supports: claims: gently warmed for pourability, unfiltered to keep pollen, never pasteurized, purity guarantee; floral source and country not stated on the page; sizes 12 to 44 oz; nutrition per 21 g: 70 calories, 17 g sugars.
40. [Amazon clover honey listings (search-result digest of ten listings plus one page fetch that returned only the title; the product-detail table was never read)](https://www.amazon.com/Coxs-Honey-Unfiltered-Delicious-Product/dp/B07L458M32) (retail listing). Supports: title claims seen: 100% pure raw, unfiltered, clover, USA; field names Flavor, Item Form, Specialty, Honey Type, Country as Labeled, Diet Type, Unit Count, Item Weight: search digest only.