Why we never heat honey
When I first started beekeeping and in the excitement of getting a honey harvest, I made all sorts of things with honey, including adding it to hot drinks and cooking to add depth of flavour to glazes, stir fries, even in baking. It was only recently in my Herbal Medicine coursework which touched on Ayurvedic Medicine that I came across warnings against heating honey, that not only does it damage the healthy enzymes in honey but it is actually bad for you.
Ayurvedic medicine holds that honey heated above 40oC is toxic, describing how it sticks to the mucous membranes in the body and becomes a toxin which is difficult to cleanse from the body. There are many Ayurvedic uses of honey but never is it heated in its preparation or consumption. I wanted to find out more, to add to this thousand year old wisdom with scientific explanation.
When honey is heated it undergoes a chemical change.
Honey is primarily made up of fructose, and when it is heated the fructose creates a chemical called 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (handily abbreviated to HMF). We know a bit about HMF, because it is found in significant concentrations in High Fructose Corn Syrup, an ingredient you may be aware of in mass produced confectionery.
Its presence in High Fructose Corn Syrup has led to studies in rats and mice, which have shown HMF to be potentially toxic and carcinogenic at much lower doses than expected. Preliminary research relating to human tissue also supports this conclusion, and validates traditional medicine’s assertions that heating honey produces toxic change.
Fresh unaltered honey contains no, or very little, discernible HMF. This property allows the World Health Organisation to use its presence to monitor honey quality, whereby it is judged to be ‘raw’ in temperate zones if it is tested and found to contain HMF at levels below 40 milligrams / kg (40 ppm (parts per million)) - anything above this level is considered to have been heated or been stored incorrectly - or had other sugar substances added to it.
A study published in the journal of the International Federation of Beekeepers Associations demonstrated the following results: We see that when honey is heated to the levels required for pasteurisation - 72oC - HMF levels climb quickly… and remember almost all supermarket honey is pasteurised.
35oC = HMF levels 1.9-29.2 ppm
45oC = HMF levels 2.2-32.6 ppm
55oC = HMF levels 4.3 - 39 ppm
75oC = HMF levels 43.4 - 226 ppm
I strongly recommend you do your own research, find out what’s in your supermarket honey and how it’s been treated. When you do consume honey do so with awareness; consider using honey only as a raw ingredient and as a health supplement rather than a sweetener. It’s a precious medicine to support you in so many ways, but needs a light touch and only gentle heat!
