Honey instruments Carrying Case Hanna®

01 · CONDUCTIVITY: BLOSSOM OR HONEYDEW

The cut is at 0.8 mS/cm

Electrical conductivity is the parameter the standard uses to separate the two great families. Below 0.8 mS/cm you are in blossom honey; above it, in honeydew.

The standard allows exceptions — strawberry tree, heather, eucalyptus, lime and a few more can go past 0.8 while still being blossom honeys — but for the rest of the range that is the line. Measuring it at home avoids the most expensive mistake there is: selling as blossom a honey the laboratory will classify otherwise.

02 · MOISTURE: 20 % IS THE CEILING

And the packer asks for considerably less

The general legal maximum for honey is 20 % moisture, with allowances upwards for heather. But that is the limit of what is permitted, not the target: honey bottled for the market sits between 17.5 and 18 %.

The reason is that above that range honey moves into the ground where it ferments, and a fermentation in the jar cannot be undone. Measuring before bottling is what lets you decide in time: dry it, blend it with a drier batch, or send it somewhere else.

03 · COLOUR: WHAT MAKES A MONOFLORAL

From pale yellow to almost black amber

Honey colour runs from very pale yellow to dark amber, through orange, reddish, brown and greenish casts, and it is tied to botanical origin. It is what lets a monofloral stand on something more than the beekeeper's word.

It is also the parameter that sets the shelf price without anyone saying so: two honeys of the same origin and different shade do not sell alike. Measured and recorded batch by batch, an impression becomes a figure for the season.

04 · IT DOES NOT REPLACE A LABORATORY

It is there to decide, not to certify

These instruments are for self-monitoring: they tell you where a batch stands before it leaves the honey house. For an official certificate, an export or a claim, you need an accredited laboratory.

That is where the real value of the case sits: whoever measures at home reaches the laboratory knowing what they will be told, and saves the cost of analysing a batch that was already ruled out.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

If you only need moisture, the Hanna refractometer is also sold on its own. The case earns its place when you have to stand behind origin and category, not just bottle.