What Is Inside Honey? Composition and the Codex Limits
September 6, 2026 · The3Beez
Honey is, in essence, sugar and water and a very little of everything else. But that “very little” is what sets one honey apart from another, and it is what laboratories measure. The international reference here is the Codex Alimentarius Standard for Honey, issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.
The basic composition
The greater part of honey is monosaccharides, chiefly fructose and glucose, and the ratio between the two is what determines how quickly it crystallises. Water comes next, then small quantities of organic acids, enzymes, minerals and pollen.
The numerical limits in the Codex standard
- Moisture: no more than 20%, and no more than 23% in heather honey.
- Reducing sugars (fructose and glucose): not less than 60 grams per 100 grams, and not less than 45 in honeydew honey and its blends.
- Sucrose: no more than 5 grams per 100 grams, with up to 10 permitted in honeys such as acacia, citrus and alfalfa, and up to 15 in lavender and borage.
- Water-insoluble solids: no more than 0.1 grams per 100 grams, and no more than 0.5 in pressed honey.
- Free acidity: no more than 50 milliequivalents of acid per kilogram.
- Electrical conductivity: no more than 0.8 millisiemens per centimetre for blossom honeys, and not less than 0.8 for honeydew and chestnut honey.
Two indicators that measure heat and age
Among the most important items in the standard are two that tell you about a honey's history rather than its type:
- Hydroxymethylfurfural: no more than 40 milligrams per kilogram, and no more than 80 in honeys from tropical regions. This compound rises with heating and with long storage.
- Diastase activity: not less than 8 Schade units, with 3 accepted in honeys that are naturally low in enzymes. This activity falls with heating and with long storage.
The two indicators are therefore read together: a high reading on the first alongside a low one on the second points to a honey that has been exposed to heat or to long storage, not necessarily to a poor type.
What the standard does not measure
The standard describes the compositional limits of honey. The floral source, for its part, is determined by pollen analysis, and adulteration with added sugars calls for isotopic techniques independent of these clauses.