The Honey Book, Chapter 5 Bee Product Science, www.bee-hexagon.net 5 May 2011 1 Honey Composition Stefan Bogdanov CHEMICAL COMPOSITION Honey is composed mainly from carbohydrates, lesser amounts of water and a great number of minor components. Honey composition after 75, 80 , values in g/100 g Blossom honey Honeydew honey average min-max average min-max Water content 17.2 15-20 16.3 15-20 Fructose 38.2 30-45 31.8 28-40 Glucose 31.3 24-40 26.1 19-32 Sucrose 0.7 0.1-4.8 0.5 0.1-4.7 Other disaccharides 5.0 28 4.0 16 Melezitose <0.1 4.0 0.3-22.0 Erlose 0.8 0.56 1.0 0.16 Other oligosaccharides 3.6 0.5-1 13.1 0.1-6 Total sugars 79.7 80.5 Minerals 0.2 0.1-0.5 0.9 0.6-2 Amino acids, proteins 0.3 0.2-0.4 0.6 0.4-0.7 Acids 0.5 0.2-0.8 1.1 0.8-1.5 pH 3.9 3.5-4.5 5.2 4.5-6.5 Further reading: 8, 44, 75 Carbohydrates Sugars are the main constituents of honey, comprising about 95 % of honey dry weight. Main sugars are the monosaccharides hexoses fructose and glucose, which are products by the hydrolysis of the disaccharide sucrose. Besides, about 25 different sugars have been detected 29, 62 . The principal oligosaccharides in