Hi All As somebody who knows a little about a lot of things I would like to contribute a few ideas I have for detecting couterfeit honey (anybody with better knowledge please support or destroy the ideas!!) ELISA - mentioned before - is an antibody based technique - would need a rough understanding of the sugar sources, and proccessing techniques and could then detect certain contaminants that may get into the analog. (This system is very sensitive and can detect picograms of substances - including things like estrogen in womans blood, and certain pesticides) PCR based - Polymerase Chain Reaction multiplies extremely small amounts of DNA to measureable quantities. At present a number of such techniques are being developed for detecting Genetically Modified Foodstuffs - including sugar cane - India has developed a few strategies for making GMO sugarcane - I don't know if any are commercialised yet. Basically what one would do is to use special things called primers - a very specific DNA sequence that binds to a specific piece of DNA in a plant or animal - and multiples that DNA up if it is there. If the product is not exposed to heat above about 120C for long periods one should be able to multiply sugarcane DNA out of it and then detect it. At present in South Africa this would cost me about US$10 a sample - at a big lab in the US one would be looking at maximum probably US$5.00 a sample. One would have two edges to the sword - Europe is paranoid about GMO's and has banned temporarily all GMO imports - hence a honey analog which registers as containing GMO sugar would be a no-no. The US likewise requires labelling saying - CONTAINS SUGAR SOURCED FROM GENETICALLY MODIFIED SUGARCANE - in BOLD LETTERS in a font size of about 14 pt - difficult for even the most television anaethetised person to miss!! High Pressure Chromatography/Pressure Assisted Capillary Electrophoresis - both can develop a signature of molecules in something. I am sure an adulterated honey would have a very 'uncontaminated' signal without spikes for things like Xylose, Ribose and other oddball sugars that are not in sugar cane to any large extent, but which are in honey. Some way of detecting caramels - any honey - even unadulterated should not have any caramelized sugars in them - these are much more unhealthy than the wax and pollen that Dhampur mention. Any caramels can place quite a strain on the liver. As Andy mentioned, the stuff is dark - my bet is that dark is caramelized sugars. Just a few ideas. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries 15 Park Road Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis 6139 South Africa Time = Honey The Universe is not here right now, if you would like to leave a message, leave your name and number after the long silence and it will get back to you as soon as possible.