Also, honey caremelises at a much lower temperature (as low as 70C) compared to sucrose and glucose (~160C) and fructose (~110C). Not sure how that changes the flavour profile, but it probably contributes towards the danger vibes that this article tries so hard to emphasise.
https://makingsenseofsugar.com/all-about-sugar/history-of-su....
Honey is about 70% fructose + glucose.
It's about 16-19% water.
So I'm not sure why it would caramelise at significantly lower temperatures than its constituent parts would suggest.
My hives may skew slightly as my bees harvest primarily from Australian native trees which can (seasonally) lead to a higher glucose:fructose ratio (and more prone to candying) but a recent composition report follows:
Moisture 17.6%
pH 4.08
Electrical conductivity 0.32 (mS/cm)
Hydroxymethylfurfural 1.7 (mg/kg)
Sugar - Fructose 38.8%
Sugar - Glucose 29.5%
Sugar - Sucrose < 0.5%> It's about 16-19% water.
> So I'm not sure why it would caramelise at significantly lower temperatures than its constituent parts would suggest.
Wikipedia states:
> The temperature at which caramelization begins varies, depending on the composition, but is typically between 70 and 110 °C (158 and 230 °F). Honey also contains acids, which act as catalysts for caramelization. The specific types of acids and their amounts play a primary role in determining the exact temperature.
The citation is "Zdzisław E. Sikorski Chemical and functional properties of food components CRC Press 2007 p. 121 ISBN 0-8493-9675-1". It's not publicly available, so I can't cite it, but if you're really interested you should try to find and read it.
I've looked at (and around) page 121 of Sikorski and don't see anything definitive about caramelising temperatures for honey.
I've searched the book and reviewed all references to 'honey' as well as 'caramel...' and I can't see anywhere these claims are made regarding catalytic acids, or that specific range for honey.
Yes, specific ranges for fructose (about 40% in honey) and glucose (~30%), but those numbers vary substantially from what GP was claiming about honey.
Frustratingly the author of TFA doesn't actually specify temperatures anywhere, just uses the word 'boil' - so I'm guessing it's 100 (celsius, natch).
Though I'm assuming the boiling temperature of honey isn't going to be the same as the caramelisation threshold.