Fun fact: The crime of passing off inferior sweeteners as (higher-priced) honey is referred to as "honey laundering".

https://kinghavenfarms.com/blogs/from-the-hive/the-sticky-bu...

It'll be great if someone can invent an accurate in-situ low-cost fake honey detector.

For a low tech pure honey detection you can mix a few drops of honey with a warm water then swirl the mixture in a bowl. If you see the appearance of seamless hexagonal pattern appearing like a honeycomb, the honey is said to be pure.

I've used this method many times and mostly works, i.e the hexagonal honeycomb pattern does appear, but the honeycomb pattern probably can appear with fake honey as well. It will be very interesting to test this rudimentary technique with fake honey for accuracy.

Yes. Good episode about fake honey and its interaction with almond growing: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/beeconomics-101/

That has been a global problem, lots of it in the US as well. I tend to only buy honey from known local producers, either at specialty stores or street markets.