Trehalulose

Definition

A disaccharide that can make up a large share of the sugars in stingless bee honey and is essentially absent from Apis mellifera honey. It is the most reliable analytical marker for distinguishing genuine stingless bee honey from ordinary honey, which matters because stingless bee honey commands very high prices.

Honey records that discuss this

• Jataí honeySharply acidic and fruity with a fermented tang — closer to a sharp fruit syrup than to what most people expect honey to taste like.
• Sugarbag honeySharply tangy and fruity with a resinous edge — often described as lemon-and-caramel, and quite unlike honey bee honey in every respect.
• Kelulut honeyDistinctly sour and tangy with a fruity, almost fermented character — closer to a sharp fruit syrup than to what most people expect honey to taste like.

Guide records that discuss this

• Why stingless bee honey is chemically unusualMore water, more acid, a sugar nobody expected, and antimicrobial protection that comes partly from tree resin rather than from the honey itself.
• The sugars in honeyFour fifths of honey is sugar, and almost everything honey does — how sweet it tastes, whether it sets, how it behaves in a pan — follows from which sugars and in what proportion.