Raw Honey Crystallization
Raw Honey crystallizes naturally! It is safe to eat, and un-bee-lievably tasty.
Honey, when properly stored, will never truly spoil. This may be why many ancient civilizations associated honey with immortality and the food of deities. So if your raw honey has crystallized, don’t worry, it hasn’t gone bad. It’s just doing its thing!
So why does it crystallize? What should I do with my crystallized honey? And can you get it back to liquid form? Read on for answers to these questions and more!
Why Does Raw Honey Crystallize?
Honey is a supersaturated solution, so first, let’s quickly explain what that means.
Supersaturated solutions are solutions with excess solute. They can be formed when solute (the thing that gets dissolved) is mixed into a solvent (component of the solution that does the dissolving) at a higher temperature at which the solution is not quite fully saturated. When the solution is brought to a lower temperature, it is supersaturated, and the excess solute can crystallize around a nucleation site.
Raw honey’s composition varies, but generally, it’s about 82% sugar and 17% water. The inside temperature of a beehive is about 95 degrees Fahrenheit, which means that honey (the solution) is generally at a higher temperature in the hive than it will be sitting on a shelf in your home. Once raw honey is extracted from the warmer hive, it’s only a matter of time before that excess sugar (solute) latches onto a particle, like pollen or wax (a nucleation site or seed crystal) in the honey jar and starts to crystallize.
Depending on the sugar composition, water content, and storage temperature, raw honey will crystallize at different rates and with different textured granules. Raw honeys with relatively higher glucose levels tend to crystallize faster since glucose is a less soluble solute compared to fructose.
What Should I Do with Crystallized Honey?
Eat it! Many honey lovers actually prefer the taste of crystallized honey. It can often have a stronger flavor and a complimentary texture with many foods.
We highly recommend using crystallized honey as a spread on toast, coupled with cheese, and as a replacement for processed sugar in your baked goods!
How To Return Crystallized Honey to Liquid Honey:
If you prefer liquid honey, have no fear, you can very easily return crystallized honey to its liquid state without damaging or diminishing raw honey’s health benefits.
Simply immerse your jar of raw honey into a hot water bath until it returns to liquid form.
Here are a few tips:
Make sure the water is below 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Exposing honey to high temperatures will start to destroy beneficial enzymes and antioxidants.
Make sure your honey is in a container that can be safely exposed to heat.
Once back in liquid form, store your honey in a warmer location. Honey does not need to be refrigerated or frozen. Certain low temperatures will actually make it crystallize faster.
Read more about Raw Honey, Raw Honey vs. “Regular” Honey, and Raw Honey’s Health Benefits on The Buzz Blog!