Why does your bottle of Honey Crystallise, and how can you prevent it?
There is a well-known old proverb that goes like this, “Of wine, the middle, of oil the top, and of honey, the bottom is the best.” The origin of this proverb may not be so clear to us, but whoever first said this, sure knew their kitchen and its ingredients very well it seems. Anyone who has ever had to buy Honey has noticed that honey tends to start getting thicker and more viscous as you reach for the bottom of the jar. This viscosity is what enhances the taste of honey.
Pure, natural and raw honey has some particles of pollen and bee wax, which makes it all the more viscous, tasty and even more nutritious and healthy. Honey makes any food better. You can add it to your breakfast cereal or evening tea or mix it with yoghurt for a healthy dessert.
Honey lovers know that when it comes to raw and natural honey, no two batches of honey are the same. There is honey that stays viscous and flowy for longer periods of time, then there is honey that gets crystallised soon, because of its natural chemical composition, which has had some of you wondering if your honey has lost its qualities and gone spoilt. Crystallised honey is not any indication that the honey is getting spoilt. Honey is one of the few things that only gets better with time. With This article, we help you understand the crystallisation process of honey, and how you can avoid the crystallisation of your product.
Honey Crystallisation – a natural phenomenon
The composition of Honey is a mixture of complex sugars like fructose, sucrose, maltose and glucose with less than 20 per cent water to dissolve and bind the sugars together. With minimal availability of water in this mixture, there is a lot more sugar present than what the water can hold. Therefore, over time, the water tends to separate from the sugar molecules and the sugar molecules begin to crystallise steadily. Since Honey is a form of sugar produced by the bees naturally from the nectar of flowers, the consistency and viscosity of each batch of honey vary from the previous one. This is a defining factor in the kind of crystallisation your honey undergoes.
While all honey begins to crystallise naturally after a while, natural and raw honey tends to crystallise earlier compared to filtered honey. This is due to traces of beeswax and pollen in raw honey, which makes it thicker than your filtered honey.
Honey, when begins to crystallise, usually starts getting lighter in colour. While some variants of honey might crystallise with a coarse sugary texture to it, some begin crystallising into a smooth creamy texture. However, if your honey is crystallising, it doesn’t mean that you cannot consume it anymore or that it has been spoilt.
There is no harm in consuming crystallised honey, as honey does not get spoilt with time. In fact, the creamy texture of crystallised honey is widely liked and consumed by honey lovers across the globe, so much so, that creamy honey is also sold in markets. Honey is crystallised in a controlled environment to get the perfect creamy texture.
However, not everyone is a fan of crystallised honey, and that is alright. You don’t have to worry about honey crystallising as it is an easily reversible process. All you need to do is place the jar of honey in a warm water bowl, and let the warm water do its trick.
After a while, you will be able to enjoy the flowy liquid honey. However, repeating this process over and over again can cause honey to lose its unique summer aroma, leaving you with a sugary goop. So, to ensure that you get the best quality flowy and viscous honey, follow these few steps.
- Store the honey at room temperature.
- Avoid storing it in cold dark spaces like a cellar.
- Do not refrigerate your honey.
- Store your honey in a non-porous glass jar. Plastic is a porous material and can allow moisture to penetrate in.
The crystallisation of honey is in fact, considered a good thing since it is seen as proof of the authenticity of honey. Raw and authentic honey has many healing properties, so enjoy fresh, raw and natural honey from Sublime, and rest assured about the quality of your honey.