Why Honey Crystallizes and Factors. The crystallization of honey has no bearing on its quality, but it is an attribute of pure and natural honey.
Honey.
There are different types of honey. The nectar that is obtained by the honey bee depends on the flowers that it forages on. The bee will turn the nectar into honey and fill the cells of the comb with it. Sealing the comb cells with wax cap. This is honey.
The Nectar source will determine the color, taste and smell of all types of pure real honey.
The colors will differ from clear to dark honey. The clear honey is to my knowledge obtained from some flowers. The aloe plant gives honey than is more of a liquid.
The “blue gum” Eucalyptus tree that provides the bees, at a certain time of year, the wonderful flowers to forage from. Is normally dark and almost molasses in taste. A tasty and popular honey. Almost the same for the “fynbos” honey. Very sort after honey.
Doesn’t crystalize quickly. That’s maybe because it does not last long enough, before eaten up.
The same goes for the citrus honey. Some of these wont crystalize for up to a year. But that can also depend on the climate. Cold weather will certainly crystalize the honey.
Then you get the Sunflower and the Canola Honey, these crystalize almost immediately. The canola honey is cream in color, and really never goes runny. It stays as a creamy mixture and then crystalizes quickly.
Below is fynbos and the creamy canola honey.
Some people prefer this canola honey for toasts or a bread spread. The honey is not as sweet as other honey.
What does it mean when honey is crystallized?
Honey crystalizing is considered to be a natural process during its maturing and an indicator of its natural honey composition as well as purity. Its a natural process of preserving itself. Honey can last for thousands of years.
There are numerous factors that determine why and when honey will crystallize or granulate. Because nectar is collected from an insanely amazing number of different sources, of course. These each play a primary role in the viscosity, or thickness of the honey, the potential for crystallizing as well as the wavelength of time it takes to do so.
What honey is made up of and why it crystallizes.
Honey is a highly concentrated sugar solution. It contains more than 70%
sugars (sucrose) and less than 20% water. There is much sugar in honey relative to
the water content. This means that the water in honey contains an extra
amount of sugar than it could naturally hold. The overabundance of sugar
makes honey unstable.
It is natural for honey to crystallize since it is an over-saturated sugar
solution. The two principal sugars in honey are fructose (fruit sugar) and
glucose (grape sugar). The content of fructose and glucose in honey
varies from one type of honey to the other. Generally, the fructose ranges
from 30- 44 % and glucose from 25- 40 %. The balance of these two
major sugars is the main reason that leads to crystallization of honey, and
the relative percentage of each determines whether it crystallizes rapidly
or slowly. What crystallizes is the glucose, due to its lower solubility.
Fructose is more soluble in water than glucose and will remain fluid.
Can you reverse crystallized honey?
The storage temperature has a big effect. Honey crystallization is most
rapid around 10-15 ºC (50- 59 ºF). At temperature below 10 ºC (52 ºF)
the crystallization is slowed down. Low temperature increases the
viscosity of honey (honey is thicker when cool), and this retards the
formation and diffusion of crystals. Honey resists crystallization best at
higher temperatures more than 25 ºC (77 ºF). When the temperature is
40 ºC (104 ºF) the crystals dissolve. Temperature above 40 ºC (104 ºF)
will damage the properties of honey.
How to restore crystalized honey
Crystallized Honey may be restored to liquid form by safely just placing the honey jar in the sunlight of a window until it returns to liquid. This has been done successfully. Even gently placing the crystalized honey jar in some warm water to return to normal. No Direct heat must be placed on the honey jar.
Do not heat up your honey in microwaves or use very high temperatures as this will destroy the good enzymes of the honey. Therefore destroying the benefits of pure organic honey health benefits.
Is it OK to eat crystallized honey?
It’s not off or bad and can easily be eaten as its still natural honey. The honey still has its normal health benefits, and some people enjoy the honey this way.
As explained in above paragraphs, this is the natural way of honey preserving itself and a indication that it is a pure honey.
The moral of the story.
Almost all honey will eventually crystalize or granulate. Given the chance due to its chemical makeup.
The Bee is a sacred insect. As I read and researched about it they say the word sacred means “to make holy,” and the word holy shares the same root meaning as the words whole and heal. Isn’t that amazing.
Honey versus sugar info. click here.
Honey will last for thousands of years.
Purchase some honey jars and dippers online.
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