Thread: WHAT'S UP WITH THIS HONEY?

Hi all. Can someone tell me what's up with this honey? Few months back the top half started going lumpy and has now gone completely hard. Is this crystallization? Is it safe? The brand is Katikati Honey. Thanks.

Nothing wrong with it. Honey has been found in the Egyptian pyramids in edible condition, so fear not.

It happens when it hasn't been properly heat treated I believe? I think if you heat it up and cool it down slowly it will turn out fine, if you don't like it in crystal form.

Try putting the glass jar in water and then heat the water up slowly. There's most probably a thread on the net somewhere. My old man kept bees and I remember him sometimes mixing in a kg of creamed manuka honey he bought, into his 44 gal of honey to stop it crystallising.

Nothing wrong with it, just decrystallize it by putting the jar, preferable a glass jar in hot water ( not boiling), stir it with a clean wooden spoon till it looks normal again and store it air tight in a cool dark area.
Honey doesn’t go off easily and keeps for ages.

just stir the plurry stuff and spread on your toast.....

its fine to eat, but if you have gallons of it turn it into mead (honey wine)
this is where the term "honeymoon" came from as the married couple would drink it on their wedding night
aka its "liquid panty remover"

It is very rare for honey to go bad. Honey will ferment if it's moisture content gets too high (harvested before it is capped by the bees or you add water to it). Provided the honey hasn't been contaminated in some way, it will keep for many, many years.

Honey will crystalize, and separate. Honey is made up to two types of sugar - glucose and fructose, with varying percentages . The glucose will crystalize before fructose, which forms large crystals, often leaving behind the liquid fructose. The higher the glucose, the faster it till crystalize. Glucose is good for you, fructose not so much (even though they use fructose to sweeten food in the form of corn syrup, and is actually major contributor to obesity). Therefore, the faster the honey crystalizes, the higher the glucose, the better it is for you.

The crystallization will dissolve again if you can keep your honey at 37-38 deg C for a few days, or, just stir it up and get used to eating crunchy honey. Don't be tempted to over heat it or heat it in the microwave. This will destroy all the natural goodness of the honey.

Another option is to add more water and make honey mead.

Honey is one of the worlds wonder foods. As said above, honey in its natural form doesnt go off, will keep for 1000's of years, not just a few. Some honeys granulate more than others, depending on what plant/crop its harvested from. A bit of warmth will make it runny again. And if you leave it too long, it will granulate again. But its still good for you.

And it is a natural antiseptic. If you burn yourself, cover the burn with honey before you dress the burn. It will allow the dressing to come off easily, and it will heal in about half the time of most medical products.

Un-creamed honey will eventually get like this, as others have said you can slowly heat it up with a hot water bath and give it a mix to sort it out. Creamed honey wont go like this as it is already crystalized but from a seed crystal which is very small. You can cream honey yourself by seeding/mixing it thoroughly to stimulate the crystallization before it happens naturally.

you can cream,too runny honey with a wee teaspoon of iceing sugar mixed in too.

Go ahead. Put some peanut butter in it, then you can make nice field energy bar, better than US marine ate in the first week of Battle of Chosin Reservoir, under - 40c degree

Is it manuka? shake it vigorously and it should liquefy again.

Don't keep it in the fridge, cold does that as well as age