Why does honey crystallize?

Answered my question perfectly.

thanks

“Some morning, when you go into your cabinet to grab honey for your toast, you may find something thick and cloudy in the bottle where your liquid gold treat once was.”

That’s exactly why I googled ‘crystallized honey’ and found this article. Thanks!

Kaston — me, too!

Thanks y’all for explaining the why and how. Gotta love Google.

This article doesn’t really explain why honey crystalizes. It describe conditions under which it occurs but “the sugary substance’s inherent dryness can also lead to crystallization” isn’t enough of an explanation for me.

It was a great answer for me. I don’t really care what’s happening at the molecular level…it’s honey…I just want to know if I can eat it, or if I have to throw it out. However, Bill, I can give you the short and sassy on “why” honey crystallizes…it crystallizes because it can…and that’s good enough for me:-)

Saves me a trip to the grocery store! Thank you. :)

I was looking how to speed up the process since my wife actually prefers it crystallized… Thanks

Matt, if you’re looking to make it crystallize fast, I’ve noticed that when I’ve accidentally left a jar of honey on the windowsill in the sun, boom — it crystallizes completely. I’ve done this a few times, and it’s what led me to google “crystallized honey” in the first place!

Thanks for great deal of information. Being formulation scientist it helped me a lot to develop a better formulation. But i feel more of the explanation could have done much better. thanks anyways..

Honey sometimes takes
on a semi-solid state
known as crystallized or
granulated honey. This
natural phenomenon
happens when glucose,
one of three main sugars
in honey, spontaneously
precipitates out of the
supersaturated honey
solution. The glucose
loses water (becoming
glucose monohydrate)
and takes the form of a
crystal (a solid body with
a precise and orderly
structure).1 The crystals
form a lattice which
immobilizes other
components of honey in a
suspension thus creating
the semi-solid state.2
The water that was
previously associated
with the glucose becomes
available for other
purposes, thus increasing
the moisture content in
some parts of the
container of honey.
Because of the increased
moisture, the honey becomes
more susceptible to
fermentation.
While crystallization is usually
undesirable in liquid honey,
controlled crystallization can
be used to make a desirable
product. Crystallization can be
deliberately induced, and with
control, can be used to create
a product known as cremed
honey. This is also known as
creamed honey, spun honey,
whipped honey, churned
honey or honey fondant.
Spontaneous crystallization
results in a coarse and grainy
product. Controlled
crystallization results in a
product with a smooth,
spreadable consistency.
Why does honey crystallize?
Honey crystallizes because it
is a supersaturated solution.
This supersaturated state
occurs because there is so
much sugar in honey (more
than 70%) relative to the water
content (often less than 20%).
Glucose tends to precipitate
out of solution and the solution
changes to the more stable
saturated state.
The monohydrate form of
glucose can serve as seeds
or nuclei which are the
essential starting points for
the formation of crystals.
Other small particles, or even
air bubbles, can also serve as
seeds for the initiation of
crystallization.
What factors influence
crystallization?
Many factors influence the
crystallization of honey.
Some batches of honey never
crystallize, while others do so
within a few days of
extraction. Honey removed
from the comb and processed
with extractors and pumps is
likely to crystallize faster then
if it was left in the comb.1
Most liquid honey crystallizes
within a few weeks of
extraction.
The tendency of honey to
crystallize depends primarily
on its glucose content and
moisture level.

Thanks for this article. The part about heating multiple times was a help since I will be heating my jar for the second time now.
One part still concerns me:
“Has your honey gone bad? Should you throw it out? The answer is probably not.”
What does bad honey look/smell/taste like? Is it harmful?

Thanks again.

Thanks for all the information, especially the second paragraph of the main article by Erica Westly where she states the fact that “honey is sugar and some water.” In a way that is rather disappointing. Aren’t there any nutricious and healthful, healing nutrients in honey?

As helpful as the original article was, Anand’s explaination was much more informative and more precise. Thanks Anand.

I thought it was a great article for someone who just wants casual explanation of why honey crystalizes – That would be me! However, Anand’s write up was even more informative….but I still appreciated the main article. Thanks!

Great article, and it has nothing to do with Google. I used Yahoo and this was the first result which answered my concerns.

I eat my peas with honey
I’ve done it all my life
They do taste kind of funny
But it keeps them on my knife

Anon

How do u cristallize the honey. my honey is now at a liquidy state but i want it to be hard…how can i do this…make the temp. warmer or cooler? please help before my honey expire.:)

What in de hell? My honey is in a bucket and it gets flies in it. Why do it do that? Somebody said that monkeys make honey and then they poop.

Jibby Jib is an idiot.

“Some morning, when you go into your cabinet to grab honey for your toast, you may find something thick and cloudy in the bottle where your liquid gold treat once was.”

That was exactly what happened, except it was one evening, and it was for a salmon steak I just baked. I love to spread some honey on top of hot salmon to make it shiny and sugary but to my dismay, my precious squeezable bottle of liquid gold was not squeezable anymore. That’s why I yahooed and your article came up. Worked like magic. Thanks for the info.

Hilariuos comments about a very informative article! Bill, from Nov 3, 2008, read Anand Deshmukh’s explanation.Good Luck! Alex Lorenzo, the answer to your question is embedded in Erica Westly’s explanation. Click on the link, Dyce’s method. Good luck too.

Erica, thanks for the info!

I noticing that after purchasing 2 identical jars of honey and putting both together in a cupboard (room temperature)that after several weeks one of them had crystalised and the other had not.
I then decided to find out if one had something in it to cause this to happen,so I bought another jar and put a spoonful of the crystaline honey into the fresh jar and set it with the others.
Sure enough it eventually become fully crystalline,I have since done the same experiment with a furthur 5 jars with the same effect,and the original uncrystalised one is still unaltered and sitting on the same shelf as the others.
I think that Anand Deshmukh’s (above)theory is correct and that the crystal’s I introduced acted as ’seeds’ for furthur crystalisation.
Like Matt’s wife (no 7 above)I love the crystalline variety if she wants it like this just put a spoonful into the uncrystalline jars and she can produce it for years to come !

How long do you put it in hot water? Can I use the water from when I boil eggs and just have the plastic squeeze bottle of honey in the hot water? Will the hot water melt the plastic bottle?

How long will the honey stay uncrystalized after the first time you heat it? I saved 2 quart sized bottles that had crystalized with less than a 1/16″ in both bottles. I’d like to use that honey before I buy new bottles. Will it last at least a week @ 70 degrees before crystalizing once again?

I purchase honey in the quart size. Originally I had the little honey bear that I refilled from the quart. I noticed after the third or fourth time I refilled the honey bear it begin to thicken but the honey in the quart container stayed clear. I assumed that the exposure to air was the cause of the crystalizing as the bear was being used daily. The last time I bought the quart of honey thinking it didn’t crystize in the quart….I’ve used it from the quart daily. It’s almost half gone and is getting thick and crystalizing. If loosing moisture is the culprit than I should probably go back to the samller container and just keep refilling it. We put it on our oatmeal with a quarter of a teaspoon of cinnamon. Great breakfast…..

I’m just going to buy small containers from now on.

I am very dissapointed with my jar of honey, I prefer when honey does not crystalize. I will try the warming method. I will also find a recipe for honey, it will discourage me from throwing it away.

wonderful article! Thank you!