HOW LONG?

[BULLSEYE BILL]

How long can honey be kept in the freezer?
Will it start to crystalize in the freezer?

[Phoenix]

Honey will keep indefinately in the freezer. Optimal temperature for crystallization is 47 to 49 degrees, lower temps put a halt to the formation of crystals.

[Dick Allen]

Granted, most of the conventional wisdom does seem to indicate that freezing honey will keep it from crystalizing, but here are some BeeL remarks about freezing honey and having it crystalize:
http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0312B&L=bee-l&P=R45
http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0412a&L=bee-l&F=&S=&P=1769
http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0412a&L=bee-l&F=&S=&P=2680

In the past I’ve frozen honey and had it begin crystalizing within a few days after removing it from the freezer.

[wayacoyote]

Dick Allen,
could you attribute the instant crystalizaton to the warming temperatures the honey was experiencing as you let it out? Could raising it above the "optimal temperature range" have helped?

This reminds me of a story that I oft tell at work. Mammoth Cave was used as the first TB hospital in the East. One guy went in and lived there, under ground for a short period of time. When he started feeling better, he left singing the praise of the healing vertues of cave air. When he started falling ill again, he declared that it was because he had left the cave too soon and admonished other sufferers to stay longer than he. This story comes from the mid-1800's. It has been decided that he was going through a pause in the disease that led him to feel better. And the disease happened to kick back in later when he was "top side".

Point being, If freezing allows one to keep honey from crystalizing, one should be prepared for it to start doing its thing when it is thawed back out. otherwise one will end up with a house full of freezers stocked with "block honey". http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Gregg]

I have been storing honey in a freezer for several years now (to bottle and sell throughout the year). As far as it crystallizing in the freezer, in my experience, it depends and varies with the honey from each season (as with honey kept outside the freezer; I've had some begin to crystallize in a few days and other seasons doesn't start for several weeks). Some years with the honey being in the freezer for 6 months, it looks just like it did when it was bottled, other years I've experienced it being "partially" crystallized (still able to pour, but quite stiff). All of it will usually rapidly crystallize after being out of the freezer after a couple of days.

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Gregg Stewart