Honey is Cyrstalizing -- How do I prevent this?

[GageFamilyBeekeeping]

How do I keep honey I am bottleing from crystalizing in the jars? Most of the time it rarely happens but once in a while I lose a whole batch, why?

[KQ6AR]

Its not lost or damaged. If you gently warm it not over 110F it will still be raw honey.
Almost all honeys crystallize, honey from some flowers crystallizes faster than from other flowers.

If you don't mind loosing some of the healthful benefits of raw honey you can heat it hotter.

[Vance G]

You can easily and cheaply make a box or booth to stack your crystalizing honey in and reliquify it. I use a large cardboard box. A lazyboy comes in a large box! Or a smaller one as required. I bought a 1500 watt controller designed for reptile lights and heaters. it goes to 104 and I put a space heater in or a couple evil 100 watt incadescent bulbs work great too. The temp slowly comes up and in a day or so, your lost batch is good as new. Then I throw away the box cause you can always get another.

[Grant]

Before I built a low-temp honey warmer, I had several cases of pint jars crystalize. Not knowing what to do, I swapped out the label making a new one that said, "Spoon Honey." It's honey you eat with a spoon.

It was a big hit with most of my customers saying, "I've never heard of this before."

In England, or so I'm told, they want "set" honey to insure it has not been adulterated by corn syrup.

Grant
Jackson, MO

[sqkcrk]

Label it as RAW and raise the price. Which doesn't answer your question.

If you want your bottled honey to have some liquid shelf life you have to heat it. I heat honey to 140 degrees before bottling. Liquidity is maintained for quite some time that way.

[MrHappy]

It was also talked about a week or so ago that if you put the honey in the freezer after bottling it that it will take longer to crystallize. If I understand correctly though, if it gets warm again then it will crystallize faster. But not sure. I think it's like making candy and once you get one crystal to form because it has dried to much, then the whole batch will turn.

[sqkcrk]

No, not really. Not really any of that, as far as I know or understand.

There are Papers and Articles out there somewhere which can explain the crystalizing process in honey, how honey crystalizes. Perhaps the book "Honey" by Dr. Eva Crane (I believe).

Basically almost all Honeys will crystalize. Some faster than others because of their unique composition. If Honey is kept at 57 degree farenhiet it will crystalize more quickly than at any temperature above or below that temperature. Heating honey to a relatively high temperature such as above 140 degrees, but below 160 degrees, or to 160 degrees for a very short time and cooling the honey so as not to burn/caramelize the sugars there in or to discolor the honey.

Putting honey in a freezer slows down the crystalizing process, because it is far below the optimal temperature described above. When taken from a freezer, it will not quickly crystalize.

I am not sure how low moisture honey acts any differently than higher moisture honey, as far as crystalization.

[Michael Bush]

>I lose a whole batch

You're not "losing" anything. It is still perfectly good honey. Just heat it if you really want it liquid, or, as already mentioned, raise the price and sell it as raw.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbasics.htm#honey

see "Creamed honey"
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesterms.htm#c

[sqkcrk]

hot tap water will soften crystalized honey.

[james121]

I love crystallized honey, something about the way it feels to eat it, I don't know. Creamed honey is great too because it is thicker, which makes for a much better spread on toast or biscuits. I have had plenty of honey crystallize on me and I just keep for cooking, since it will melt over the heat, also making honey products before it crystallizes or selling the honey as pure or even concentrated honey are great ideas.

[matt1954]

Here is what we do. We put the bottles out on the patio in the summer and let it de-crystalize for a day. Then we sell it. Works every time.

[JRG13]

It has to do with the sugar composition of the honey. If you look at White Tupelo, it claims it's because of the higher fructose composition that it does not granulate.

[snl]

How do I keep honey I am bottling from crystalizing in the jars?

If you've the room, put it in the freezer...........(that is before it crystalizes)

[mgolden]

Check article from yesterday under Bee Forum/Crystalized Honey. Don't think my link works below. See post #9, Katharina and link to an article on Crystallization


http://www.beesource.com/forums/show...ht=crystalized

[sqkcrk]

If you are not heating your honey during the extraction process or during the bottling process you will have a hard time keeping it from crystalizing. How are you extracting and bottling? Using any heat?

[NasalSponge]

Take a trip to Whole Foods or your local health food store and you will find most all the honey for sale at these places is crystallized.

[Myron Denny]

A neighbor has a discarded upright freezer he uses as a warming box. He uses a 20 watt light bulb in the summer. He uses a 60 watt bulb in the winter. The bulb is on all the time, the non working box is used for a keep warm box not a keep cold box. We used this same principal and it works!
Myron Denny

[RudyT]

several have mentioned freezing.
What containers are OK for a 3 month freezer period.
Glass I assume is OK.
How about clear plastic.
How about in a 5 gallon plastic bucket.
I intend to have 2 oz bears for my sons' weddings -- but don't want the honey to crystalize by November/December -- and prefer not to do a lot of heating.

[Swobee]

Our younger daughter spent a summer (their winter) in New Zealand three years back. She couldn't find a container of their local liquid honey to bring back for ol' Dad. I told her only in America do we demand liquid honey - everywhere else on earth, if it's raw... it's crystalized. Be prepared for each year to be different. We had some very dark honey in our 2006 harvest that refused to crystalize. I used the final container of it last winter and it was just starting to finally become crystalized. Then, the crop from 2010 would crystalize almsot immediately and that cost us a few customers who couldn't bear the thought of our honey going "bad" so soon. Sometimes no amount of education will convince a customer the product is still viable. People ask at the farmer's market booth "how long does it last" and my answer is "thousands of years! But it might crystalize in a few weeks." As for the wedding bears- I'd either wait to gather the product from as late a harvest as possible or else freeze the product, then thaw & bottle very close to the big day. The little bears should be a huge hit with everyone, except the cleaning staff after what some of your over-celebrating guests might spill at the reception or dance.

[dixiebeeco]

Just box it up and put it in your car/truck for a day or so. It will look like the day you bottled it.