Crystalized Honey

I think about all you can do is delay crystallization by altering the temperature. Honey crystallizes fastest at 57 degrees F, so either freeze it or store it in a very warm place.

What is your honey in? Jars? Buckets? Combs?

I've always heard that rate of crystallization was relative to pollen content. Higher the pollen content the faster it would crystallize. Or going the other way super filtered honey (honey that has had the pollen filtered out of it) will not crystallize (on the shelf of the store).

Have you ever made sugar rock candy? Crystallized honey forms in a some what similar way. There has to be a speck of something on which the crystal forms. It could be dust, pollen, or, in the case of intentionally crystalized honey known as Creamed Honey, it could be a fine crystallized honey "seed".

Ultra filtered honey is also heated to a high temperature. That and the removal of everything as small as pollen grains helps prolong shelf life in a noncrystallized state.

This is my second year of harvesting honey. Last year I bottled mainly in plastic bottles. I noticed over the winter that the bottles would crystalize and I wasn't too surprised at that. This year I bottled everything in glass jars so that when the honey crystalized over the winter, buyers could easily put the jars in warm water to return the honey to its liquid state. But, I've noticed already that a lot of the honey is already starting to crystalize. So, I have to keep it stored in a warm area at all times.

bluescorpion said:

So, I have to keep it stored in a warm area at all times.

Click to expand...

Why? Why bother, since it is going to crystallize anyway?

All of my honey always crystallizes and many of our customers want it that way. So many people however are accustomed to store bought heated and liquid honey. Its a pain but when someone asks, I lightly heat my glass jars and liquify it but it will of course return to a crystallized state. Many beekeepers use warm rooms for storage or use boxes with light bulbs. I am considering a dehydrator with a temperature setting so I can do many jars at a time.

sqkcrk said:

Why? Why bother, since it is going to crystallize anyway?

Click to expand...

Not if the storage area is 125 + degrees!

If you store it at 57 F it will crystallize very quickly and smoothly and you can sell it for a premium...

As woodedareas stated, a lot of people in my area are used to buying liquid honey and it's hard to get them to understand REAL honey will crystalize. If I can get past this hurdle I can possibly sell more honey.

Then if you want to sell more liquid honey than crystalized you are going to have to invest in a bottling tank. Then you will have to warm that honey higher than you probably think you would like, run it through a strainer, and then bottle only what you need when you need it to sell. Not your whole crop at once.

Or build a warming cabinet out of an old fridge or freezer and a couple of light bulbs. A circulating fan and a temperature controller like this are nice too:

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00862G3TQ

Bottle all of your honey and liquify a case at a time as needed. I find it takes about 3 days at 40 deg C to clear.

sqkcrk said:

Have you ever made sugar rock candy? Crystallized honey forms in a some what similar way. There has to be a speck of something on which the crystal forms. It could be dust, pollen, or, in the case of intentionally crystalized honey known as Creamed Honey, it could be a fine crystallized honey "seed".

Ultra filtered honey is also heated to a high temperature. That and the removal of everything as small as pollen grains helps prolong shelf life in a noncrystallized state.

Click to expand...

So is crush-and-strain honey likely to crystallize faster than centrifugally- or gravity-extracted honey?

IAmTheWaterbug said:

So is crush-and-strain honey likely to crystallize faster than centrifugally- or gravity-extracted honey?

Click to expand...

Not if both are filtered to the same degree!

IAmTheWaterbug said:

So is crush-and-strain honey likely to crystallize faster than centrifugally- or gravity-extracted honey?

Click to expand...

Probably.