Why Does Honey Crystallize
So, a very common occurrence with honey is crystallization. Crystallization occurs with real raw honey. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t because sugar’s been added. In fact, it’s because there is no sugar added. Sugar, table sugar, corn syrup, things like this are called sucrose, which is a complex sugar, is two molecules, fructose and glucose. They form a single molecule called sucrose.
Inside a bee’s honey stomach, there are enzymes that break sucrose down into those individual sugars. So, a jar of honey consists of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose. At the right temperature, like 90 degrees inside the beehive, they maintain a state called homeostasis, which means that they stay in a liquid form. As honey stays in the jar longer, and you can possibly see this, the glucose falls out of solution. Due to gravity and it picks up little particles of dust and pollen and it collects on the bottom. And so, you end up with crystallized honey at the very bottom of the jar. There’s nothing at all wrong with this honey. Eventually, this whole jar will probably crystallize.
How to Fix Crystallized Honey
Crystallization purely depends on the glucose content in the honey. The higher the glucose content, which is based on the nectar, the faster it’ll crystallize. To fix this problem, you can either just scoop it out, it’s fine. There’s no difference in the honey, or you can just warm it up in a pan of hot water. If you have a plastic jar, I do not recommend putting it in the microwave or into boiling water, just hot water will do it. Sometimes it takes a long time. If it’s a nice sunny summer day, just set them outside on your back porch and the sun will do its job.
What Honey Does Not Crystallize?
One exception to this is Tupelo honey. Tupelo honey has a very high fructose content and low glucose content, so Tupelo honey will almost never crystallize. Because of the low glucose level, Tupelo honey has a low glycemic index. If that matters to you, then Tupelo might be your deal.
Essentially, all honey, natural honey, is going to crystallize eventually. Crystallization does not affect the quality of the honey. Crystallization doesn’t mean that sugar’s been added. Frankly, it means that there’s probably no sugar added at all. So if you do have this problem, just warm it up a little bit and you’ll be good as new.
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