Honey…. just the word makes my mouth water. That amazing liquid gold produced by bees is an amazing substance indeed. And I am sure you have all heard how bees world wide are being hit hard from various diseases and chemicals. To me, that makes honey an even more valuable item. But what do you do if your honey crystallizes?!?! Whatever you do, DON’T throw it away! You can easily turn it back into liquid gold.
But why does honey crystallize in the first place? Honey is made up of sugar (glucose, fructose, etc) and water. Over time, depending on a few factors like storage container type, temperature, and even what type of pollen the bees used, affects how fast the honey crystallizes.
To slow down the crystallization of your honey, you can do a few things…..
- Store your honey in a glass container. The water content of honey is lost much quicker when it is stored in plastic which is porous.
- Store your honey in a warm place, around 70 degrees. The cooler honey gets, the fast the crystals will form.
- Know what your bees have been eating. Believe it or not, bees who feed on Acacia, Sage, and Black Locust have honey that crystallize slower then bees who feed on cotton and dandelion blossoms.
So let’s say you just went to your cabinet to grab some honey for you toast and ♫♪ Bumb, Bumb, Bumb ♪♫ it is all thick and crystallized. Fear not my friends…. there are a couple different ways to bring your honey back to a liquid state. One way to do it is just go put it in a warm, sunny window and wait. If you are pressed for time, just get a warm pot of water going on your stove and give your jar (glass not plastic) a nice water bath. I had to slightly warm some that was in a plastic container to be able to move it to a glass jar for proper reheating.
Keep in mind, heating and cooling the honey too many times can cause it to lose its color and that amazing smell. So, once you have it back in liquid form, try to store it properly so it stays that way longer. Also, when heating up honey, while it is debated among many in the apiary industry (aka beekeepers) as to the exact temperature when honey starts to loose it’s beneficial properties, be safe and keep it around 110 degrees or less when warming it back up to break down the crystals.
**Homestead Tips on Tuesday is a weekly series where we help you learn skills, tips, and trick to help you on your journey of homesteading. Many places post list of things you should/could do as far as homesteading skill, but I feel lists are at times overwhelming and can make people give up before they even start. So every Tuesday I share one thing for you to try or consider. I hope you join us every Tuesday and I would love to hear about your adventures with each weeks topic.**
I use the crystallized honey to make face masks 🙂
Interesting…. I'm not much of a girly girly (aka self pampering) so I guess I will stick to eating mine LOL
I have a beautiful handmade pottery honey jar, and it seems to crystalize a lot quicker than just the honey in a mason jar from my farmer's market. I'll have to try reheating it… Thanks!
Pottery is more porous.Your loosing water content faster when you use it.
Thanks for the honey tips!
No problem sugar 🙂
Thanks for this tip! Pinned.
Thanks for the pin!
Great tip – thank you. No more wasted honey for me.
A drop of honey saved makes me smile LOL
This is good to know and will save me from wasting a good product.
Seriously. I cringe when people toss honey.
Great tip. I won't be throwing away any more honey.
Bev
The bees thank you 🙂
Thick and crystallized is our favorite way to eat it on toast! The kids beg for it more off spoons them too.
I know a lot of people prefer it that way!
Thanks for sharing at the Homestead Blog Hop! Hope to see you there again this week. 🙂
Thanks for popping by 🙂
Great tips! Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again this week!
Thanks for the pin!