We don’t consume a lot of honey in our home so it’s not uncommon to discover that crystals have developed in the jar before we got the chance to use it all.
Is this still safe to eat? You bet! I have more info on that below but first….
Here’s a simple trick that will dissolve those pesky granules back into liquid, syrupy goodness along with some information about why this crystallization occurs in the first place.
Quick How-To Fix, Just Add Some Heat!
(process gently to avoid damaging the honey)
- Place glass jar in a pot of warm water, set stove element to medium-low heat and stir until the little shards dissolve.
- Alternatively, place the jar in a pot of hot water and leave it alone until it liquefies (keep off the stove element).
- Quick Fix: You could also zap in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir well, allow to cool for 20 seconds then zap again for 30 seconds (if there are still granules needing to be dissolved). Stir again and cool as noted before reheating (if required).
- Note: Overheating can affect the quality and nutrients of raw honey, you may want to reduce (about 50%) the microwave’s power level and repeat the steps a couple more times.
After melting, the granules will disappear for a time but they do return eventually if the honey hasn’t been consumed quickly enough. Simply repeat the warming process as needed.
Once liquid honey crystallizes does this mean it’s expired or is it still safe to eat? It doesn’t go bad but a shelf life of two years is a good rule of thumb (since storage conditions can affect the taste).
- Concerning signs: If you see mold or the contents smell weird, that’s the signal to toss the container. This happens when the batch has been contaminated (ie. by a dirty knife or spoon when scooping).
Are the granules edible? Yes, they’ll melt slowly in your mouth and in fact, some people prefer this sweet, crystallized treat.
- Feel free to drop a spoonful into your hot cup of tea (where the grainy bits will dissolve as you stir) or dollop onto toast, over oatmeal and whatever else you like to make things a little sweeter.
What exactly are these little solid grains? Essentially, sugar. That’s why they disappear when melted. Honey is composed mainly of different sugars (mostly glucose and fructose) and water.
Why does it become cloudy and grainy in the first place? Here’s a quote from a three page pdf loaded with information:
This natural phenomenon happens when glucose, one of three main sugars in honey, spontaneously precipitates out of the supersaturated honey solution. The glucose loses water (becoming glucose monohydrate) and takes the form of a crystal (a solid body with a precise and orderly structure). The crystals form a lattice which immobilizes other components of honey in a suspension thus creating the semi-solid state.
Source: National Honey Board Food Technology/Product Research Program (pdf from web archive)
Did You Know: Honey can be frozen! If this pantry staple isn’t a hot ticket item in your kitchen and is only used irregularly, try freezing in small batches and remove as needed (thawing slowly at room temperature). Freezing will help prevent it from crystallizing.
Love your site Have for years
Just a couple of tips on HONEY Of course ‘raw honey’ is the best As it has all the good properties in it Contrary to heated processed honey you buy in the store Also some of the honey you buy in a store has corn syrup added Have no idea why they would do that
Honey will keep for ‘eons’ That has already been proven by archiologists[sp]
They have found honey in containers in Egyptian tombs and it is just fine
You really have to watch the heating in a microwave It is extremely easy to kill the good vitamins etc I usually do it in hot water and keep it changed Would have to be careful of not getting to hot on the stove, too
Sorry for misspelled words
Hope the ‘tips’ are useful
Thanks again for such a great site
In regards to the corn syrup, it’s a cost saving measure – corn syrup is significantly cheaper than honey, and to the average joe you have to adulterate your honey with a LOT of corn syrup before they notice.
Try Tupelo Honey – a little more expensive – but it doesn’t crystallize.
If it doesn’t eventually crystalize be forewarned that it isn’t pure honey….it’s got added moisture content that prevents it from happening. Have a family of bee keepers that are very meticulous to what GOOD honey is. Also, to keep honey closest to it’s natual state. Decrystalization can be done in a clean glass jar heated to between 95 to 110 degrees, stirring occasssionally until all crystals are dissolved. Crockpot on warm works great.
I was actually thinking of doing it in the crockpot. Thank you. QQ – we have 5 or 6 jars from the same hives from last season. Can I put all the honey TOGETHER in the crockpot on low and re-liquify, or can I mix it together after it has been reliquified to maybe help it from recrystallizing? Some jars are more crystallized than others. I need to reliquify to use for a shower this weekend.
My honey is in a 5 gal bucket. Only about 1.5 gal honey used. It had crystalized since getting it last fall. It had alrady begun when I got it . It was sitting outsude with a lid on it.
Its hard to dig out. What can I do?
Thanks for your crockpot idea. MJ
Just a personal safety preference but I would not use a microwave on anything, leave alone perfectly perfect raw honey! 🙂
Once honey is decrystalized how long will it stay like that? Bought home in little jars for anniversary party Dave. Just took them out of box and all are crystallized? Only been 3 month thank you
I put the plastic bottle of honey in a saucepan of almost boiling water and shake it once in a while, keeping the water almost boiling.
Wouldn’t heating honey to melt crystals destroy it’s natural healthy components?
Do not put honey in a microwave unless it’s in a microwave safe item ! I had some in a plastic container and did the microwave thing and it melted the plastic container partly as well !
Good advice thanks.ill try the crockpot .That seems to be the best way to melt it
You can tell if your honey is real or fake by putting some in a bowl and putting cold water on it, if it’s real honey, you will see a honeycomb pattern 🌺🌹🌼🐝
The honeycomb pattern that you see is simply because of the viscosity of the honey. Any viscous liquid will do that. Different viscosities will produce different patterns. That video that you saw stating that only ‘real’ honey does that is a load of BS.
You should never microwave honey it changes its chemical make up and it loses almost all of its nutritional value
Thank you for the added info…. great to know !!!
please share evidence.
i am interested
How do you do it without heat? What if you want your crystallized honey to be raw?
Heat it low, like sous vide. The melting point of crystallized honey is between 40 and 50 °C (104 and 122 °F), depending on its composition. You can even use sous vide methods and equipment, or just gently heat it in a pan of water with a thermometer in there to let you know when it’s getting too hot.
Protein-type foods are cooked when heat (or some chemical reaction like with ceviche) breaks down molecular bonds, making the protein unfurl from it’s normally compact coiled-up shape and then form an aggregate or network. Honey doesn’t have much of that going on, and if you heat it low and slow, it really isn’t doing anything comparable to cooking. You aren’t harming honey by gently heating it enough to liquefy.
On a nice sunny day I put honey in a jar outside. The warm sun decrystalizes it.
If you buy raw honey for the health benifits and are wanting to preserve them then avoid heating it above 110°F! Almost all the methods I just read here would do just that aside from placing the jar in warm water. Crock pots on low still get up to about 150°F which is enough to kill everything beneficial in it. I actually have and use one of those old fashioned crystal honey dispensers that sits in a base that can be filled with warm water and only keep it about 1/4 full. The rest I leave in the original glass jar our local honey is sold in and don’t worry about it crystallizing until I need to get more out. The best way I have found to do that personally is a little unusual but it works great. What I do is I use my wax warmer, the kind that is a lamp and uses a 25w bulb. Not the hot plate kind as they get too hot. The ones that are basically like little lamps, like Scentsy, that have the bulb in a lamp like base and a little dish on top for the wax cubes. I just set the jar on the dish and stir it, or rotate it around in the jar to mix it evenly once in a while as it melts. My warmer isn’t an actual Scentsy brand, it just came from Walmart, as do the bulbs, so it doesn’t get quite as warm but its perfect for warming honey, and solid coconut oil. Plus I like how simple it is to just turn on the lamp and set the jar on it. No worrying that it will heat too much or for too long. The only downside is how long it takes if the jar is full to warm. If you are just using honey because you like it and are not worried about keeping it raw then disregard my ramble lol. Also, its only raw if it says it is. Raw honey usually comes in glass jars. If its in a plastic honey bear more than likely its not raw honey. On the other hand those little bears seem to take a lot longer to crystalize than the raw stuff…. Ok, I’m dine rambling now lol…. I apologize for the ridiculously long comment.
I have 4qt glass container of honey which is 40yr old not having previously been opened and is now to a large extent crystallized. Is it still likely to be any good and if so what is the best way to dissolve the crystals?
Honey found in ancient tombs thousands of years old and still edible .. pure raw honey is the daddy .. Winnie the pooh and Baloo the bear can’t be wrong 🤷♂️