Honey does not crystallize. Why does liquid honey thicken and is it normal?

This is sugaring. Such a product changes its structure as a result of the formation of crystals.

This is influenced by a number of specific factors. Therefore, it is necessary to know which honey is not candied and how to determine this.

When a bee product changes from a liquid to a solid state. The essence of this process is that sugar crystals begin to form. They weigh significantly more than other components of honey.

As a result, sugar crystals sink to the bottom. This causes it to begin to crystallize from the bottom up.

The rate of product setting depends on many factors, among which are the following:

• Type of honey. The amount of components such as fructose and glucose depends on the type of bee product. If the amount of fructose exceeds the amount of glucose, the sugaring process will occur rather slowly, regardless of the storage conditions of the product.
• Storage temperature. If honey is stored at a temperature of 0 degrees and below, it freezes, and, therefore, the harvesting slows down significantly. It is also possible to slow down crystallization if the honey storage temperature is 30 degrees or higher. At the same time, in no case should we forget that both options negatively affect not only the healing properties of the product, but also its taste. In order for honey to remain liquid for a long time, it is necessary to store it at a temperature no higher than 0 degrees for the first 5 days after pumping it out, and for the rest of the time at a temperature no higher than 15 degrees. Only in this case can all the properties of the bee product be preserved.
• Amount of water. If honey contains no more than 15% water, it will sugar much more slowly. You can be sure that in this case the honey will never be solid, but will have the consistency of a paste.
• Shelf life. If the product is natural and stored no longer than a year, it will have a liquid consistency. With a longer storage period, honey will gradually harden.
• Stirring. In order to reduce the likelihood of honey settling to a minimum, it is recommended to stir it periodically.
• Collection period. There is a certain period for collecting honey. Upon reaching this period, the honey finally ripens. If you collect the product before it is ripe, there is a possibility that it will ferment or crystallize.
• Quality. If the purchased honey is liquid, this in no way means that it is of high quality. You can use several methods to make solid honey liquid, but do not forget that the product then loses its medicinal properties.

What kind of honey does not crystallize?

Most people, when buying honey, have a question: what kind of honey is not candied and why? As mentioned earlier, the crystallization of honey is directly dependent on its variety. In turn, the type of bee product depends on the type of flower from which the pollen was collected.

Experienced people say that there is no pure honey. It will always have impurities in it. But at the same time, the amount of pollen from one type of flower will always prevail. This is the determining factor in determining the name of the honey variety, as well as its healing and taste qualities.

It is safe to say that only natural products are practically not candied. These include the following varieties:

• May. Refers to the earliest varieties. It can be pumped out as early as the end of May. To create it, pollen collected from honey-bearing plants such as lily of the valley, cherry, bird cherry, apple tree and others is used. According to experts, this particular type of honey has the highest medicinal properties and also has excellent taste. May honey contains quite a lot of fructose, which means that it practically does not crystallize. Due to its composition, this type of product is recommended for consumption by people with diabetes. This is due to the fact that May honey is low-calorie and does not harm the functioning of the pancreas. There are many cases of counterfeiting of the May variety of honey. This is due to the fact that it is very similar to the honey that bees make after winter feeding with sugar syrup. In order not to purchase a fake, experts recommend purchasing May honey in the fall. By this time, the crystallization process will have already begun, which means it will be easier to determine the naturalness of the honey.
• Acacia. This variety is distinguished by its almost white color and also has unique taste and aromatic properties. It contains about 36% glucose and 39% fructose. In addition, it contains a lot of moisture. All this contributes to the fact that acacia honey does not crystallize for almost 1.5–2 years. Natural honey of this variety has such a liquid consistency that in some cases it looks more like sugar syrup. The crystals that form as a result of the sugaring of acacia honey have a very small diameter. This is the main reason why acacia honey is fine-grained.
• Greek. The name of the variety is due to the fact that Greece is famous for this variety of bee product. It is considered the purest honey. According to experts, Greek honey does not crystallize. But, unfortunately, it is practically impossible to find this variety in its pure form.
• Chestnut. Natural honey of this variety has a rather thick consistency and dark color. When purchasing chestnut honey, you can be sure that it will not succumb to the crystallization process for 1.5 years. But even after this, it does not lose its taste and healing properties. Over time, chestnut honey crystals become larger.
• Lime. In appearance it resembles acacia honey. It has the ability not to become sugared for 2 years. In terms of its consistency, linden honey can be medium or highly viscous. The rate of its crystallization depends on this. This variety of bee product is medium-grained. After crystallization, honey has the ability to separate into solid and liquid parts.
• Buckwheat. This type of honey contains a large number of mineral components. Its color can vary from light to dark brown. In some cases, buckwheat honey may have a slightly bitter taste. This type of honey has a high rate of crystallization. In order to slow down this process, it is recommended to comply with its storage conditions. Buckwheat honey is recommended for those people who need a quick recovery and strengthening of the immune system. It is also worth noting that this type of product is actively and successfully used in cosmetology as an antiseptic, healing and regenerating agent.

How to check the quality of honey

It is not enough to understand which honey does not crystallize and why, you also need to know how to quickly and easily check the quality of the product.

There are several correct ways:

• Natural honey is never watery in consistency. It should be viscous. To check, it is recommended to heat a spoonful of honey to 21 degrees, and then carefully turn the honey, pouring it slowly. It should drain slowly and flow into the container in a slide forming bubbles.
• The quality of honey can also be checked using regular newspaper. To do this, you need to drop the product onto dry paper. If the honey drips down the newspaper, leaving a wet trail, it means there is too much moisture.
• There is also the possibility of testing honey by using a crust of bread. To do this, you need to dip the bread in honey for 10 - 15 minutes. After that, take it out and check for hardness. If the honey is natural, the bread will become hard. Otherwise, it will remain the same or, on the contrary, soften.

The crystallization process depends on many factors: variety, pumping time, storage conditions, and others. In order to extend the shelf life of a product, you need to know how to check its naturalness.

Crystallization (sugarification, precipitation) of honey is a natural process for this bee product, if the honey is natural and does not contain any additives. Liquid becomes solid because it contains glucose in its structure, which forms crystals. This quality is influenced by several factors that determine the speed and features of this process.

Many lovers of bee treats wonder if this happens when honey is not candied? And if it happens, then why? And in general, should honey be candied?

Why does sweetness take a long time to crystallize?

It's about the type of product

The variety determines how much fructose (a natural sweetener of natural origin) and glucose (also natural, but very high in calories) it contains. If there is more of the first substance, crystallization will occur very slowly, regardless of where the product is stored. So, if you buy real acacia honey, linden or honeydew varieties, do not be surprised if they remain in liquid form for a long time.

Exposure to very low or high temperatures

At sub-zero temperatures, the product freezes and, of course, the setting process also slows down. The same effect is observed at temperatures above 30 degrees. But such an effect is detrimental to the medicinal properties of the product. If you want it to remain liquid for a long time, you need to store it at a temperature of 0°C for the first 5 weeks after pumping out, and 14°C for the rest of the time. Only by ensuring the correct storage conditions will you preserve all the most valuable things in it.

If water makes up 17-18% of the product, it will be slowly sugared and will never become very hard, but will be pasty.

Length of product storage time

If it has been stored for a year or longer, it will be solid; if it has just been pumped out, it will be liquid. We are, of course, talking about real honey.

Mechanical intervention

The product will not harden if it is stirred occasionally with a spoon.

It was picked too early, when it was not yet ripe

It does not have all the beneficial substances that mature. This factor is also the reason why it can ferment. Aging of honey is a very important indicator of its quality.

Questionable quality of bee product

Liquid does not mean good and real. There are many ways to liquefy it: from adding syrup to heating it to a temperature of 40 ° C, at which all its medicinal properties disappear.

Varieties that are not candied

Natural varieties of honey that will be candied later than others include: white - acacia, linden, as well as May, chestnut, Greek and honeydew.

May

This is the earliest of all, which is pumped out in late spring - early summer. And the bees collected pollen for it even before spring itself, in March - April, when the first honey plants began to bloom: bird cherry, lily of the valley, apple tree, cherry, and others. The May product is considered one of the most useful natural varieties.

It contains a large amount of fructose. Therefore, honey does not crystallize. That is why it is recommended for people with diabetes: this delicacy is not very high in calories, is easily digestible and does not interfere with the functioning of the pancreas.

But the May variety, unfortunately, is very often fake, because it is very similar to the one produced by bees after feeding with sugar syrup in winter. Therefore, it is better to buy it closer to autumn, when it has already infused and the process of its shrinkage begins. Then there is a high probability that you will buy a real one.

Acacia

A white variety known for its unique pleasant aroma and taste. It contains approximately 35% glucose and 40% fructose, due to which, and also due to its moisture content, it retains its “liquid” appearance for one to two years. The acacia variety is so liquid that it simply splashes in the container like syrup immediately after pumping. Crystallizing, it becomes very light and vaguely resembles a lard-like structure. The crystals are always small, so it is classified as a fine-grained variety.

Greek

A lot can be said about this species, because Greece is famous for this particular beekeeping product. It is believed that it is the cleanest among all, because the nature of Greece is virgin and not polluted by anything. Tourists bring the Greek view as a souvenir to family and friends. Some of them are surprised. If we are talking about a pine variety, then there is nothing to be surprised here - after all, it is collected not from flowers, but from insects that feed on the sweet sap of plants such as, for example, pine.

It is believed that the honeydew variety does not thicken at all. But such a pure bee product practically does not exist; bees always come across flowering plants on their way, so it can begin to crystallize. You shouldn’t be afraid of this, because we found out that sugaring honey is a natural process.

Another type of Greek honey is thyme (thyme is the same as thyme). It shrinks only six months after it is pumped out, but in liquid form it can last as long as one and a half months.

Another reason why the Greek variety crystallizes later than the domestic one is that it is harvested until late autumn, and if the weather permits, even in the winter months. So it cannot shrink in October, unlike our product, which was collected in August. This means that if the honey is not candied, then it is collected at a later date.

Chestnut

Natural chestnut is a dark variety, very viscous in itself. The process of sugaring it takes six months to a year. But even candied it is very tasty. It becomes like a light brown or brownish-brown jelly. The similarity is also emphasized by the fact that the hardened crystals resemble small granules of gelatin in consistency. But the longer it is stored, the more coarse-grained the structure it acquires, and it can also flake off - this is its special quality, and not a sign that it is fake.

Lime

Another white variety, which, like acacia, retains a liquid structure for a long time - from one and a half to three months. It can be moderately viscous and viscous, which determines the speed of its shrinkage. As it crystallizes, it does not become hard; it is more like a paste or ointment in consistency. Linden is a fine-grained variety. This product is most reminiscent of semolina porridge, because it also has lumps. Over time, it can peel off - into a harder and more liquid part, which collects on the surface.

Buckwheat

Does not apply to slow sugaring. This variety differs from others in its dark shade, but it can be either brown or orange; the mineral content is simply enormous. Once you try it, you won’t confuse it with other species later. After all, it has a special tart taste, which seems to be a little bitter, but this bitterness is very pleasant. Many people note a slight sore throat after drinking this honey.

It crystallizes quickly, so honey must be stored correctly.

If your goal is to improve your health and increase your immunity, then choose this kind of honey. Its properties have been tested for many generations, the effect is impressive. Actively used in cosmetology. What's the benefit? It relieves inflammation very well, heals the skin, and promotes rapid regeneration.

It is definitely indicated for use in cases of reduced immunity, in situations where you overload your body mentally and physically, to stabilize stressful situations. Undoubtedly, it will be useful during pregnancy, but only in the absence of allergic reactions.

Is this product candied?

Sugaring is probably not a sign by which to determine whether honey is real or not, because it is impossible to guess without checking. As mentioned above, both a liquid product - natural honey (linden, acacia, honeydew), and a thickened one (sunflower, heather), any of them can be candied.

The only thing that may indicate a fake is when you are offered to buy a liquid, liquid, homogeneous bee product in winter or early spring. If it is not Greek and real, it must at least begin to crystallize. To do this, you should look at the bottom of the jar, where this process begins. Remember that almost all honey must be candied. This information will help you make the right choice when purchasing honey.

Video

The crystallization process of honey does not change its properties. Fresh product is liquid. Its viscosity depends on maturity and storage conditions. How honey crystallization occurs, what it depends on - all this is in the next video!

01.11.2012

Crystallization (or popularly: sugaring or fermentation) of honey is a natural process inherent in natural honey. However, many people have questions about why honey is candied?

The rate and degree of crystallization of honey depends on the glucose/fructose ratio in the honey composition. The higher the glucose level (and lower the fructose level), the faster the honey sets.

Varieties of honey with a high fructose content and low glucose levels, for example, acacia, chestnut, honeydew honey, crystallize very slowly or always remain liquid. Rapeseed honey and sunflower honey crystallize faster than other varieties.

Crystallization is also affected by the humidity of honey, storage conditions and even weather conditions during the honey collection period.

Crystallized honey does not lose its beneficial properties and does not change its physicochemical composition. During crystallization, the color, consistency, and taste of honey changes. Some honey connoisseurs believe that over time, shriveled honey acquires a richer taste, while others like liquid honey. If the honey you bought is candied, don’t be alarmed, this is just a sign that the honey is natural :)

Why is honey sugared?

Natural, unpasteurized honey naturally contains glucose crystals and pollen grains from the flowers from which the honey is collected.

Other crystals begin to gather around these primary crystals, and so gradually the crystals grow until they reach the consistency of “candied” honey.

Stages of honey crystallization

Crystallization of honey begins with cloudiness - the honey becomes less transparent. Crystallization occurs from the bottom up and from the edges of the container to the center. The starting crystals around which crystallization begins are located at the bottom or along the edges of the walls of the vessel. Sometimes this process doesn't look very attractive.

The ideal storage temperature for rapid crystallization is 13 to 17 °C.

How to prevent honey from crystallizing (candied)

The physical process of honey crystallization can either be prevented or reversed by varying temperature conditions.

If you bought fresh liquid honey and do not want it to become sugary, store the honey in the cold. At storage temperatures below 10 °C, the crystal formation process slows down. Advice for lovers of liquid honey: package fresh liquid honey in small containers and place in the freezer. At temperatures from -1 to -5 °C, honey freezes and all processes stop. When you want to enjoy it, defrost a portion of honey. You will again receive fresh liquid honey, the properties of which have not changed.

At storage temperatures above 20 °C, the crystallization process also slows down. But at the same time, a gradual change in the properties of honey occurs: a decrease in the level of enzyme activity (diastase, invertase), an increase in the level of hydroxymethylfurfural. Read more about the influence of storage conditions on these indicators in the article How to store honey to preserve its beneficial properties.

Already “candied” honey can be melted by heating to 40 °C and above. With gentle heating at 40-50 °C, honey melts, but after a while crystallization will begin again. Even with such heating, a partial loss of honey properties occurs. Large productions can use the pasteurization method, when honey is heated to 70 °C. After such a procedure, honey will never begin to crystallize, but the benefits from such a product are significantly less than from natural honey.

Many consumers who buy honey infrequently are afraid to buy a product with white flakes on top. They believe that sugar crystals are a sign of oldness of the product. Actually this is not true. Why is honey sugared? This is a completely natural process.

The rate of crystal formation depends on the type of nectar and the conditions of its collection and storage. A product that has been poorly cleaned and contains particles of pollen, pollen and other impurities will become candied faster. But this does not affect the quality of the nectar in any way.

What kind of honey is not candied?

The answer can be unequivocal: artificial. The natural product sooner or later becomes thick, and sugar particles appear on top. Of course, this process varies widely. The crystallization period is mainly affected by the content of glucose and fructose in the product. The more glucose it contains, the faster the nectar will become thick. There are varieties that remain in a fluid state for a very long time, among them:

• chestnut;
• honeydew;
• heather.

These varieties can be stored for several years without crystallizing. But sooner or later the substance will still become thick, and flakes will appear on top.

Should honey be candied?

Of course, but if you don't really like a thick product, buy clover or chestnut varieties. Buckwheat, linden and sunflower varieties quickly crystallize. This usually occurs 2-4 weeks after collection.

The crystallization process occurs due to the supersaturation of the solution. The product contains a lot of glucose, which tends to precipitate. It is this precipitate that is the crystals. You cannot influence the process in any way. But some unscrupulous sellers, in order for the product to remain in a liquid state longer, add water to it. At the same time, the amount of glucose in the solution decreases, and the product does not thicken for a long time.

If you purchased a product and the honey quickly became candied, do not blame the seller for selling a low-quality product. Pay attention to the origin of the product. If it was collected from sunflower or rapeseed, then it is quite normal that after 3 weeks of storage you will see the first grains. There is no need to dilute anything. It is as healthy and high quality as liquid natural honey.

What to do with candied honey?

Eat it. Its properties remain the same. You can use it to prepare cough remedies or bake delicious muffins. Natural honey can be eaten with warm tea.

If the honey quickly becomes sugary, and the label indicates that it is acacia, then you should doubt its quality. Natural acacia honey is a product with the longest shelf life in a liquid state. It can remain fluid for 2-3 years. It's quite normal.

To check the authenticity of the candied nectar and its quality, apply a drop to your palm. Now rub the piece between your fingers. If the product is artificial, it will form flakes and lumps. If the honey is real, it will become liquid and turn into a viscous mass that sticks your fingers together. Many beekeepers recommend using this method to check the quality of the candied product.

The crystallization of honey in the apiaries of the Krasnoyarsk Territory differs significantly from the crystallization of honey obtained in other regions of Russia. The main reason is the harsh and humid climate, which affects the mechanism of nectar secretion of plants, as well as many plants, the nectar secretion of which, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, has not yet been studied by beekeeping institutes.

Crystallization of honey in cool and hot summers

A humid and, as a rule, cool summer in its own way triggers the nectar secretion mechanism of plants, in the nectar of which fructose begins to predominate. While honeys with a predominance of glucose crystallize quickly, honeys with a predominance of fructose crystallize extremely slowly. Hot summer - plants produce more glucose and honey crystallizes quickly, cold and cool - more fructose and slow crystallization.

Honey separation

High fructose honey

With the same ratio of glucose and fructose, unpleasant honey separation occurs during crystallization, although this is quite rare. Natural honey, when exfoliated, has a pleasant taste and aroma of both parts.

High enzyme honeys

The quantitative ratio of glucose and fructose depends on the type of bribe, on the amount of enzymes secreted by bees and on the duration of storage. In honey that has not been subjected to heat treatment, enzymes do not lose their activity, and new sugar molecules are formed during storage (not the sugar you thought about). The prolonged action of enzymes on the carbohydrate components of honey leads, along with other phenomena, to the “stratification” of honey. Crystallized glucose precipitates, and liquid fructose collects above it.

Honey from forbs

There is one more, not unimportant, criterion for the separation of honey. POLYFLORAL HONEY (forbs) obtained in large apiaries (where there are honey extractors for 25+ frames) can stratify. The reason is that when collecting honey from wild honey-bearing tracts, bees collect nectar from different flowers, therefore the resulting honey is different, of different density, color, etc. When pumping honey on a large honey extractor, honey of different varieties is mixed. After storage, honey, due to the difference in weight, separates in the container. This is not noticeable until one of the honeys begins to crystallize, then the border becomes clear. Over time, the second part also crystallizes. Such honey often scares away the buyer. In turn, MONOFLORAL honeys (collected mainly from one honey plant) crystallize mostly evenly.

Crystallization of honey in the northern and southern regions

In addition, the same plants, when moving north, secrete more fructose in their nectar and honey crystallizes more slowly. For example, honey collected from burnt areas and clearings in the Minusinsk region crystallizes quickly (3-5 months). And honey collected from burnt areas in the north of the Birilyus region begins to crystallize only in the second or third year, although the plant is the same - fireweed.

Crystallization rate of honey from various honey plants

Crystallization also depends on the type of honey plants. Plants from which honey collected crystallizes quickly are: all cruciferous plants (colza, sverbiga, rapeseed, etc.), the willow family, yellow sow thistle, sunflower and heather (there are none in our region). Honey from honey plants such as sweet clover, raspberry, clover, and fireweed slowly crystallizes.

How does a beekeeper influence crystallization?

Amateur beekeepers keep bees, usually without the use of special store extensions designed for collecting honey. Honey is pumped out from nesting frames, on which last year’s honey often remains. Fresh honey crystallizes much faster if it contains at least a small amount of last year’s honey. The sterility of containers (honey extractors, honeycombs, etc.) has the same effect. Many beekeepers use wooden barrels to store honey that are not washed before pumping out a new crop. In this case, honey crystallizes quickly. Honey in honeycombs begins to crystallize much slower than centrifugal honey, because it does not come into contact with air, containers, honey extractor, etc.

Coarse and fine crystallization

The same honey, when stored in heat and in cold, gives completely different crystallization: in heat - large crystals and a darker color. In the cold, the crystallization is more subtle and delicate. Fresh honey crystallizes most quickly at an external air temperature of 8 to 14 degrees.