crystallizing honey

[Do224]

I extracted some honey in August and it’s now fully crystallised in the jars (it was runny for the first few weeks). It’s now solid but soft…not runny at all.

I just checked the jar I kept from the previous year and it’s still as runny as the day I extracted it.

Is this kind of variation normal or does it suggest I’ve got sugar syrup/fondant in my latest batch? I’ve never fed them while supers were on but am wondering if they could have moved excess winter stores (which would contain syrup/fondant) up into the super when I put it on in the spring?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Is this kind of variation normal

Yes. Perfectly.
I have a jar that is 15 years old and still runny. It’s just got darker as the hmf has risen.
Dandelion honey from last spring started crystallising within weeks

 

[Antipodes]

I have a jar that is 15 years old and still runny

Wow! What would be the main nectar source in that case I wonder?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I was a beginner. Living in Westmorland. Rosebay and bramble would be my guess but I get that now and it crystallises. Maybe the addition of clover does that. No clover in the Lake District. Sheep eat everything.

 

[drex]

The nature of the honey will vary from year to year and box to box. How soon it crystallises depends on the ratio of sugars in it, mainly glucose and fructose.
When I extract I run it into food grade buckets and let it sit for a few weeks. If it remains clear and runny I process as runny, if it shows signs of crystallisation I will soft set it

 

[enrico]

That is the beauty of real honey, Lime and fuchsia never sets but brassicas always set. All nectars have different properties. That is why I suggest keeping a jar from every year so you can compare. My mainly lime honey from last year is still runny but similar honey from a different hive has gone like jelly. Obviously foraging on different plants during the same period. I often keep hives separate for that purpose too when extracting. Love the variations.

 

[hemo]

It will depend on the two main natural sugars that make up the honey, obviously the honey has a higher Glucose base.
It only needs a bit of brassica nectar to set , personnally if it has set as soft set then sell/use it as so.
As it has set as soft set , it is worth keeping a jar or two aside as seed for future honey's if one decides the soft set is worth having.
I recently warmed a tub of honey to a jar and three weeks later is has set quite firm in the jars , it's pot luck with the nectar sugars.

 

[Do224]

It’s set firm and very grainy…just looks like a honey coloured mass of molten sugar really. Is this what soft set honey should be like? Never eaten real honey before getting bees so nothing to compare it to

 

[Do224]

View attachment IMG_6355.MOV

 

[Curly green finger's]

It’s set firm and very grainy…just looks like a honey coloured mass of molten sugar really. Is this what soft set honey should be like? Never eaten real honey before getting bees so nothing to compare it to

Soft set is usually smooth and creamy to taste most use a seed but honey will become a natural soft set over a period of time if it has the right balance of sugars ,here’s a bucket of natural soft set which is soft when you put a spoon in and smooth .

 

[hemo]

No not proper softset then as it usually has a creamy colour and finer consistancy.

 

[hemo]

Maybe it has some heather in the mix ?

 

[emoclewbee]

View attachment 38582View attachment 38583

Totally normal crystallisation. A lot of my Blackberry are like this, with the jar being heterogeneous between some nearly fully crystallised some partially there and some almost fully runny.
I had very little clover mixed this year. last year it crystallised differently but I had a strong flow of blow blackberry and clover overlap.
I wouldn't worry about this. Seems totally normal.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Is this what soft set honey should be like?

Like butter.
Take a spoon out and it’s soft. The gap where you took the honey out should gradually disappear. Curly’s is a little too hard for my liking but it’s still soft set.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Like butter.
Take a spoon out and it’s soft. The gap where you took the honey out should gradually disappear. Curly’s is a little too hard for my liking but it’s still soft set.

Do you ever get a a natural soft set Dani ?the bucket in the photo was extracted on the 23rd of June 23 and there is no frosting but plenty of white beekeepers honey on the top though in some of the buckets.

 

[enrico]

Here are a couple of jars of mine. The one on the right is spring honey, set like fudge, loads of brassica from barge mans cabbage which grows down by the river. The one on the left is mainly bramble and lime from summer nectar.it is still runny. Even the colour can change from crop to crop. Both taste heavenly.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

but plenty of white beekeepers honey on the top though in some of the buckets.

That's not 'beekeeper's honey' that's just the natural frosting you get on top of any naturally set honey - and many sopt sets

 

[hemo]

I have some that are clear but very syrup like consistancy though that may be partly down to the cold where they are kept. My set one, creamy coloured just like your one is Eric is a bit harder and has some ivy in it from the taste.

My harder set one tastes heavenly but does has larger grainy crystals.

 

[Do224]

Maybe it has some heather in the mix ?

Nah not around here…they’d have to fly maybe 5 miles

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Nah not around here…they’d have to fly maybe 5 miles

which they will do in a year with little other forage and a good heather yield, but it doesn't look like heather which doesn't tend to cause crystallisation, and if it does is pretty creamy and especially not large grainy crystals - just the normal behaviour for August honey really probably with a touch of dandelion which does speed up the crystallisation and causes larger crystals
Just a guess mind you