Honey is changing consistency

[Do224]

I extracted and jarred my honey in August and it was a mid golden colour and pretty runny. It was completely clear. It stayed this way for a while but I’ve just got back from 3 weeks away and noticed that it’s beginning to ‘set’…it’s less runny, cloudy and becoming grainy. Is this normal?

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Very much so. The time taken for honey to set varies with the proportions of fructose and glucose but most honeys set sooner or later.

In that lovely film Peter Fonda film, Ulee's Gold, we hear that perhaps honey from the mangrove swamps doesn't crystallise. It ends like this:

Her: ‘Right, tell me what’s so special about this honey of yours.’
Him: ‘Well, it’s very rare, and it never crystallises no matter how long it’s left out. In the whole world, only the river and swamps along this area allow the trees enough isolation to give purity…’ (Fades behind music.)

It’s such a tender moment.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I extracted and jarred my honey in August and it was a mid golden colour and pretty runny. It was completely clear. It stayed this way for a while but I’ve just got back from 3 weeks away and noticed that it’s beginning to ‘set’…it’s less runny, cloudy and becoming grainy. Is this normal?

yes

 

[steve1958]

If you want to keep some jars of honey runny put them in your freezer.
Honey doesn't have much water in so doesn't expand when frozen.
In fact honey doesn't freeze solid in a domestic freezer.
Then when you want a jar allow it to thaw for an hour, and it's ready to go.
A lot safer than using heat

 

[enrico]

I extracted and jarred my honey in August and it was a mid golden colour and pretty runny. It was completely clear. It stayed this way for a while but I’ve just got back from 3 weeks away and noticed that it’s beginning to ‘set’…it’s less runny, cloudy and becoming grainy. Is this normal?

You can find that some years you get different honeys setting differently in the same jar, rock solid for the bottom half and runny in the top half, it is what makes real honey so interesting and why I say always keep a jar from every year. Every year might be different. In 40 years time you will be looking at the honey from 2023 and the memories will come flooding back!

 

[fian]

Humidity and ambient temperature also influence.
Glucose and fructose combine to form sugar and a water molecule. The sugar precipitates around microscopic pollen particles that decay to the bottom of the jar while the water further dilutes the rest of the mixture.
The critical temperature is 14°C, which is the temperature at which the greatest reaction occurs.
Humidity influences it in an indirect way, similar to the process of precipitating water drops on the outside of a glass containing liquid and ice (phase change process). Thus, greater external humidity can induce a phase change in the concentration of fructose and glucose in honey.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Humidity influences it in an indirect way

only if the honey jar is porous

 

[Do224]

Are there any issues when selling it if it’s beginning to set? How about if some jars are setting and some are still clear and runny…do customers just accept it as normal?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Are there any issues when selling it if it’s beginning to set?

no - but for presentation, you can just warm it up for a few hours to clear it again - that's when a warming cabinet is your friend

 

[enrico]

Are there any issues when selling it if it’s beginning to set? How about if some jars are setting and some are still clear and runny…do customers just accept it as normal?

I put this in my rear jar label. Then they know it is fine.

 

[Swarm]

Granulated jars are the last to go in my experience.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

no - but for presentation, you can just warm it up for a few hours to clear it again - that's when a warming cabinet is your friend

Some ovens give reasonably precise temperature control down to 30 degrees C.