"Does Honey Ever Go Bad?"

The most common question we get asked as beekeepers is, “Does honey ever go bad?” If the honey is harvested properly, the answer to this question is NO. I’m not sure if there is any other foods that could be placed in the same category. Remarkable really! Over time, honey will harden or crystallize but that doesn’t mean it’s bad or needs to be thrown out (oh, please don’t throw it out).

There are a number of reasons why honey crystallizes. First, honey can be made from the nectar of many different flowers and some nectar is more prone to the crystallizing process. In our neck of the woods (southwest Saskatchewan), canola honey crystallizes the quickest. The short explanation is simple chemistry. Honey is a highly saturated combination of two sugars, sucrose and glucose in a mixer of 70% carbohydrates and roughly 20% water. Therefore, over time, this solution cannot maintain all this dissolved sugar and some will begin to crystallize. Secondly, honey is temperature sensitive. If you keep your honey in a cooler place, it will harden quicker.

Now what do you do with your jar of crystallized honey? If you are simply wanting to add some honey to your tea or coffee, just scoop out a spoonful and add it to your hot beverage. It will dissolve immediately. If you need it liquid for more accurate measurements like baking for example, this is the drill. Slowly warm your crystallized jar of honey (needs to be in a glass jar—no plastic) in a pan of water on the stove. The key to this process is SLOWLY. If honey is heated too fast or too hot, it losses a significant amount of its nutritional value and becomes liquid sugar only which, by the way, is the same thing as pasteurizing your honey. We aim to stay away from this whenever possible.

Please don’t be upset if your jar of honey crystallizes. This actually means that it is the real deal, no fake honey, nothing added, nothing taken away. It’s the real mccoy and this should make you very happy.