Customers message us every winter to say their honey has gone solid. It is the single most misunderstood thing about real honey.
Crystallised honey is not spoiled, not old, and not sugar that somebody stirred in. It is honey doing what honey does.
What is actually happening
Honey is mostly two sugars, glucose and fructose, dissolved in a small amount of water. There is far more sugar present than the water can comfortably hold, which makes honey a supersaturated solution and therefore unstable by nature. Over time the glucose comes out of solution and forms crystals. Cool weather speeds this up, which is why jars that were liquid in August turn thick in December.
Why some honeys set faster than others
The ratio of glucose to fructose differs by flower. Honey with more glucose sets quickly and often goes almost solid. Honey with more fructose stays runny for much longer. That is why acacia honey can sit clear on a shelf for a year while other varieties granulate within weeks, and it is a property of the blossom, not a measure of quality.
The uncomfortable part
Honey that never sets, in any weather, has usually been heated. Heating dissolves the crystal seeds and delays granulation, which makes the jar look better on a shelf for longer. It also drives up HMF, a compound that rises when honey is heated or stored badly, and it is one of the things a laboratory measures. Syrup added to honey has the same shelf appeal and the same effect on the way it behaves.
So a jar that stays permanently clear is not proof of anything on its own, but it is a reason to ask what was done to it.
How to soften it
Stand the closed jar in a bowl of warm water, not boiling, and leave it for fifteen to twenty minutes. Repeat if you need to. Do not microwave it and do not put it on direct heat, because that undoes exactly the thing you were paying for.
One thing to remember
Granulated honey spreads beautifully on warm roti and paratha, and many people prefer it that way once they stop treating it as a fault.
Honey is not suitable for infants under twelve months.