Why Honey Crystallizes & What to Do with It

Honey is a supersaturated solution of sugar and water, which means it contains more sugar than the water can naturally dissolve. Honey crystallizes when the water releases excess sugar.

If you’ve ever had the fun of making rock candy, you already know the principle of crystallization. Rock candy crystals precipitate from a supersaturated solution created by dissolving, by weight, about 57% sugar in 43% water. By comparison, most honey contains more than 70% sugar and less than 20% water.

Honey crystals that grow large are hard and crunchy, like rock candy. This type of crystallized honey is sometimes called candied honey. Honey with tiny crystals feels velvety smooth, like softened butter. This type of crystallized honey is often called creamed honey.

Different types of honey crystallize at different rates, depending on the ratio between the two main types of sugar — glucose and fructose — the honey contains. The ratio of glucose to fructose depends, in turn, on the blossoms from which bees gathered nectar to make the honey.

A colony of honey bees generally prefers to gather nectar from a single type of blossoming plant. In the United States, more than 300 unique types of honey have been identified. Depending on the floral source, each type of honey has a slightly different ratio of glucose to fructose, therefore each type of honey crystallizes at a slightly different rate.

Honey Crystallization Rate

Since glucose is lower in solubility than fructose, glucose is responsible for crystallization. The higher the proportion of glucose, the quicker the honey crystallizes.

High glucose, low fructose honeys that crystallize relatively fast include alfalfa, blueberry, dandelion, canola, clover, cotton, goldenrod, star thistle, and titi (buckwheat tree). Crystallized honey that is moderately high in glucose will be relatively soft. The higher the proportion of glucose, the harder the crystallized honey will be.

Low glucose, high fructose honeys that crystallize more slowly include avocado, acacia, blackberry, black locust, black sage, maple, sourwood, and tupelo. These types of honey may take years to crystallize, starting with a layer of paler, thicker honey at the bottom, with still-liquid honey on top.

Storage temperature strongly influences how fast honey crystallizes. A temperature between 50°F and 70°F hastens crystallization, while a temperature below 50°F or above 70°F delays it. Honey stored in my cool pantry crystallizes quicker than honey kept in my warm kitchen.

Crystallization also occurs more rapidly if the honey contains floral pollen. When a bee visits a blossom to collect nectar, pollen from the blossom sticks to the bee’s body hairs. Pollen is a natural part of honey, and can be used to identify what type of plant the bees have been visiting.

Natural, raw honey contains lots of tiny pollen grains, which glucose uses as seeds around which to build crystals. For this reason, most honey purchased in supermarkets has been filtered* (see below) to remove pollen and delay crystallization.

Crystallized honey is paler than liquid honey, which gives uninformed consumers the misperception that crystallized honey is contaminated, or moldy, or has otherwise gone bad.

Just the opposite is true. Crystallization is a sign of good quality honey. Some people prefer crystallized honey to liquid honey.

What To Do with Crystallized Honey

Honey with tiny crystals is smooth and spreadable, and may be used like jelly or jam. Honey with larger, crunchier crystals, will dissolve when stirred into hot tea. Some people use the crunchies to top oatmeal, yogurt, or ice cream. I often use crystallized honey to sweeten homemade bread. The crystals dissolve as the dough is kneaded.

If you want to reliquify crystallized honey, all you have to do is warm the jar awhile in a bowl or basin of water, heated to about 120°F. I’ve also set jars on a plate warmer or in a water filled slow cooker set on low. A butter knife stuck into the middle of the jar will draw heat to the middle and hasten liquifying.

For purposes of reliquifying, honey is best stored in glass jars. Our household uses a lot of honey, so we buy it in bulk and repack it into glass canning jars.

In my experience, microwaving a whole jar of honey overheats and ruins the unused portion. If you’re in a big hurry, you might microwave just as much honey as you immediately need.

*Filtering out pollen removes the honey’s provenance. Unscrupulous honey packers use this knowledge to blend honey from questionable and unsafe sources that cannot be detected in filtered honey.

To be certain you are getting quality, unfiltered honey, look for organic brands. Or buy from a local beekeeper. In many rural areas, locally owned stores will display and sell honey from local sources.