Granulated Honey

Why does our honey granulate (or “set”) in the jar?

All pure raw honey will granulate and set in the jar in time.  This may happen in a few days (if for example the honey is made from the nectar of Oil Seed Rape flowers) or in a few weeks.  This is a natural process and cannot be avoided without heat-treating the honey.  We prefer not to heat-treat our honey, but if you like runny honey, it is simple to turn it back to its liquid state.

This can be done by gently heating the honey in the jar, either by:

1.  Loosening the lid and standing the jar in a pan of hot water (it is best to stand the jar on something to lift it off the bottom of the pan to avoid the honey at the bottom of the jar over heating), and gently heating the water.  It is best that the temperature of the honey does not exceed 45 degrees Centigrade.  If the water nears boiling point you will almost certainly ruin the honey.  The honey should be stirred occasionally until it is liquid again.  Once liquid it should remain in that state for several weeks.  The higher the temperature the honey reaches, the longer it will remain liquid (mass produced “squeezy bottle” honey is subjected to higher heat treatment).

Or

2.  Removing the lid and heat the honey on low power (even defrost) in a microwave oven, stirring the honey occasionally, until the honey turns back into its liquid state.  Remember that the honey will continue to heat for a while once removed from the microwave. In both cases, the honey will be better if you take your time and heat it slowly, rather than heating rapidly (which will work, but the honey will not taste the same!).