# How to keep honey from crystallising?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 6, 2002, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633 "2002-06-06T08:14:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2002, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/1 "2002-06-06T08:14:32Z")
I’ve just agreed to buy a few pounds of unheated honey.
A friend says that I am wasting my money as it will crystallize before I can use it.
Can I freeze it? Or is there some other way to make it last? Or if it crystallises, can I melt it again somehow?
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### Author:  [@xcheopis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcheopis)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2002, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/2 "2002-06-06T08:25:25Z")
Honey can be liquified by placing the jar into a pan of hot water. Sometimes this takes awhile but it does work.
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### Author:  [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2002, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/3 "2002-06-06T09:55:26Z")
Or nuke it for a few seconds.
Pure honey crystallizes, that’s all there is to it. It doesn’t hurt the taste or quality at all - it’s just changing its form for a bit.
Of course, if you use as much honey as we do around here you never acutally GET to the crystallizing point 🙂
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2002, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/4 "2002-06-06T10:14:54Z")
You can re-melt crystallised honey by putting it in the microwave for a few seconds, be careful not to overdo it though; boiling hot sugar can be very nasty.
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### Author:  [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/5 "2002-06-06T13:42:14Z")
And crystallizing and nuking repeatedly does nothing to harm the flavor, IMO, i’ve been doing it for years. What it DOES do is f-up any plastic container it might be in. I keep al mine in glass jars, then when I have to nuke it it’s safe.
That way, you have to use a spon to get the honey out, and consequently, you have to lick the spoon. Yum.
b.
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### Author:  [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/6 "2002-11-18T21:57:15Z")
I just opened up a new tub of honey, and there was a layer of white … something on top.
It’s like a foam, with very small bubbles in it.
It’s about three millimetres thick, and it first galnce it looed like yogourt, until I looked a little closer.
I dug down, and there’s more conventional-looking honey underneath.
Is this okay to eat? It’s not like your usual crystalliztion, in my experience.
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### Author:  [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/7 "2002-11-18T22:12:38Z")
Wolf your honey is fine, those are just bubbles that havent popped yet and may never pop since they are so small and in honey.
if you have honey in a plastic container use the hot water method, place in a big pot of boiling water (take it off the stove or make sure the plastic doesnt contact the bottom of the pot) with a lid if possible. this if corse depends on the size of your honey jar, I got mine at costco so it takes quite a bit of water.
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### Author:  [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2002, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/8 "2002-11-18T22:26:27Z")
The easiest way to stop honey from crystallising in the first place is to store the jar of honey upside down (this also works with foods which have a tendency to gather mould around the lid, such as apple sauce).
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-honey-from-crystallising/112633/9 "2002-11-18T23:13:15Z")
Or you could just go the route of a culinary philistine and add a teaspoon or two of water to your honey. Honey is typically ~82% sugars by weight. Reducing that percentage even slightly will bring about a large decrease in the likelyhood of crystal formation. Of course if you add too much water (sugar content below ~70%) you end up encouraging mold growth…