# Why does honey keep so well?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-honey-keep-so-well/1723>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 30, 1999, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-honey-keep-so-well/1723 "1999-06-30T06:02:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-honey-keep-so-well/1723/1 "1999-06-30T06:02:00Z")

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Reading about Y2K preperations, and how there is currently a run on honey. Organic honey producers are having a hard time meeting demand.

My question is, why does honey keep so well, even without refrigeration? I would think something that is pure sugar would be covered in and eaten by mold very quickly.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-honey-keep-so-well/1723/2 "1999-06-30T07:43:00Z")

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Because as a crystal in suspension it is highly osmotic, literally sucking the juice out of any living cell that fell into it the same way that salt on lettuce will cause it to wilt. BTW salt has the same effect, the reason that salting meat was practiced before the days of refrigeration,  
Larry

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-honey-keep-so-well/1723/3 "1999-06-30T10:56:00Z")

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Good answer. How about the additional effect of plant alkaloids in there?

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-honey-keep-so-well/1723/4 "1999-07-02T13:55:00Z")

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## Plant alkaloids may have an effect but it’s probably unlikely. Honey, or any sugar solution with the density of honey, is simply too supersaturated to go bad.

“Who are all you people, and how did you get in my computer?”

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-honey-keep-so-well/1723/5 "1999-07-02T14:15:00Z")

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(Perk!) Plant alkaloids? Too bad there’s no mescaline or psilocybin in there.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-honey-keep-so-well/1723/6 "1999-07-02T15:31:00Z")

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If there were, we’d be pissing in a cup every two months for a “random honey test”.

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“Who are all you people, and how did you get in my computer?”