Crystalized Honey

papabear · November 08, 2009, 11:59:05 AM

Does anyone sell crystalized honey? Should i sell it as is or heat it enough to liquify then sell. I dont want to get a bad name in the area of a bad name for the honey business. It hasent bothered anyone yet, but you know how some people are.

Bee-Bop · November 08, 2009, 06:07:12 PM

I suppose there are some who buy crystallized honey but I think you would have to develop a market.

Actually of course I'm sure you know if you mix it with a mixer blade it becomes " whipped " honey and there is a market for that in some places.

I believe tho that people buying honey in a jar are used to that liquid " honey " like in the store, I personally
would not want to buy crystallized honey, then have to take it home and heat it to make it liquid, well maybe with a big enough discount in price I would.

A lot of " raw/fresh " honey is sold with the notation that it will possibly crystallize in a short time.

Oh, I have 3, 5 gal. buckets of Crystallized honey, I will put in my 110 degree heating cabinet as needed.

Good Luck
Bee-Bop

alfred · November 08, 2009, 06:31:34 PM

My wife and I realy like 'spun' or 'whipped' or 'creamed honey' and buy it occasionally at the store. It definitly costs more. It is essetially crystalized honey but the crystals are very very fine unlike what you normaly get when your honey crystalizes in the jar. I did have a bunch of honey crystalize very fine on its own two years ago, very nice!

Now I use some store bought 'Spun Honey' as seed crystals to start my own. I fill a jar about 70 to 80% full with honey and the rest of the way with the seed crystals and then I mix it all up using a mixer blade powerd with my electric drill. Then I store the jars in a cool place. I have been told that 55 degrees is the best temp for doing this. In a few weeks I have my spun honey, or sometimes it needs another mixing session.

This time around I have added lemon zest to a couple of jars just to see how it turns out. initial taste tests are yum!!

Alfred

Michael Bush · November 10, 2009, 07:45:16 AM

>Does anyone sell crystalized honey?

That's all I sell.

naurot · November 11, 2009, 05:58:21 PM

Check this site out - they sell fermented honey! It's all in the marketing...

reallyrawhoney dot com then click on products (sorry, I can't post links)

James

Hethen57 · February 03, 2011, 02:01:08 PM

I still have a steady demand for honey and it seems like most of my large mason jars have got thick started to crystalize over the winter. I don't want to sell it that way (except for Mead making). Here's my plan to try to revive it > I'm thinking of warming the mason jars in a double boiler of hot water until clear and flowing and then running it through a filter screen again and re-bottling in 1# jars. Any comments or other suggestions?

AllenF · February 03, 2011, 02:05:29 PM

On a warm sunny day, put them in your attic or in a car. Cost is less to warm them.

hardwood · February 03, 2011, 02:06:15 PM

I just had some jars crystallize too. I put a shop light in a deep hive box and put a metal queen excluder on top followed by another deep box and a lid. I put the jars on the excluder and turned on the light for a day or so and all crystals were gone.

Scott

Acebird · February 04, 2011, 03:31:09 PM

QuoteI still have a steady demand for honey and it seems like most of my large mason jars have got thick started to crystalize over the winter.

Have you tried a microwave at 15 sec intervals? Remove the metal lid.

Hethen57 · February 04, 2011, 08:45:24 PM

Ya, I've tried the microwave for short periods of time. It gets it to flow, but doesn't seem to melt the granules and it still stays cloudy. However, hot water over a longer period of time seems to convert it back to clear honey. I was going to try the to filter the warm honey to remove any remaining granules so it will hopefully keep as liquid honey longer. My honey is only coarse filtered, so I think that may be part of the reason it is granulating so quick. I was going to heat and drop to a medium and see if that didn't make clear, saleable honey again. With the low temps we are having, I think my boil kettle will be the best way to heat it.

Kathyp · February 04, 2011, 08:56:07 PM

i sell mine crystallized. if the crystals are fine, people don't seem to care. in fact, the folks who routinely buy raw honey seem to expect it. i just found some that is kind of chunky and i'll probably remelt that. i heat a pan of water. remove it from heat. set jar in. rotate it from time to time. reheat water without honey jar if needed and then return jar to water.

Acebird · February 05, 2011, 10:13:48 AM

Quoteif the crystals are fine, people don't seem to care.

If it doesn't crystalize is it honey or something else?

rdy-b · February 06, 2011, 01:53:26 AM

Quote from: Hethen57 on February 04, 2011, 08:45:24 PM
Ya, I've tried the microwave for short periods of time. It gets it to flow, but doesn't seem to melt the granules and it still stays cloudy. However, hot water over a longer period of time seems to convert it back to clear honey. I was going to try the to filter the warm honey to remove any remaining granules so it will hopefully keep as liquid honey longer. My honey is only coarse filtered, so I think that may be part of the reason it is granulating so quick. I was going to heat and drop to a medium and see if that didn't make clear, saleable honey again. With the low temps we are having, I think my boil kettle will be the best way to heat it.

You need a warming cabnit-make it out of small fridge-like for wine botels-use a 60 waytt light and a thermostat-
you can do jars and even a bucket in a mini fridge set up right-and they are cheap to make-just need to find a fridge and yes you can use a large one or a old chest frezer-the trick is to duplicate the heat of a bee hive dont excede hive temp-RDY-B

AllenF · February 06, 2011, 03:52:34 PM

The only honey my wife eats in mass is creamed honey. (She is weird.) But most of the honey in Canada and Europe is creamed honey. The U.S. is the odd on here. If you have honey that wants to turn, stick it in tubs and sell it (or let the wife eat it).

Hethen57 · February 07, 2011, 02:37:51 PM

Most of my remaining bulk honey was stored in large mason jars, so we just heated in a double boiler roasting pan, filled the top with water, and it took no time at all to heat the jars, pour through a coarse filter into the bottling bucket, and fill a bunch of 1# retail jars to keep up with my winter customer demand. The honey looks as good as new, flows great, and no crystals. I agree, that people who know raw honey may expect some crystals, but mine was getting really thick. It is certainly alot better product now. And I've found some people just don't like the texture of those crystals, or think it's substandard or has gone bad. I may try to cream some next year, but it sounds like I would need to store it at around 57 degrees, and I don't have any way to keep it that temp to get the right crystals. House is too hot, shop is too cold, basement maintains mid 60's.

jdnewberry · February 10, 2011, 02:05:24 AM

Most of my honey production is Sourwood honey. Very rarely does Sourwood crystallize sooner than 3-5 years, but on occasion I do get a crystallized jar. While it is acceptable to sell jars with crystals in them, I personally like the look of a nice, clear, liquid jar.

Don't make fun of me, but I have a very simple "trick" to fix the crystallized honey. When I'm washing the dishes, I just load a jar or two into the dishwasher with everything else. Place them on the top rack and the machine does all the work for you. No more crystals. As a bonus, all the dust gets washed away and the jars are squeaky clean again!

annette · February 10, 2011, 02:20:26 AM

I have yet to see any of my honey crystalize. I have a 2 lb jar on the shelf right now that was extracted last summer.

I believe I read that it depends on the ratio of fructose to glucose. Does anyone remember this??

jdnewberry · February 10, 2011, 02:35:03 AM

I guess I'll have to look that one up. I used to wonder why sourwood never seemed to crystallize, but decided that I didn't really need to know the answer. I was just so happy that I didn't have to deal with it, I never bothered to dig through the books for an answer.

Finski · February 10, 2011, 02:46:06 AM

Quote from: annette on February 10, 2011, 02:20:26 AM

I believe I read that it depends on the ratio of fructose to glucose. Does anyone remember this??

Yes, fructose stays as liquid. There are some enzymes too which affects to.

I remember than Hungarian acacia honey does not crystallize.

We have fireweed honey which remains liquid the whole winter.

Acebird · February 10, 2011, 09:14:59 AM

QuoteWhen I'm washing the dishes, I just load a jar or two into the dishwasher with everything else. Place them on the top rack and the machine does all the work for you. No more crystals.

There you go. Good idea. You would have to apply the paper labels after you washed them though if you were selling. I wouldn't do this with plastic containers.