Why Honey Crystallises

All natural honey will crystallise. It is a natural process. If your honey never crystallises, it is likely either not real honey or it has been heated to such a high temperature that much of the goodness has been affected.

Crystallisation comes down to the balance of sugars in the nectar the bees collect. Honey is mainly made up of glucose and fructose. Glucose naturally wants to form crystals. Fructose stays liquid.

So when a honey has a higher proportion of glucose, it will set faster. When it has more fructose, it will stay runny for longer.

That is why some honeys set within weeks and others stay clear for months.

Spring Honey and Why It Sets So Quickly

Spring honey often crystallises more quickly. Early season forage such as oilseed rape, dandelion and hawthorn tends to produce nectar with a higher glucose content.

Oilseed rape is the obvious example. It can start setting in the frames if you are not quick enough extracting it. Leave it too long and it will go like concrete and you simply cannot spin it out.

Ivy behaves in a similar way. It is very high in glucose and will granulate extremely quickly, sometimes even in the comb.

Later summer honeys with more bramble or mixed wildflower nectar often contain relatively more fructose and can stay liquid for much longer.

Fine and Coarse Crystallisation

When honey crystallises, the size of the crystals makes all the difference to the texture.

Honey crystallises because it is what is known as a supersaturated solution of sugars and water. Honey contains far more dissolved sugar than water would normally be able to hold. Over time the glucose becomes less soluble than the fructose and begins to separate from the liquid, forming tiny crystals. Once a few crystals appear, more glucose gathers around them and the crystals slowly grow, which is what turns runny honey into set honey.

Tiny particles in the honey such as pollen grains, wax particles or air bubbles can also act as starting points for crystals to form. This is one of the reasons raw honey often crystallises more readily than highly filtered honey.

If crystallisation happens slowly and undisturbed, larger crystals can develop. That is when you get a coarse or slightly grainy set.

If lots of very tiny crystals form at the same time, the honey feels smooth and almost buttery.

Temperature plays a part here too. Honey tends to crystallise fastest at around 14°C. Warmer than that and it stays liquid longer. Much colder and the process slows down again.

Storage conditions can influence how quickly crystals form and how large they grow.

A grainy texture is not a fault. It simply means the crystals are larger.

What Is Soft Set Honey

With soft set honey we are actually trying to get it to set, but we are controlling how it sets.

Very fine crystals are introduced into liquid honey. These act as seed crystals. Instead of letting random crystals of any size form, we are effectively telling the honey what size crystal to build around.

Because the starter crystals are tiny, the finished honey has that smooth, spreadable consistency rather than a grainy one.

It is still completely natural honey. We are simply guiding a natural process so the crystal structure is even throughout.

Heating Honey and Keeping the Goodness

When honey crystallises for us, we do not pasteurise it. Pasteurisation usually involves heating honey to around 60°C or higher to delay crystallisation and improve shelf stability.

At those temperatures enzymes such as diastase and invertase begin to break down and HMF levels increase. HMF is one of the ways heat exposure in honey can be measured.

If we need to loosen honey, we warm it gently to around hive temperature, roughly 35°C. That is the temperature the bees maintain in the brood nest.

At that level you can soften crystals without stripping out what makes raw honey what it is.

Once you go much above 40°C for any length of time, enzyme activity begins to reduce. The hotter it gets and the longer it stays there, the more you lose.

How to Return Crystallised Honey to Liquid

Some people love set honey. Mark prefers it that way. It spreads beautifully and does not drip off toast.

If you do not like crystallised honey, you can gently warm the jar at home.

Stand the jar in a bowl of warm water and allow it to slowly return to liquid. Do not use boiling water. Just warm water and patience.

You can also place the jar in the airing cupboard or even leave it in the car on a warm day.

Gentle heat and time are all that is needed.

Crystallisation Is a Sign of Real Honey

Crystallisation is not a problem and it is not a fault.

It is simply what real honey does.

Our Honey

All of the honey we sell is raw and gently handled, so it behaves exactly as real honey should. That means some jars will stay runny for months, while others will slowly crystallise depending on the flowers the bees have been visiting.

Our own hives are based in East Devon, and we also work with a few trusted beekeepers in places such as Exmoor and other parts of the South West.

You can explore our current honey harvests here
Shop our honey