How do you fix honey that's gone hard?
Add enough hot (not boiling) water to the container to just reach the top of the honey in the bottle. Once the water has been added, remove the lid and let the jar sit until the honey warms to a drizzly liquid, about 15 minutes. You can do this anytime you want to use your honey.
Soak in Hot Water
My favorite way to decrystallize honey is to boil water in my tea kettle, then place the jar or container of honey in a large bowl or pot and pour the hot water around it. Let it soak for several minutes until the honey has softened and liquified itself again.
Thankfully, honey can be returned to its liquid state with little effort. Heat some water in a pot, and put your honey container in the pot of hot water until the honey turns liquid. This gentle transfer of heat to the honey helps bring it back to liquid form without overheating the honey.
Yes, crystallized honey is safe to eat.
You know honey has crystallized when it looks very thick and very grainy. It also lightens in color compared to when your honey was pourable. Crystallized honey is perfectly good to eat and preferable to many people.
Crystallized honey becomes whiter and lighter in color. It also becomes much more opaque instead of clear, and may appear grainy (1). It is safe to eat. However, water is released during the crystallization process, which increases the risk of fermentation (1, 17).
Hot water method
Place your jar (lid removed) in a pot of hot water on the stove, allowing the honey to heat up and liquefy. Without boiling the water, slowly heat the honey, stirring it occasionally. Remove jar when crystals have dissolved.
How to Decrystallize Honey in a Bowl. Set the honey container, uncapped, in a small heatproof bowl. Fill it with warm (not boiling) water to reach halfway up the container. Let sit for about 45 minutes, replacing with fresh warm water as needed.
Though honey is just as sweet and delicious in its crystallized form, you can easily liquefy it to make it easier to pour. To liquefy your honey simply place the container in warm water and gently heat the honey until the crystals dissolve.
Honey is chemically a mix of sugar and water, explains Sheela Prakash for The Kitchn, so when honey crystallizes, that means the sugar is separating from the water. The crystallization of honey happens naturally over time, and that separation between sugar and water is what creates those chunky bits.
Over time, the natural sugars in honey will start to precipitate into small solid crystals. At first, the honey will seem thicker than usual and perhaps a bit grainy. As the crystals spread through the liquid honey, the whole jar will become solid honey.
Should honey be refrigerated?
Do not refrigerate honey. Keeping your honey in the refrigerator preserves it but the cool temperatures will cause your honey to form a semi-solid mass, so this method of storage is not recommended.
Honey is a super-saturated solution of primarily two sugars: glucose and fructose. Just like with your powdered lemonade, it is a natural process for some of the sugars in a super-saturated solution to eventually come out of solution. All raw honey will crystallize due to glucose.
Honey, when mixed with hot water, can become toxic
Turns out, honey should never be warmed, cooked, or heated under any condition.
The temperature of boiling water is almost at 100° Celsius. When you expose a delicate food such as honey to this temperature, it actually destroys valuable nutrients, enzymes and vitamins that honey naturally provides.
When honey is heated or cooked, the sugar and fructose in the honey change their chemical composition as a result of a browning effect called the Maillard Reaction. Heating or storing honey for long periods of time will increase the production of a toxic substance called 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF).
In general, honey doesn't spoil. However, it can go bad if it's contaminated or incorrectly stored. If your honey has visible mold, or if it smells fermented or "off," then it's time to toss it.
Heating honey will alter its chemical composition, but it does not make it toxic such that it can harm the consumer. However, the composition of honey changes when heated, and the ingredients are weakened and rendered ineffective.
Don't liquefy honey over and over again.
Decrystallize only what you need at one time. The flavor and aroma of the honey will fade with repeated cycles of heating and cooling (and liquefying and crystallizing).
If crystallized honey isn't your jam, however, and you want to return it to its liquid form, Dennard says to gently heat it up. "The best way to do that is in a double boiler with warm water around 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit," he explains. Though running it under warm water will do the trick in a pinch.
If honey has crystallized to the point where it's difficult to remove from the jar, simply place it in a pan of hot water and let it re-liquify. Just don't microwave or boil your honey (you'll cook it and ruin the batch that way). Embrace your crystallized honey.
Why is my honey crystallizing so fast?
Why Does Raw Honey Crystallize ? Honey is a super-saturated solution of primarily two sugars: glucose and fructose. Just like with your powdered lemonade, it is a natural process for some of the sugars in a super-saturated solution to eventually come out of solution. All raw honey will crystallize due to glucose.
First, transfer your honey to a microwave safe glass jar. Then, place it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir the honey, and if it is still hard, microwave again for an additional 15 seconds. Be very careful to NOT let it come to a boil.
There are all sorts of recommendations on how to decrystallize honey. One method I came across seemed extra quick and simple: Heat the jar in the microwave for a few seconds to soften and re-liquify it.
Finding a warmer spot to store your honey will slow crystallization. It's fairly simple to turn your honey back into a smooth liquid again by heating it. The best way to do this is by to put your honey in a bowl of warm water and slowly letting it warm up.