Honey crystallization is a natural thing, but some honey is easy to crystallize, some honey is not easy to crystallize, and the crystallization of honey has a great relationship with temperature. Some people will also ask whether honey will crystallize. Affect the quality, this article will give a scientific explanation on the crystallization of honey.
1. Conditions for crystallization
Whether honey crystallizes is affected by the external environment, mainly in the following aspects:
Temperature, research shows that the best crystallization temperature of honey is 13～14℃. Below this temperature, the viscosity of honey increases, causing slow crystallization. Above this temperature, sugar dissolves in honey, which slows down the crystallization of glucose.
2. Does crystallization affect quality?
Honey crystallization is its natural attribute. As long as the crystallization conditions are reached, honey will crystallize. It can be said that no honey is not crystallized.
3. Is the crystallization recoverable?
Honey crystallization is a normal phenomenon. Crystallized honey can also dissolve by itself under certain conditions. If you want honey to crystallize easily, you can also use artificial intervention to dissolve it.
The most common method is to change the temperature to dissolve the crystals. You can soak the honey jar in 50 degrees warm water to slowly dissolve the crystals. Whether or not the crystals dissolve will not affect the nutritional content and flavor of the honey, it depends entirely on personal eating preferences.
However, because crystallization is the attribute of honey, the effect of human intervention will not last long, so there is no special requirement, and it is not recommended to restore crystallization.
4. Comprehensiveness
means that all honey will crystallize. The comprehensiveness of honey crystallization shows that no matter what kind of honey, its crystallization is comprehensive and relatively uniform. The kind of crystallization that "finally settles to the bottom of the container" is abnormal. The partial crystallization of honey only exists in immature honey, artificially concentrated honey and honey in the process of crystallization or melting.
5. Temperature limit
Honey crystals are generally formed naturally at room temperature. In autumn, winter and spring, the temperature is low, and all honey is easier to crystallize; in summer, the temperature is high, the newly produced honey is generally not easy to crystallize, or the crystallization is very shallow. The temperature range of honey crystallization is greater than 0°C and less than 40°C. It is generally considered that 13-14°C is the optimum temperature, but the temperature requirements for the crystallization of different varieties of honey are quite different. The honey that is not easy to crystallize such as jujube and acacia will slowly crystallize after the continuous low temperature in the deep winter, while the highly crystallized honey such as rape and wild bazi always crystallize rapidly within a few days after being taken out of the hive. In the honey crystallization temperature range, if the honey temperature is higher or lower than the optimum temperature, the crystallization speed will be correspondingly slowed down. If the temperature exceeds the range, the crystallization will not be possible.
6. Diversity
The diversity of honey crystals refers to the different thickness and hardness of honey crystal particles. The national standard "Honey" has different classifications such as coarse grains, slightly coarse grains, fine grains and delicate grains. What we have observed in production practice is even more diverse, with grains as coarse as sand and fine as fat. And the same coarse grains, the denseness of black tallow and loquat, the looseness of buckwheat; the same fineness, the softness of acacia and wild osmanthus, and the stickiness of rape and vetch.
Crystallization is the characteristic of honey. Don’t think that honey cannot be eaten after it has crystallized. Honey crystallization has a lot to do with the variety of honey. It has nothing to do with the authenticity of the honey and whether the honey can be eaten. So if you also have crystals at home Honey, as long as it does not deteriorate, it is edible even if it has crystallized.
