How to Decrystallize Honey: 3 Ways to Decrystallize Honey
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Jan 13, 2022 • 3 min read
Heating honey in hot water or a slow cooker will help it decrystallize, allowing you to use this beloved natural sweetener more easily.
Learn From the Best
What Is Honey?
Honey is a sweet food product and sweetener produced by honeybees. The type of flower or flowers a bee frequents affects the taste, aroma, color, and texture of the honey. This golden liquid has many culinary applications and medicinal uses. Wildflower honey, sage honey, and manuka honey from organic blossoms are high in antioxidants and can help soothe sore throats and mitigate allergy symptoms.
Humans have kept honey bees for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used honey as an offering to the gods, and it also served as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. These civilizations also used honey for cooking and baking and its healing properties. Today, many honey varieties are available for sale at your local grocery store or farmers’ market.
Why Does Honey Crystallize?
If kept in a sealed glass jar or plastic bottle at room temperature, honey will not spoil, but it may crystallize or solidify into chunks. Honey contains two main types of sugar: glucose and fructose. Fructose will remain dissolved in a liquid state, but glucose has lower solubility, meaning it will crystallize more easily. These tiny crystals form when the glucose separates from the liquid content of the honey. Some amount of honey may crystallize whether or not your jar of honey has been opened and used, and the honey can easily be returned to its liquid state with the help of some heat to make it easier to drizzle.
3 Ways to Decrystallize Honey
There are a few ways to liquify your honey. Try out one of the below techniques to gradually and safely return your honey to its liquid form:
- 1. In a pot of hot water: This technique works well for plastic jars of honey. Fill up a pot with hot or very warm water; do not boil it, as that higher water temperature will warp your plastic container. Stand your bottle of honey up in the pot of water. There should be enough water to just reach but not cover the lid. Replace the water once it cools, and repeat as necessary to decrystallize your honey.
- 2. In a pot of boiling water: Plastic containers cannot sit in boiling water, but glass jars can. Boil a pot of water on your stovetop and, once the water is rolling, remove the pot from heat. Place your closed glass honey container into the water, ensuring the water does not cover the top of the jar. Let the honey sit for five minutes, remove the jar, and check for crystals. Repeat as needed—boiling the water, removing it from heat, and setting the jar in the pot—until the honey is fully liquid.
- 3. In a slow cooker: Fill your slow cooker up halfway with cool water. Set the slow cooker to its lowest setting, and let the water bath heat up. Keep the temperature to 130 degrees Fahrenheit at most so that plastic and glass containers alike can safely go into the pot. Once the water has heated, stand your honey container up in the bath. Let the honey sit there for a few hours, and make sure the water is shallow enough to not cover the lid. The bottle will have heated up, so carefully remove it with tongs. You can shake the bottle slightly to see if it has decrystallized and continue heating as needed.
Avoid using a microwave to decrystallize honey. Microwaving will cause the liquid in the honey to boil, destroying its beneficial enzymes and affecting its quality and taste.
Want to Learn More About Cooking?
Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Gordon Ramsay, Gabriela Cámara, Chef Thomas Keller, Dominique Ansel, Yotam Ottolenghi, Alice Waters, and more.