Honey Crystallization Part 2

Ok...as a rule, honey that has crystallized is not a desirable thing, but it can be heated up to get it back to being a syrup again. It will stay a syrup for a good amount of time after it has cooled back down, UNLESS some of the crystals were left. Then those crystals quickly cause the honey to recrystallize, almost like seeds. Most of the time this is bad, but there is one product of honey which is intentionally crystallized, and this is called 'creamed honey'. Creamed honey has a very fine crystal, and is thick and smooth. To make it there is quite a process, and I will just give a summary today though we have done it here at our farm with good results. Well...my husband and son did it, not me...so I can't remember all the details and they are currently unavailable to ask!

Remember when reconstituting crystallized honey to its syrup form how leaving any crystals in the heated honey will result in the honey quickly recrystallizing? This trait comes in handy for making creamed honey! So, the first thing you need to make creamed honey is...creamed honey! This is available at some grocery stores and specialty markets. Just buy a jar of it. We added a small amount of creamed honey to regular honey. This set the size of the crystal we wanted to a very small size. The next step was keeping the inoculated honey in a very cool, controlled temperature environment while the crystals formed. It took about a month, I believe, and we kept the honey in a small hotel-sized refrigerator that we have, with the temperature turned up. It was a lot of work for the two jars we made, but the experiment was successful!