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What is crystallization of honey?

Natural honey is rich in its therapeutic and nutritional properties in both its liquid and frozen states if it is kept away from the causes of honey damage, which are the sun, heat and humidity.

And if honey crystallizes (granulation, freezing, sugaring, crushing): It is a natural change in liquid honey as a result of many factors, where honey is a viscous liquid when it matures, then it gradually crystallizes until it freezes, and here many questions revolve about this crystallization, crushing or saccharification Many people may decide that this honey is adulterated and unnatural, but these opinions are certainly incorrect and are not based on scientific logic and scientific experience. Every pure, natural honey can crystallize.

So honey is a supersaturated sugar solution, meaning that the solids are more present than the liquid in the solution. Here we must remember that bee honey contains only about 20% water, and as we know that the main sugars in bee honey are glucose, fructose, sucrose, and sugar. What crystallizes is glucose sugar, while fructose and sucrose remain dissolved in the solution. Crystallized honey is honey that is filtered in a natural state and left at a temperature below 22 ° C. The sugars gather in the form of crystals that give honey a granular shape and turbid honey at the same time, which hardens its texture and forms on its surface. A thin white, granular film that gradually thickens. This is the result of the crystallization of glucose sugar, and fructose sugar remains dissolved in the water, which is still present between glucose crystals, and the granular structure soon invades the entire mass of honey and gradually

Some types of honey crystallize more than other types, and there are some types that do not crystallize, and crystallization occurs when glucose crystals separate from the liquid solution and become in a solid state, and some people believe that this is considered spoiled honey, but this is not true. Fermentation for honey Fermentation.

Honeys with a high percentage of fructose are slow to crystallize, while honeys with a high percentage of glucose crystallize quickly.

Accordingly, it becomes clear that there are some honeys that never crystallize, while others crystallize within a few days after sorting, or even when they are inside the wax tablets.

Some people may understand this case as a kind of cheating, and this is a misconception. Experiments have shown that the size of the crystals and the speed of their formation depend on several factors, the most important of which is the number of primary crystals of glucose present in honey during its sorting. It has been found that honey extracted from old wax tablets has been repeatedly used in several seasons. It crystallizes quickly and turns into a fine-grained mass like frozen fat due to the presence of a large number of primary sugar crystals in it. As for honey extracted from new wax tablets, it is slow to crystallization and there is a direct relationship between temperature and crystallization speed where sugar crystals form very quickly when honey is kept in a warm place because of its viscosity The aggregates of crystals or granules decrease and accumulate at the bottom in the form of a precipitate, but if honey is kept in a cool place, its viscosity increases and the sedimentation process slows down, and thus the granules have enough time to grow and unite before they settle and the honey begins to solidify with the formation of granules that hold together and lead to crystallization. The shape and color of the crystallized grains in honey varies according to the source and location of the nectar (some honeys crystallize in a homogeneous manner, while others may appear liquid at the top and crystals precipitate at the bottom). The speed of crystallization varies from one type to another. Some types of honey crystallize immediately after production, such as tamarisk honey and spring honey, and others may last in the form of a liquid for several years.