Honey may be eaten for years or even decades, but honey is a natural product, which means it changes over time. Honey is known for its long shelf life, but in some cases you may need to freeze the honey to boost the honey even further.
Honey can freeze and remain edible. Honey can be left outside of a refrigerator or freezer and remain edible, but it can be preserved for longer if it remains frozen. Frozen honey keeps its flavor because it contains little water, so the freezing process barely alters its chemical composition.
While honey can be stored for a long time, freezing adds an extra layer of safety when storing honey because it inhibits bacterial growth without negatively affecting its taste or nutritional properties. While honey can be stored for a long time without spoiling, frozen meals only provide an extra layer of safety.
This is actually a fantastic method of storing large quantities of honey, as at the right temperatures, honey does not crystallize, bacteria growth is inhibited, and nutrient content and flavor are not compromised. Honey has a very long shelf life even at room temperature due to its very low water content and pH, which give it its famous antibacterial properties. It does not contain much water, so it does not freeze when the temperature reaches the freezing point of water.
Why Honey Preserves Easily in the Freezer
Since honey does not contain moisture (its water content is lower than that of fresh fruits and vegetables), it can be stored safely in the freezer. You can put honey in the freezer, it won’t affect the taste or quality whether it freezes or not, as it’s a good way to keep it fresh if you don’t mind crystallizing. Do not put candied honey in the microwave, as this medium can quickly overheat and be difficult to control.
If you’re worried that your jar of honey has fallen into disrepair, know that you can still grease it with a butter knife, such as jam. Honey doesn’t have to be completely smooth to go in, if you can get it out of the container it will circulate well in your recipe as it heats up. Your honey will crystallize, so you can reheat it after thawing to bring it back to a smooth liquid state, but avoid sudden temperature changes right away and try not to heat the honey too much.
The heat of the hot water will eventually melt the hard crystals, helping you thaw the honey quickly. If you don’t like honey crystals, you can easily reverse the crystallization process by placing a jar of raw honey in a bowl of warm water for about an hour. To prevent crystallization from occurring earlier than usual, be sure to keep the honey at room temperature and try storing it in glass, as it is less porous than plastic.
How Honey Freezes
If pure honey is stored at -4°F, it will harden and appear to freeze over time, but some of the honey’s components will continue to flow very slowly. Technically, when you put honey in an airtight container in the refrigerator, it will look hardened and frozen on the outside, but it’s actually in crystalline form.
If you’re wondering why honey doesn’t solidify when stored at very low temperatures, it’s because it’s a very chilled product. Although the viscosity of honey seems to solidify at lower temperatures, honey flows at a constant rate. At this temperature, it may still move a little (like a slowly moving glacier), but for our purposes we can consider honey frozen.
Ideally, honey starts to solidify at -20 degrees Celsius, and then at -51 degrees Celsius it can turn the honey into an amorphous solid form. Low temperatures below 57/14 can accelerate the crystallization of honey without spoiling it. Freezing honey at the right temperature prevents bacterial growth and reduces the chance of crystallization, which tends to spoil honey.
The Chemical Composition of Honey
Even though honey contains some water (about 17-18%), the chemical composition of honey prevents moisture from accumulating, further depriving bacteria and fungi of the water they need to support their growth. If the water content of the honey becomes high enough, some types of yeast can survive and ferment the honey a little, creating alcohol and thereby spoiling the honey. Honey also produces hydrogen peroxide naturally when it absorbs moisture, which makes it even harder for bacteria to attach and “breaks down” honey, even if it’s not properly stored.
Since honey contains a high amount of saccharin, the product does not harden or freeze, but takes on a crystalline appearance when frozen at ideal temperatures. Honey can stand the test of time and keep for a long time in a cupboard if stored in an airtight container, at low humidity and below room temperature. While honey is certainly a superfood, there’s nothing supernatural about it – if you leave it unsealed in a humid environment, it will go bad.
Honey is hygroscopic, which means it’s bad for water and can even pull water out of the air under the wrong storage conditions, leaving nothing for germs and mold to grow. You can do this by storing your honey in a freezer that is dedicated solely to storing honey, as you will avoid temperature fluctuations when opening/closing the freezer doors. Storing honey in the freezer does not affect the nutritional balance of honey and retains the antimicrobial and other health benefits you would normally expect from honey.
