Why does some honey separate into layers?

 

BEE-SPLAINING: Why does some honey separate into layers?

Did you ever have honey that separated in the jar and formed two distinct layers, one lighter, solid layer at the bottom, and a darker, liquid layer at the top?

If you did, chances are you wondered what was going on and if the honey was still ok to eat. The answer is that layering of honey is a very natural and normal process. And yes, the honey is still perfectly fine to eat! Here is what happens when honey layers:

Layering can happen after a time in storage, and it is essentially when the sugars in the honey split and form visible layers. The glucose sugars crystallise, and the fructose remains liquid.

Honey is a super-saturated sugar solution, of about 80% sugars and 14-20% water. The composition of all honeys vary depending on what types of flowers the bees have gathered nectar from. Primarily, the sugars in honey are Glucose and Fructose, and those two sugars 'behave' very differently, sometimes giving rise to the phenomenon which is layering in honey.

Most types of honey are a mix of glucose and fructose and will therefore granulate or crystallize naturally. High glucose honeys such as ivy honey and rapeseed honey (Oilseed Rape or Canola depending on what side of the pond you're from) will granulate more rapidly than other honeys. Granulation often begins from the bottom of the jar and works its way up. As a result, we will often have a layer of granulated (mostly glucose) honey at the bottom, and a more liquid (fructose) layer on top.

To aid in this process further, when glucose honey/sugars granulate, they release some of the water that had been contained in that honey. Because sugars are heavier than water, the granulated glucose honey remains at the bottom, and the excess liquid is absorbed into the fructose layer on top. So, not only has the two types of sugars visibly separated, you now also have two honeys with different moisture content all contained in the same jar.

For most, what you can do to reconstitute your honey is just to stir it. You could add a bit of gentle heat to melt the granulated honey at the bottom (less than 40 degrees Celsius is best or you start destroying some very important enzymes in the honey!). For beekeepers with a number of jars like this, you need to make sure to store the jars cool to prevent fermentation. This is because although the honey may have had the an acceptable moisture content of below 20% when you jarred it, because of the layering the top layer can now have a higher moisture content because it has absorbed the moisture from the bottom and thus would be at a higher risk of fermenting than honey that has not layered. This is one of the reasons why soft set honeys should be made in smaller batches on demand