Will honey melt because of the weather after crystallization?

Yes, when the temperature exceeds 40 degrees, honey crystals will slowly soften and melt, but it will take some time.

Honey crystallization is a physical property. Why does honey crystallize? First of all, we must understand the basic ingredients of honey. Honey contains a variety of nutrients, and sugar accounts for about 80% of the total substances, among which fructose and glucose supersaturated solution account for 85-95% of the total sugar, and sucrose accounts for about 5%. Because glucose is easy to crystallize, the separated honey will gradually crystallize if it is left at low temperature (0- 14 degrees) for a period of time, so the crystallization of honey is actually caused by glucose in honey, which mainly depends on the ratio between glucose and fructose (not easy to crystallize), that is, the percentage of glucose in reducing sugar. Generally speaking, when the contents of glucose and fructose are equal, the crystallization is slow; When the ratio is 1: 2, crystallization generally does not occur; When the ratio is 1: 0.9, that is, when the glucose content is higher than the fructose content, crystallization will occur soon when the temperature is appropriate. For example, the ratio of glucose to fructose in Sophora japonica honey is about 2: 3, so it is not easy to crystallize; Rapeseed honey is about 18: 17, but the crystallization speed is very fast.

Honey crystallization is a common problem in the process of eating honey. With the extension of time and the change of temperature, especially in winter, honey often changes from liquid to crystalline, and its color changes from dark to light. Most honey seeds are milky white or white, delicate or rough translucent crystals after crystallization. This change in honey often causes some people to misunderstand that it is caused by honey mixed with sugar. In fact, this is the natural physical change of honey, not the result of mixing sugar.

The speed of honey crystallization is related to its glucose crystal nucleus, temperature, moisture and honey source. The crystal nucleus of glucose in honey is small, and there are pollen grains in honey. Under certain conditions, the glucose in honey grows and crystallizes around these tiny crystal nuclei. The more crystal nuclei contained in honey, the faster the crystallization rate. The crystallization speed of honey is also affected by temperature, and 13- 14℃ is the easiest to crystallize. If it is lower than this temperature, honey crystallization will be delayed because of its viscosity increase. If it is higher than this temperature, the solubility of sugar will increase, thus reducing the supersaturation of solution and slowing down crystallization. In addition, all crystallized honey is generally immature honey with low water content and high water content, which will slow down the crystallization speed or make the crystallization incomplete due to the decrease of supersaturation of the solution. Different kinds of honey have different crystallization, such as milk vetch honey, locust honey, jujube honey, dangshen honey, etc., which are not easy to crystallize; Rapeseed honey, wild croton honey, linden honey, wild osmanthus honey, loquat honey and cotton honey are all easy to crystallize.

In a word, honey crystallization is a physical change phenomenon, and its chemical composition and nutritional value have not changed, which will not affect the quality of honey. The crystallized crystal is glucose, not honey mixed with sugar. In fact, honey mixed with white sugar is not easy to crystallize, and honey that is easy to crystallize is pure honey. Therefore, China's honey quality standards stipulate that the normal state of honey is "transparent and viscous liquid or crystal". Honey crystallization is that glucose forms particles around the crystal nucleus, and the particles are wrapped with a film of fructose, sucrose or dextrin, which gradually coalesces and expands, so that part or all of the honey in the whole container forms a loose solid state, that is, honey crystallization. Therefore, honey crystallization is a normal phenomenon, which has no influence on its nutritional components and application value, and does not affect eating.