I am gathering honey this month for my longer-term storage, but to be honest I don't know much about honey storage! So, I'm asking all of you to please share with me what you know!
How much honey do you store, and how do you store it? Is it just in the container you bought it in?
Where do you buy your food storage honey? In the store, or online?
Does honey go bad? I think it doesn't, but maybe I'm wrong? I know that I have seen honey get crystallized... does that mean it's done for, or is there a way to revive it?
What's a good price for honey?
In all honesty, I don't like honey plain but it's great as a sweetener and in breads, and my husband loves it, so I would like to store a year's supply (but I'm still trying to figure out how much that would be for my family). Any suggestions and advice is welcome... just leave a comment!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
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I have heard from a few people that honey never goes bad. Our prepardness specialist calls it "liquid gold" in an emergency. All honey will crystalize, but you can still use it. You can soak the container in warm water and it will liquify again. I am lucky enough to know someone who is a beekeeper, so I buy honey from them every year. I'm not a honey fan, but I think it tastes so much better than the kind you get in the store. I don't know what a good price is for honey that you buy from the store. I would say honey is a must have for long and short term storage.
If you live close to any honey producers call them to see if they will fill you jars for a reduced price- Ours does and last year we paid around 1.40/lb which was better than any stores I could find in my area.
I've heard that honey is one a very few food items that never, ever goes bad. They have found jars with honey in them that were buried in tombs thousands of years ago, and it was still good. I think it'd be fine for... say, the rest of your life. ;)
Like everyone said. Honey doesn't go bad - it will crystalize, but you can heat it a bit and it will go back to its' original glory!
Some places sell Honey powder. I have both regular honey and the powder stored. I have the powder in the #10 can it came in, and the regular in the jars I bought from Costco.
Ditto to the life of honey. Around my area, $3/lb is about average.
We always buy local honey, and it keeps well in its jar. If you eat honey from your region it will help reduce allergies. my father-in-law used to keep bees and was always giving us honey. I swear I had at least one jar for 5 years!
I read somewhere that air can cause the crystalization faster. So I store mine in mason jars filled as full as I can get them and then vacumn seal the lids to the jar with my foodsaver removing any remaining air. It seems to work so far. The only jar that has some air in it is the opened one I am currently using. I am lucky to be able to buy local honey at a small market.
We got honey at an outside caselot sale and at Cosco two years ago. The ones that were stored in smaller containers (probably a bit more costly - can't remember) worked out a lot better. They seemed to crystalize slower and they were easier to throw in the microwave or in a pot of water to de- crystalize. I think we got our 6 lb containers for about $10 but that was 2 years ago.
I have heard honey will last forever; I am still using some that is about 4 years old and it seems fine. Even in my bread recipe I like to add a little sugar to the recipe because honey just doesn't make it sweet enough.
All honey I have ever stored seems to crystalize in about 6 months. A year if your lucky.
Honey CAN eventually go bad. I live in a very hot part of the country and had a 5 gal bucket stored in an outside storage area for about 20 years. When I opened it to put it in smaller jars it was nasty. It will last a long time, but can eventually go bad if not stored properly.
real honey never goes bad...if it begins to crystalize, you just place it in a sink of hot water until it becomes liquid again. I get it for $24 a gallon here, and I put it into glass jars with wide mouth openings for easier access. I usually get 2 gallons every 4 months...and fortunately for me, I have a source that is less than 5 miles from my house.
If you have a garden and the available space, consider keeping a beehive. A friend of mine has just one square box hive and and in one year she is able to harvest over 100 pounds of honey! Those little bees sure are productive!
We have been given Cox's Honey from Idaho by friends moving. I called Cox's to find out how long I could store the honey in the original containers and they told me indefinelty. They said to scoop out what is needed and heat it (to liquify) when needed. They are online www.coxshoney.com, and I live in NJ and store it in the basement.
Please send me your e-mail address. I have a TON of stuff I could send you on Honey. Amazing research all condensed and nicely put for easy reading about honey. Stuff that was great for handouts too for our many ward and stake preparedness fairs. I store LOT'S of honey now due to this information. Would love to share it with you.
My address is:
crapo(at)shaw(dot)ca
You can also put a bucket of crystallized honey on a windowsill or a hot car for a while.
Buying raw honey from local growers is best in my opinion. Regularly eating honey made by the local bees can help mitigate pollen allergies.
Retail honeys in the grocery store are often watered down, dyed or re-thickened. That can affect shelf life.
I store honey in one gallon buckets in a cool, dry place.
I used to get my honey from my brother-in-law (he does bees for a living). Now I've got a couple of hives.
Keeping bees can be a little expensive to get into, but once you have the equipment, the bees largely take care of themselves. I heartily recommend hives for the self-reliance enthusiast.
We bought several metal cans of honey a long time ago, back in the late 70's in Southern California. The cans only had a small (probably 2 or 3 inch) opening and after the honey solidified it was hard to heat that much honey up to pour it out. Also if I remember correctly the can began to rust on the outside of the cans and we eventually had to discard them, that was a big waste. So.... I'm not sure I would ever buy it in that size of container again. But the honey doesn't go bad just the container did in our case. ~ Nancy
I am a distrubutor for Cox's Honey from Idaho! I LOVE the stuff and of course grew up around it! My dad is the beekeeper of the company.
I have most answers to your questions on my blog at http://cookupdates.blogspot.com/2010/06/ohhoney-honey.html
DON'T let anyone tell you honey goes bad.....it does NOT! Just heat it up and it's back to it's original form. I have great prices compared to any store (I beat Walmart and Costco), if you live in the Vernal, UT area....if not we can have it shipped to you wherever you live and it will probably still beat the price. The cooler you store your honey, the better and longer it lasts. If you have any questions please e-mail at andicook07@gmail.com....I can send a price list to you also. Thanks and good luck!
We store 1/2 gal jugs purchased at GFS (Gordon Food Service restaurant supply warehouse) for about $14, and 2# squeeze bottles for 3.99 when Walgreen's has their sale every couple of months (normal price is closer to $8) So if I can find honey for less than $2 a pound I feel lucky. My favorite is Orange Blossom which is pricey. We go through a couple pounds a month preferring it to sugar in beverages. We are in a hot and humid area and have only had one problem with honey and that was fermentation due to careless "dipping".
I paid $6 for a pint Mason jar of local sourwood honey at our farmers market this morning. Several stalls offered local honey, so this must be the time when it is coming in in our area. Beekeeping is big here in NC, and sourwood is the prized variety.
I buy a 5 gal. bucket of honey every year (60#). usually before I use it up it crystallizes on me. I just put it in the sun for a few days and it liquefies again. We had some honey given to us that was stored since the 1970's. After putting by the wood stove in the winter for awhile it liquefied again. It is very dark (which is better for you) but using it in baking or in place of molasses in cooking it does fine.
I know everyone thinks honey doesn't ever go bad. My earlier post about my honey going bad was not a lie. This gallon bucket of honey looked like tar and was not crystallized. It also smelled soured and to me that is ruined. This honey had never been opened in the 25+ years we had it. I am in a very hot/humid part of the country and maybe that had an effect on it. I am sure honey will last almost indefinately is stored PROPERLY.
Living in the 'burbs of NYC, I buy 5lbs of honey at a time for storage at Costco. As mentioned here, it does not go bad, and it can always be re-liquefied.
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