It is honey crystallized. It will be better if you take it out to room temperature. In addition, crystallization is normal and you can eat it, just rinse it with water
Most of the fresh honey separated from the honeycomb is a viscous transparent or translucent colloidal liquid. When stored under normal conditions, some honey will gradually become cloudy and then condense into white crystals. This is the natural crystallization of honey. The crystallization of honey is a physical phenomenon and generally does not affect its intrinsic quality. To explain this crystallization phenomenon of honey, we must understand the relevant factors that affect crystallization and its principle process.
There are many factors that affect the crystallization of honey. The speed of crystallization is closely related to the number of glucose crystal nuclei, temperature, water content and the nectar flower species that directly form the chemical components of honey. Under normal conditions, the higher the glucose content in honey, the greater the number of crystallization nuclei, and the faster the crystallization speed.
1 The relationship between honey crystallization speed and temperature
Honey is most likely to crystallize at 13~14℃. If it is lower than this temperature, although the degree of supersaturation of glucose increases, However, the viscosity and density of fructose, maltose, dextrin and colloidal substances in honey are greatly increased at low temperatures, thereby reducing and hindering the movement and diffusion of crystallization nuclei, and the crystallization is slow. If it is higher than this temperature, although the viscosity of honey decreases, the solubility of glucose increases, thereby reducing the degree of supersaturation of the solution, slowing down the crystallization, and even melting the crystal.
2 Moisture content and honey crystallization speed
Immature honey has a high moisture content (generally more than 26%) and a low degree of supersaturation, so the crystallization speed slows down. It cannot all crystallize. Due to the low viscosity of honey, the crystallized glucose sinks to the bottom of the container, and other thin sugar liquid floats on the upper layer, becoming a liquid and solid phase, that is, a semi-crystalline state. The crystallized glucose in this kind of crystallized honey only contains 9.1% moisture, and the moisture content of the other uncrystallized parts increases accordingly. Honey from the same flower species will crystallize quickly if it has low water content, and slowly if it has high water content. Not even crystallized.
3 The speed, degree and form of crystallization of honey from different honey sources
Generally, honey with higher contents of glucose, sucrose and melezitose is easy to crystallize, such as rapeseed honey and cotton honey. , sunflower honey, wild Bazi honey, duck foot honey and some manna honey, etc. Honey containing more fructose, maltose, dextrin and colloidal substances is not easy to crystallize, and may even never crystallize. Such as higher purity acacia honey, jujube honey, dangshen honey, etc.
4 The shape of honey crystals
The shapes of honey crystals can be divided into oily, fine-grained and coarse-grained. If the number of crystallization nuclei is large and dense, it will spread out quickly during the process of crystallization, and it will form a grease-like shape; if there are slightly fewer crystallization nuclei and the crystallization is fast, it will form a fine-grained shape; if the number of crystallization nuclei is small, the crystallization will When it is slow, each crystallization nucleus has enough glucose molecules to form, so that coarse-grained or massive crystals can be formed. Although different varieties of honey crystallize in various forms, they will not affect their intrinsic quality, but have different physical properties.
5 Crystal formation
The main factors that cause and form honey crystallization are glucose, sucrose, melezitose, etc. in honey, which exist in honey after being dissolved as solids. Honey is a supersaturated solution composed of a variety of sugars. When the sugar ratio of these solid solutes exceeds a certain ratio of other liquid sugars and exceeds the solubility of the water contained in honey, under certain conditions (temperature), Crystallization occurs quickly. The crystallization of honey mainly depends on the ratio between glucose and fructose, which can also be said to be the percentage of glucose in reducing sugar. Generally speaking, when the glucose content is equal to the fructose content (1:1), crystallization is slow; when the ratio is 1:1.2, crystallization generally does not occur; when the ratio is 1:0.9, crystallization occurs quickly.
To sum up, the crystallization of honey is essentially a phenomenon and process in which glucose is precipitated and separated from honey.
From a molecular theory point of view, glucose molecules in honey originally move in an orderly manner, but when the glucose in honey exceeds its solubility and becomes a supersaturated solution, some glucose molecules begin to move in an orderly manner in honey. Move and arrange to form a tiny crystal nucleus, which becomes the center of the crystallization. More glucose molecules are regularly arranged on its sides, gradually forming larger crystals, which are separated from the honey. This is honey crystallization. the whole process.