How to melt candied honey while preserving its beneficial properties
How to melt candied honey and is it worth it? Many are upset when they see something yellow and solid, often with a white bloom and incomprehensible grains, instead of the usual viscous amber delicacy. No need to worry, honey has not deteriorated, sugaring is an indicator of a quality product! Plus, there are a few simple ways to melt solid honey at home.
So, about everything in more detail - why honey crystallizes, can it be melted and how to do it correctly: methods and conditions.
Candied honey is good or bad
Such honey is also called shrunken, dropped out, settled. In its composition, it remains the same, it also benefits the body and pleases with its taste, it simply passes into another state of aggregation. Here it is appropriate to draw an analogy with ordinary water and ice, albeit with some differences.
So is it possible to melt candied honey so that it remains tasty and healthy? You can, but only if you follow simple rules!
Important Notes: How to properly melt honey
Beekeepers give advice on how to properly melt honey:
- Do not heat all the honey, but the part that is needed in liquid form. With further storage, honey will thicken again, but reheating should not be allowed!
- Store honey in glass, for example, in one liter or three liter jars, under a tight polyethylene lid. The easiest way is to melt the candied honey in jars, if necessary!
- Do not allow honey to heat above 35-40 degrees, otherwise vitamins and acids will disintegrate, and a useful product will turn into a sweet mass. It is better to heat longer, but at a low temperature.
With strong heating, the content of oxymethylfurfural increases - for humans, its harm has not yet been proven, but it is fatal for rats.
How to melt candied honey: methods and methods
There are several ways to properly melt sugar-coated honey. Since each has its own characteristics and limitations, pros and cons, it is useful to familiarize yourself with all in order to choose the optimal one for the initial conditions.
It is not necessary to melt the honey, this does not affect its taste, only aesthetics and habit when used!
Drowning honey on a battery
The most common and convenient way is when the jar is placed next to a radiator or heat source. Sometimes a couple of hours is enough for the honey to soften, or one day.
pros:
- gentle conditions - uniform heating by ambient air always at the same temperature
- convenience - the process can be controlled: turn the jar in different sides, put it closer and further;
- not expensive - honey just stands next to a central heating battery or on a warm floor.
There are no restrictions on the material for the manufacture of the honey storage tank, its total volume, the amount of product.
Minus - if the honey is too thick, after standing, for example, for several years, it will be very difficult to melt it completely, the middle will remain firm.
Most often, sugared and thickened honey is melted in this way in a small jar or vase when stored in a refrigerator or cellar.
How to melt candied honey in the sun
Not the most ideal way, although simple and extremely effective - honey turns into a liquid state very quickly, literally in a few hours of sunbathing.
The main disadvantage is the inability to correctly assess the current temperature. For example, the glass wall of a jar in which candied honey is melted can act as a lens. Then the activity of the sun's rays and their temperature will increase many times over. The honey will melt, but it will turn into an ordinary sweet treat, having lost all its useful substances.
Alternatively, cover the jar with a canvas cloth in several layers and constantly check, at least with your hand, if the container is too hot.
We use the oven
A very good way to melt honey without losing its beneficial properties is to put it in the oven for a while.
The main advantages of the method:
- suitable for electric and gas ovens, although it is preferable to use an electrician in the "top and bottom heating" mode;
- you can set the temperature and not worry about honey overheating;
- suitable for glass, ceramic, metal, plastic containers (provided that they are properly marked - heating is allowed).
The only downsides are obvious storage capacity issues:
- too large and does not fit into the oven;
- the material of the container must not be heated.
If the jar does not fit in the oven, you can put it next to it, turn on the oven a little more powerful than it should be for honey, and fan mode so that the container is blown with warm air!
How to melt candied honey in a water bath
One of the options for how to gently melt honey that has become sugar and thickened is a water bath.
This will require:
- two containers - the first with honey (in any quantity) and the second a little wider in diameter, you can have the same height;
- a culinary thermometer that can measure the temperature of the water;
- wide paddle made of wood or plastic for gentle stirring.
You also need to be skilled in handling a pan of hot water - glasses fog up from the steam, even plastic and wooden handles can get very hot and burn. In addition, from any careless movement of the pan (shift along the burner), water can splash on hands, face or honey, which is unacceptable!
The process itself is simple - the water in the second container evenly warms the first one with honey. With a spatula, you can move the mass, move it away from the walls, mix from the bottom.
It is important to strictly monitor the temperature - water should not boil, on average 65-75 degrees, honey should not be heated above 40 degrees. And warming up should be with a gradual increase in temperature, not abrupt.
In general, honey in a water bath melts well and quickly, the heating temperature is easily regulated.
Minuses:
- not suitable for plastic containers, wood, thin non-tempered glass;
- honey is easy to overheat;
- a certain dexterity is needed.
If the honey is in a glass jar, you can place a tea towel on the bottom of the first pot to keep the glass from cracking.
Only after learning how to properly melt honey in a water bath and preparing for the process, you can start the experiment!
Drowning honey in the microwave
You can just put a jar or bowl in the microwave and start defrosting for a few seconds (10-30) or just warming up. The honey will become liquid, as if it had just been collected from the hives.
However, this method has several serious disadvantages:
- works only with small volumes, up to 200-300 grams;
- heating will be uneven;
- reheat only in glass or heat-resistant dishes recommended for microwave.
Before you start melting honey in the microwave, you should be sure that it works well in the defrosting mode.It is enough to put a frozen piece of meat and turn on defrosting, and then see how evenly the piece thawed.
Using an electric heating pad
Perhaps the best way to deal with thick honey is to heat it up with an electric heating pad.
Considering that shrunken (thickened) honey is normal and natural, many beekeepers face this problem. After a couple of months, the most liquid varieties of honey begin to settle, crystallize and are difficult to sell - it is difficult to pour into containers and offer to the buyer. Beekeepers know how to properly melt candied honey, for this they have a special decrystallizer.
It is analogous to a warm electric blanket or sheet, or an electric heating pad in fabric. Inside the fabric is a cable that, when heated from the network, generates heat. A tank or a jar of honey is wrapped in a decrystallizer and heated to 30-35 degrees until the honey becomes liquid.
Pros:
- it is convenient to melt honey in very large containers;
- suitable for any materials (plastics, wood, glass, iron);
- uniform heating.
Of the minuses - you cannot leave the heater connected to the network unattended.
Therefore, from the very beginning it is important to determine how much honey to heat, in what and whether it will be possible to control the temperature.
Thus, the problem is removed, what to do with candied honey - melt and continue to apply in the usual way! With the right actions, honey will not lose its useful properties at all, it will not change into couscous and smell, it will simply change its consistency - it will become viscous and viscous!