How to store honey at home

Honey. So different and always useful. A fragrant treat, a storehouse of vitamins and enzymes. He must be in every house constantly. But not everyone knows how to store honey at home. To enjoy a pleasant and useful product for as long as possible, you need to follow some recommendations.

Optimal conditions

Before you tidy up a container with a useful treat for storage, you need to decide where exactly it was decided to put it. For example, sunlight is harmful to honey. It is heated, and at temperatures above + 40 ° C it turns into a mixture of carbohydrates. That is, it becomes simply aromatic sweetness without valuable substances. Therefore, the first rule: darkness is required.

The second rule: honey storage temperature from +1 to + 20 ° С. Falls lower - it freezes, rises higher - it will result in the breakdown of enzymes.

Tip. Sweet amber should be stored at the same temperature. We chose one place, even if it’s worth it.

Rule three: ambient humidity - not more than 60-65%. The cellar is damp, and the refrigerator too. Honey - a very hygroscopic substance, remarkably absorbs moisture from the environment. After that, it starts to sour, wander, deteriorate.

Fourth condition: no smelling substances nearby. Any smells, pleasant or not so, honey takes over quickly enough. It will be unpleasant, after taking a jar to taste with buns and tea, sweet with the aroma of sausage or garlic.

Tip. An ideal place to store honey at home is the closet where the groceries are located. Cereals do not have a pronounced aroma, it is dark, dry and cool there.

What to store honey

The most optimal capacity is a wooden barrel made of non-resinous species. For example, birch, maple, ash, lime. Only not oak. The treat will quickly turn black and rancid. If it is possible to process the inside of the barrel with beeswax - generally fine! Sometimes a certain amount of propolis is added to the wax, then the barrel is treated with this mixture. This creates an additional protective film and protects the contents from harmful oxidative processes.

The birch bark loaf is also ideal for storing honey. Birch, natural, without chemical impurities. What could be more convenient?

True, to get such a capacity is not always possible.

A clay or ceramic pot may be a good option. It is worth remembering Winnie the Pooh, and he knew a lot about honey! Clay can be either glazed or uncoated. It is accepted to close the pot with wax paper. Beautiful, original, comfortable.

The only negative is that there are rarely large-volume pots, so lovers of long winter tea parties will either have to stock up on large quantities of them or look for something more suitable.

Glass jar. Great alternative to barrels. It does not have its own smell, closes easily, does not allow moisture to pass through. Some pluses. Moreover, finding a suitable volume is not difficult.

Tip. Absolutely opaque jar with honey, decorated on the lid with burlap with a spectacular badge, can become an original piece of furniture. Naturally, such a highlight cannot be placed in direct sunlight.

There are containers in which it is categorically not advisable to leave honey:

• iron dishes
• softwood barrels
• copper utensils
• zinc tanks

Sweet nectar begins to interact with these materials very quickly, then it is oxidized. Such a product is not useful, and in especially advanced cases it can cause serious poisoning.

Tip. You can’t take honey from a large jar with an iron spoon.Stainless steel can be used. And it’s best to put it in a vase or on a saucer with a wooden spoon or a special jolly. Maybe not very convenient, but what a surroundings! In addition, the risk is reduced that the whole large vessel will deteriorate.

What else is recommended to keep honey?

• nickel ware
• wax paper glasses
• enameled containers
• milk cans or jars
• stainless steel cans
• food foil cookware
• food-grade tin containers

In any of these materials, you can safely keep honey for quite some time. Subject to tight closing with a lid and observing the temperature regime.

Tip. In our age of high technology, food plastic is very popular. Well, honey is stored pretty well in it. Just do not keep it in such containers for more than 10-12 months. Still, honey is a biologically active substance, then it begins to draw chemical impurities into itself from plastic.

Is it possible to keep honey in the refrigerator

Of course you can. It is claimed that a simple refrigerator is not good. Only the unit that has the “but frost” function, that is, dry cooling and evaporation of excess moisture, is necessarily needed. What nonsense!

You would think that in an ordinary refrigerator, water is whipping directly from all the cracks! Well, some condensation will appear on the walls. It is easily cleaned with the most ordinary rag. What is the problem?

If it is the increased water content in the air that bothers, then what prevents the jar of honey from being closed hermetically? Corked with an iron lid, it is perfectly stored in any refrigerator for up to 2 years. Moreover, the conditions are suitable. It is dark and the standard temperature is + 4-6 ° C.

Tip. A sealed lid protects sweet amber from foreign odors. And they are always full in the refrigerator.

Rules for storing honey in honeycombs

On the occasion, you became the owner of such a valuable product as honey in honeycombs. It’s unlikely that you can immediately use the entire plate in food. A special frame for the drive is also not observed nearby. What to do?

First you need to carefully cut a small piece from the honeycomb, carefully put on a saucer, put a samovar (in extreme cases, a teapot). Pour into a glass of fragrant tea, gently take a piece of honeycomb and taste this wonderful gift of nature.

Well, and having received your portion of bliss, you need to take care of the remaining cells. If they are not uncorked, then the honey inside is remarkably stored for 10-12 months without crystallization. The question is what? Where to put the honeycombs themselves. Frames are rarely small in size, and you need to somehow adapt to save them.

Just stuffing the honeycombs in the closet is a completely unsuccessful idea. They won’t get into the jar either. But wax is perfectly cut with an ordinary table knife! Carefully cut the honeycomb into pieces of such a size that they easily pass into the neck of a suitable container. For example, a can of 3 liters.

Leaked honey can be collected and used in the near future. Where - tells the fantasy. Baking, drinks, just gobble up.

The resulting pieces of honeycombs are sealed with airtight caps. Leave in storage under the same conditions as ordinary honey.

Tip. To protect honey from oxidation in honeycombs, they are cut with a plastic or bone knife. If one is not at hand, then you can try to carefully break the honeycomb into pieces with the most ordinary kitchen spatula. Wooden, silicone is too soft.

Common mistakes

Some sources claim that natural honey must certainly crystallize by the end of September. Say, if in November is liquid, then this is a fake. Unknowing people read such advice, look at their bins, and they will run to a showdown with the seller. And all you need to know is what kind of honey you bought. Chestnut, acacia or real lime do not crystallize for 2 years.Any other natural, if carefully filtered, also remains liquid until February-March.

A product with a high fructose content remains long liquid. For example, cadet. But honey with a high percentage of glucose begins to crystallize from mid-October. But thickening does not make it worse.

Regarding crystallization. The points of its beginning are pollen grains, particles of propolis or wax. Therefore, fine thorough filtration allows honey to remain liquid for a long time. Just now, it is rare that any of the beekeepers so carefully filters sweet amber. Yes and whether it is necessary? After all, that liquid, that “candied” honey does not lose its value and nutritional value when stored properly.

Another “valuable” tip: do not store honey near smelling substances - kerosene, thinner, paint. Well, who in their right mind would come up with the idea of ​​putting a jar of honey next to such neighbors? Normal people will never store foods mixed with synthetics and the like. Or honey shelf space in the garage? Near gasoline?

Yet. They write that at -20 ° C honey crystallizes in 3 days. What kind of nonsense? It freezes! Like any substance at a temperature below 0 ° C containing water. It just freezes. After thawing, it will again become liquid, but will be stored less. If you really need to get frozen honey, then take a piece, and let the rest stand in the freezer.

It is absolutely natural that all utensils for storing honey should be completely clean and dry. You can’t add the sweet amber of the new crop to last year’s leftovers, the whole mass can begin to roam. This is too valuable a product to be treated so casually.

There is evidence that honey was found during excavations. It has lain centuries and is perfectly preserved. Outwardly by consistency - it is quite possible. That's just the benefit of such a product is in doubt. Still, it is a biologically active substance. It can be stored for decades, but why? In case of a nuclear war, if only. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to buy a fresh delicacy of a new crop every year? In order to know for sure - besides sweetness, you also get benefits.

Speaking of benefits. Freshly-minted honey in large quantities can cause severe upset stomach or even allergies. The “little by little” rule has not been canceled. A large number is more than 5 tablespoons at once. Winnie the Pooh, this item can not be read.

There is an opinion that the most useful product is just assembled. This is a gross mistake. People forget that another 6 months after the pasture in honey continues fermentation, it "matures". For example, the monks of some monasteries prefer the aged delicacy to the fresh.

If there is no free space in the cupboard or refrigerator, you will have to clean the honey for storage in the cellar. Only be sure to seal the lid must be covered with a thin layer of melted wax, in order to absolutely eliminate any ingress of moisture or odors into the can. Glass is good, metal is inappropriate here. The cellar has high humidity, and the metals are oxidized, then give the honey an unpleasant odor and taste. Maybe it’s better to squeeze out the cereals and put them on a shelf?

A plastic cover can be used, but it does not give such a tightness as a tin. Yes, the savings period with such a cover is only 10 months.

It is a mistake to assume that a product in honeycombs is more useful than in a bank. And which place is more useful? Do any indicators change chemically? Not. Is honey in a barrel losing vitamins or enzymes? Not. All the benefits of honeycombs are only two types: psychological and speed. The first allows you to partake of something magical, solemn. Still, honey, it's not like a spoon! The second is banal, like a steamed turnip: with a cold or sore throat it is better to chew honeycombs than eat liquid substance. So the enveloping effect on the sore throat will be as slow and effective as possible.

There is a misconception: “The store is definitely not deceived, everything is there according to the certificates. You only have to buy honey there. ” Too nonsense. They can cheat anywhere. Both private owners and suppliers of stores have long learned how to falsify all kinds of wonderful products. If possible, purchase it from recommended sellers. As they say: if you don’t try, you don’t know. If among the acquaintances there is no expert on the beekeeper, it remains only to hope that the store is natural and undiluted in the market.

To summarize, we can say: now we know exactly how to store honey at home. In a glass jar on a shelf of a cabinet with cereals.

Video: how to store honey