# Honey is thick and grainy



## beeman2009

Sounds like honey is crystallizing. If you are doing crush & strain try setting it in the hot sun. That will help it to flow better. Also note that after you get the honey out, it will probably start to crystallize again soon.


----------



## DFisher

Thanks. It was that way when I pulled it from the frame, not after waiting. What are they feeding on, or what are they doing, to make it this way?


----------



## RickR

DFisher said:


> Thanks. It was that way when I pulled it from the frame, not after waiting. What are they feeding on, or what are they doing, to make it this way?


Honey from some nectar sources will crystallize very quickly, and must be extracted almost as soon as the cells are capped. Canola (rape seed) is a good example. The factor that drives this is the glucose:fructose ratio in the honey. When a nectar source produces honey with a high glucose content it will crystallize quicker. Your bees almost certainly got into some nectar that crystallizes quickly.

Just liquify it like you any batch of honey that has crystallized. If it is crystallized in the comb you can still liquify it. Just be careful with your temperature. Anything much over 110 degrees can cause the comb to sag or fail.


----------



## DFisher

The honey has been extracted from the comb. 

Not sure if we have Canola growing in my neck of the NC woods, but read some articles and understand what your thought means. I would like to know what they got for sure, so if anyone knows what grows in central NC that could cause it, let me know please. 

If I heat it to remove crystallization, will it not go back to being crystallized soon?

What about turning it into creamed honey? I have never tried that, but might be reasonable of the honey is already somewhat crystallized.


----------



## crofter

Yes it will go back to crystallizing if that is the nature of the nectar it originates from. If you wish to cream it you have to heat it up enough (Time X Temperature) to reliquify *all* the coarse crystals and innoculate and mix it with some starter of a fine grained honey. There are quite a few threads here on creamed honey.


----------



## RickR

I have found that re-liquified honey usually stays liquid longer than the "straight out of the comb" honey. At least it will be in a state that will allow you to run it through a strainer.

If you are going to make creamed honey you will need to have the honey liquified before you add the starter, otherwise the grains will be the usual large, coarse grains that you get with naturally crystallize honey. The small, fine crystal structure is what makes creamed honey smooth and creamy.


----------



## DFisher

I have received several answers, so as of now, it seems they found canola, sunflowers, or a moonshine still. I am not aware of any of those nearby, other than sunflowers, and they are too few to produce this much I think. I do not know if Canola grows near me, but I did find a farm in Richmond (3.5 hours away) that grows it, so it may grow here. Either way, I have strained the honey 3 times (took all week), got most of the grain out without heating, and have bottled it as is, It is cloudy, slightly-grainy and taste as good as I have ever had. We'll see if folks buy it!


----------



## appalachianoutdoors

A lot of mine did the same here in Va. I'm suspecting it is honey dew collected by the bees after the main flow was over. I ran mine through double sieve, then 400 bucket strainer and bottled it. It is darker, thick, a bit cloudy, but tastes great.


----------



## beamero

One of my harvests did that this year. I left it setting in the strainer and used a spatula to remove the crystals from the strainer screen. I placed all of the gathered crystals into a few quart mason jars and let the sun heat them back into liquid. Pretty aggravating, just glad it was all of the honey that did this.


----------

