# Honey Butter what is the shelf life and does



## bussbeei (Jan 6, 2005)

Honey Butter what is the shelf life and does it
have to be refrigerated.
Does the honey keep the bacteria away from
the buter.any studies on the subjuct ?
Please advise
Thank you
d


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Honey Butter

Can we define it? Honey and butter whipped together or "creamed", "candied", "spun" honey which is just finely crystalized honey? I know a bit about keeping butter and a bit about keeping honey.

>what is the shelf life

For the "creamed" honey, approximately 6000 years but I'm sure the flavor will gradually degrade. For honey mixed with butter, I don't know.

> and does it have to be refrigerated.

For the creamed honey, absolutely not. For the honey mixed with butter, it will probably keep better in the refrigerator. I keep my butter at room temperature all the time. Occasionally in the summer when it melts it will get funny tasting but still will not harm you. So if you don't want the flavor to change, it will probably last longer under refrigeration but would probably taste fine for months at room temps and probably will degrade more quickly at higher temps.

>Does the honey keep the bacteria away from
the buter.

Butter will keep for quite a while without refreigeration at room temps. My guess is that honey butter will keep for a long time out of the refrigerator also but the taste will probably eventually degrade and it would stay fresher in the refrigerator. Do you know if honey/butter is granulated honey? In the refrigerator the honey will granulate faster if it hasn't already. The butter will not actually dissolve in the honey. It's really a suspension of butter so I wouldn't count on the honey to be in contact with all of the butter.

>any studies on the subjuct ?

I have no idea.


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## nursebee (Sep 29, 2003)

We make lots of honey butter for parties. It goes well with the homemade bread. If honey butter is out at room temps for many hours, it seems to not keep as well. Stored in the fridge it gets hard and is tougher to use. It should keep well though.


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## hobbyfarm (Feb 18, 2005)

First, I'm going to assume you mean the combination of butter and honey, and not creamed or whipped honey (for a looooooong discussion of that topic, see the Spun Honey thread in the For Sale section).

Can you keep it at room temperature? That depends on a number of factors outside your control - the fat content of the butter (it varies by brand while still remaining Grade A), the moisture content of the honey, and your environment (not your house, but the location where you live). We, too, normally leave the butter out at room temperature. Here in New Hampshire, we have never had the butter develop mold. But when we were living in Mississippi, butter left at room temperature would develop "silver threads" within three days.

So - we store our honey butter in the fridge. To get around the problem stiffness, I developed a recipe for Whipped Honey Butter, using honey, butter, and heavy cream. It is soft enough to spread straight out of the refrigerator.

Kevin

PS: If you'd like a copy of the recipe, let me know.

PPS: Please, please, please, please, please don't get started on "Is that whipped honey with butter?" or "Honey whipped with butter?" or any of the other convolutions covered in the Spun Honey thread.


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

What a great idea, hobbyfarm. Would you mind posting the recipe here or do you prefer to send it privately?

Grant


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## hobbyfarm (Feb 18, 2005)

To all-

I've posted the recipe in Products of the Hive/Everything Honey/- Recipes: Whipped Honey Butter.

Hope you enjoy.

Kevin


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