Why is my honey foggy, changing color, or seems to be layered?
There is nothing wrong with your honey! This is actually a good sign that your honey is raw and unfiltered. Your honey is simply crystalizing which raw honey does much faster then pasteurized and filtered honey. All you need to do is slowly warm the honey in warm water (never over 110F) to clarify it while preserving it’s natural properties.
Can you eat crystallized honey?
Absolutely! Some people actually prefer the texture. Many people will scope raw honey into tea or coffee to sweeten up their cup.
Does honey expire?
No, when stored properly honey will last for thousands of years! The fine print is that this is only true if you keep your honey, sealed, dry, and clean. Honey is hydroscopic so opened honey exposed to air in humid environments will absorb water from the air over time which can cause honey to ferment and spoil. If you allow moisture or food particles in your honey bottle it will degrade it’s shelf life.
Why do you only use glass bottles?
The classic corked muth bottles show off the natural beauty of your honey and allows you to de-crystalize/clarify your honey using without exposing your honey to harmful chemicals when heating in plastics.
Why is unfiltered raw honey better?
It’s honey as nature intended! Unfiltered raw honey preserves that natural qualities and ingredients that you can only find in honey straight from the hive. Most store bought honey is heated to high temperatures to both pasteurize the honey and allow it to be pumped through microfilters at high pressure removing all traces of beeswax and especially grains of pollen that naturally occurs in honey. This commercial honey has it’s natural qualities cooked out of it and in the case of honey sourced from outside of the U.S. is adulterated with sugar water and is not honey at all. Not only are the beneficial enzymes destroyed in the heating process, but you can’t prove it is real honey in the first place without microscopic pollen present in the honey. Our honey is gravity strained only to remove large pieces of hive products (beeswax, pollen, propolis all of which are edible anyway). When necessary due to natural crystallization, we gently warm the honey to hive temperatures (no more then 110 degrees F) to clarify and bottle it to ensure that you receive the purest raw honey that the bees can provide.
PNW Bee Company 