I have a plastic gallon jug of honey that's been stored in a dark closet for a year. Half of it has turned to sugar. Any suggestions on how to convert it back to honey? I've tried setting the jug in a pan of very warm water which hasn't worked. Thanks in advance for any advice. Victoria

-- Victoria Tompkins (vtompkins@earthlink.net), October 25, 2000

Answers

might have to warm it longer, or it might be too far gone, with a whole gallon, I'd give it a few hours at least

-- STAN (sopal999@yahoo.com), October 25, 2000.

Victoria, transfer the honey to a glass jar....half gallon size if you have one. Fill a pot about halfway on the stove with water, put a folded up washcloth in the bottom to keep the jar from touching metal and then heat at a moderate temperature for several hours. I have tried to do this in a plastic container before and if it gets warm enough long enough to melt the honey it also melts the container. If you need just a dab of it really quick stick a couple of tblsps in a mason jar and zap it in the microwave. This does work but tends to make the honey thin....the consistency is much better when you do this on the stove. Just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't boil over if you put your stove on anything other than low. The slower you melt it the better.

-- Amanda S (aseley@townsqr.com), October 25, 2000.

It might not work well this time of year, but in warmer weather I've put crystalized honey on the back window of my car and left it in the sun for a day or so.

I guess it might well work this time of year here: it was in the 80's here in the Ozarks today. ==>paul

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), October 25, 2000.

I think you need to set the jug in very warm water for a longer time. We cook on a wood range and I set my canner way on back where the water barely simmers, great for liquifing honey.Also, I use canning jar metal screw bands or small pieces of wood to set a container on in a waterbath on the stove,

-- kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), October 25, 2000.

If you have a microwave, put it in the microwave on low for as long as it takes to liquify it. This worked great for me even though the honey was (ugh!) in a plastic jar.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 26, 2000.

Honey is never "too far gone". It will literally keep without spoiling forever -- honey has been found in the Egyptian pyramids, crystalized, but still edible. You need to allow quite a bit of time for such a large quantity of honey to re-liquify. You can use the microwave, but watch very carefully as you DO NOT want to overheat it. Overheating is what alters the flavor. You could also overheat it in the hot water bath, but it would take longer. I would recommend storing honey in a glass jar, for ease of re-liquifying. My husband is a beekeeper and stores surplus honey in plastic five- gallon buckets. It's a pain to dig the solidified honey out of those buckets to warm it! But our honey always crystalizes fairly quickly, because of the kinds of flowers the bees get the nectar from, so we are always dealing with crystalized honey, and have to give directions to all our customers on how to deal with it!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 26, 2000.

I had a commercial beekeeper friend years ago who kept an Excalibur dehydrator for the express purpose of liquifying honey. He would remove the trays, set the jars inside and turn the thermostat to about 130o overnight. Worked great, he didn't have to worry about its overheating or the pan running out of water.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), October 27, 2000.