Can you still eat moldy honey?

Honey is a very common thing in people's daily life. It has excellent effects on people's health, and as a sugar food, it is loved by many people. Most people buy a lot of honey, and they leave it there for a long time after buying it. However, because some people do not store it properly, it may become moldy. When honey becomes moldy, some people feel it is a pity to throw it away, but they are also worried that something might go wrong if they eat it. I don’t know what to do. Can we still eat honey after it becomes moldy?

Is this old honey still edible?

Scientific research and practice have proved that honey has strong antibacterial ability and is the only food in the world that will not spoil. In 1913, American archaeologists discovered a jar of honey in an ancient tomb in the Egyptian pyramids. It was determined that the honey was more than 3,300 years old, but it had not deteriorated at all and was still edible. It can be seen that truly mature honey is completely edible after being stored for a long time and does not have a strict shelf life. However, when it is put on the market as a food, the Food Law requires that the shelf life be indicated on the food product. Therefore, honey manufacturers generally set the shelf life of honey to 2 years.

However, it must be pointed out that if it is not mature honey or is an inferior product such as honey mixed with water, these honeys will ferment and bubble, become sour after being left for a long time and cannot be eaten. Of course, if the fermentation is not serious, it can still be eaten after heating in a water bath at about 60℃ for half an hour.

In short, no matter what kind of honey it is, or how long it has been stored, as long as it has not deteriorated, it can be eaten and will not be harmful to the body. It’s just that the nutritional value of long-stored honey is slightly lower than that of fresh honey.

But this phenomenon often occurs: honey that has been stored for too long will have white crystalline spots on the bottom of the bottle. At this time, people may think that the honey is "moldy" and throw it into the trash! In fact, the white spots are the crystallization points that first appear on the honey, not mold spots. This "crystallization" phenomenon is actually a natural property of honey. So, how does honey crystallization occur? How should honey be preserved? What should we pay attention to when drinking honey water? Let's take a look.

Honey crystallization phenomenon

Crystallization usually starts from the bottom of the honey bottle. When honey first starts to crystallize, white snowflakes will appear, then gradually increase and spread, finally forming a whole bottle of crystallized honey. The crystallization of honey does not affect the quality of honey. When heated to about 40 degrees Celsius, the crystals will gradually melt until they are completely dissolved.

How to store honey?

Honey in containers should be placed in a clean, cool, ventilated and dry place, or in the fresh-keeping layer of the refrigerator. After taking honey each time, cover the container to prevent contamination. It is best to use glass or ceramic containers to store honey. Do not use metal containers such as iron and aluminum to store honey for a long time to prevent the acid in the honey from corroding the containers and producing free heavy metals that contaminate the honey.