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Where this comes from. The legal limits are the Honey (England) Regulations 2015, read on legislation.gov.uk, with the same rules across the UK. The storage and warming figures are the FAO’s, including a table of how fast honey’s enzymes fall at each temperature. The container rules are the food contact regulation. Sources at the foot of the page.
Dry enough before it goes in
The law allows honey up to 20% water, and up to 23% for heather honey. 1That is the limit for selling it. It is not the target for keeping it.
Below 18% water there is little chance of fermentation. Even below 17.1% the risk is not completely gone. 2 So honey meant to sit in a bucket for months wants to be well under 18%.
Measure it before it goes in, not when you jar it. Getting the honey out of the comb covers measuring the water. Honey that has begun to ferment cannot be sold as honey at all. 1
The bucket and the lid
Honey belongs in glass, stainless steel, or a container coated with a food approved plastic, paint or beeswax. 3 Never use one that has held oil, cleaner or anything else that is not food. 3
A container made for food says so. It is marked “for food contact”, says what food use it is for, or carries the food contact symbol, a glass and a fork. 4
Then the lid. Honey at 18.3% water or less takes water from the air whenever the humidity is above 60%. 5 A bucket left open in a damp shed is honey getting wetter. Keep it covered. 2
Let it settle first
Straight off the extractor, honey is full of air bubbles and specks of wax. Left to stand, they float to the top and anything heavier sinks. At 25 to 30 °C that takes a few days. 2
Skim the top before it goes into store. A fine strain works best with the honey near 30 °C, through holes of 0.1 to 0.2 mm. 2
Where to keep it
Somewhere near 20 °C, with the humidity below 65%. Above 25 °C the honey loses quality faster the longer it stays there. 3
The table below is why. Diastase is one of honey’s natural enzymes, and the law sets a minimum for it. 1 Each row is how long it takes for half of it to go at that temperature. 3
| Honey kept at | Half its diastase gone in |
|---|---|
| 20 °C | about 4 years |
| 25 °C | about 18 months |
| 30 °C | about 6.6 months |
| 35 °C | about 2.6 months |
| 40 °C | 31 days |
| 50 °C | about 5 days |
| 60 °C | about a day |
| 70 °C | about 5 hours |
A cool room keeps it for years. A hot garage over a summer does real damage.
Set honey in the bucket is normal
Honey with less water and more glucose sets sooner. It sets fastest at around 14 °C, and hardly at all above 25 °C or below 5 °C. 5 Only cold storage below 5 °C stops it setting and fermenting at the same time. 3
A part set bucket needs watching. As crystals form they push water out into the liquid around them, so the runny part gets wetter, and more likely to ferment. 5 A part set bucket of damp honey is the most likely thing in your store to go off.
Warming it back to runny
The rule is the lowest temperature for the shortest time that does the job. 3
- Use a warming cabinet or a water bath. The FAO gives 35 to 50 °C for melting crystallised honey. 3 Stay at the low end and give it longer.
- Keep the water close to the honey. The water should never be more than 5 to 10 °C hotter than you want the honey to be. 3
- Never a hotplate or a pan straight on the heat. Honey carries heat badly and is thick, so a point of heat overheats it before the rest has warmed. Stir it gently as it warms. 5
- Take it out as soon as it is clear. Look at the table again: 31 days for half the diastase at 40 °C, about a day at 60 °C. 3
This is not only quality. Honey must not be heated so that its natural enzymes are destroyed or significantly inactivated, and the minimum diastase and the 40 mg/kg limit on HMF are how that is measured. 1 Heat it hard enough and it is no longer honey you can sell.
If you want it set again, but fine, making soft set honey starts from exactly this point.
Jarring from the bucket
Give every jar a lot mark that leads back to its bucket and its harvest. Selling honey in the UK covers lot marks and the rest of the label.
The short version
- Well under 18% water before it goes into store. The legal limit of 20% is for selling, not keeping.
- Glass, stainless steel or a food contact bucket, never one that held anything else.
- Lid on. Dry honey takes water from damp air.
- Near 20 °C and dry. Above 25 °C it spoils faster.
- Set honey is normal. A part set bucket of damp honey is the risk.
- Warm it in a cabinet or water bath, at the low end of 35 to 50 °C, and take it out as soon as it is clear.
- Heated too hard, it is no longer honey in law.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change - always check the current guidance on GOV.UK before relying on it.