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glucose and fructose are mono sacharides and usually do not crystallize.
The tendency of honey to crystallize depends on the ratio of fructose-glucose and glucose-water...If the glucose-water ratio is below 1.7, the honey does not crystallize, and if it is above 2.1, it crystallizes rapidly.The higher the fructose-glucose ratio, the slower the crystallization occurs. The presence of seed crystals of glucose, pollen, air bubbles, particulate matter and other accelerate crystallization. The best crystallization temperature is 13-15 degrees Celsius.At low temperatures, the increased number of the crystals is slowed down because of the increased viscosity and reduced diffusion, a high temperature increases the solubility of the sugars.
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d-r Karapetkovska-Hristova
With the onset of winter and low temperature the problem of crystallization of honey is increasing, as it is known that honey is becoming more crystallized with lower temperature.
The honey is liquid liquid at maturity, and then gradually crystallizes until it freezes. Here are a lot of questions about this crystallization or irritation or irritation. It may be decided by many people that this honey is fake and unnatural, but these opinions are certainly incorrect and not based on logic Scientific and scientific experience, all natural pure honey can crystallize and can crystallization feature to be done (finished or fragmented - complete or intermittent - defective crystals or beautiful).
The crystallized honey is the liquid honey that is left in a temperature of less than 22 m. The sugars are formed in the form of crystals that give the honey a sweet honey and turbidity at the same time that solidifies its strength and formed on its surface a thick white and granular membrane gradually increasing its thickness. This is due to crystallization of sugar glucose. Fructose sugar is dissolved in the water that is still present between the crystals of glucose and the granular structure that sweeps the entire mass of honey gradually.
Some people may understand this situation as a kind of cheating. This is a misconception. Experiments have shown that the size of the crystals and the speed of their formation depend on several factors,
The number of primary crystals of sugar glucose found in honey during its classification, honey extracted from ancient wax tablets repeated in several seasons crystallize quickly and turn into a block of fine granules such as frozen fat due to the presence of a large number of crystals of sugar primary, while honey extracted from the new waxy tablets is slow crystallization There is a direct relationship between the temperature and the speed of crystallization where sugar crystals are formed very quickly when keeping the honey in a warm place because the wife goes down and aggregates aggregates of crystals or granules in the bottom in the form of precipitation, but if keeping the honey in a cold place, his wife increase and slow down Sedimentation so that the granules have enough time to grow and unite before it settles and begins to harden the honey forming grains that hold together and lead to crystallization.
The shape and color of the granules crystallized in honey vary according to the source and location of the nectar (some of the molasses crystallize in a homogeneous manner, while others may appear liquid at the top and crystallize the crystals below).
The speed of crystallization varies from one type to another. Some types of honey crystallize immediately after its production, such as honey, rose, cotton and pumpkin, while others may persist in the form of liquid for several years, such as honey.
From here we can summarize the most important factors that help crystallization (granulation):
1. Percentage of Glucose to Humidity% G / W As the ratio approaches 1.5, the crystallization is slow and the crystallization speed increases with the higher ratio.
2. The percentage of reducing sugars (glucose to fructose)% G / F is often less than the correct one.The closer the percentage of the correct one, the faster the tendency to crystallize and vice versa.
3. Pollen seeds, which are the nucleus of crystallization, accumulate on them and deposited in the bottom sugars until crystallization is complete.
4. Honey keeping temperature of less than 20 m
5. Using old waxy tablets (repeated use).
And can be removed crystallization by treating honey in a water bath (hot water) so that the temperature of honey does not exceed 40-60m so as not to be affected by its therapeutic components, such as enzymes and other therapeutic properties that break the heat, many of the nuts packaged in factories subjected to thermal treatment to interrupt the crystallization process And prevent the occurrence of the act as a pasteurizer of honey to eliminate the yeast and fungi that spoil the honey by fermentation and this temperature if high may lead to areduction in the therapeutic properties of it and is subjected to the liquidation of the removal of pollen so as not to be the nucleus of crystallization and this procedure loses honey most vitamins and important substances The pollen.
So it is important to know that crystallization is not a defect of quality but is a natural characteristic of natural honey.
Therefore, we advise the consumer to take the crystallized honey without any heat treatment until the full benefit of its nutritional and therapeutic value.
Since liquid honey is usually preferred by people, we advise them not to put in the refrigerator and safe in it can not allow it to crystallize any temperature of more than (25 m), especially if we know that the best temperature suitable for crystallization rangingfrom (10 - 18 m) .
