Honey - Chill or freeze?

[limyw]

I am selling raw honey in local market. I do not pasturise them. To prevent honey being fermented in short period, I chilled my honey (about 10 deg C) immediately after extraction, untill they are deliver. But should I freeze (<0 deg C) them to make them more long lasting? And if I freeze them, would this kill the active ingredient or change the composition of honey?

[manowar422]

I do not pasturise them. To prevent honey being fermented in short period

capped honey in the comb lasts a LONG time :!:

See this article about fermentation caused by moisture content.
http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/creamhoney.htm

Perhaps a refractometer is the answer to your problem.

[Phoenix]

First of all there should be no risk of the honey fermenting as long as your harvesting honey that has been capped, I see no reason to harvest uncapped honey.  It will have an indefinite shelf life even if kept at room temperature.

If you chill liquid honey, you risk triggering the crystallization process.  If you freeze it, is less apt to crystallize, depending on the fructose content of course.  The freezing process will not harm the honey or it's properties in any way.

[Michael Bush]

The only way to make it crystalize faster than putting it in the fridge is if you set the fridge thermostat up to about 50 F or so.  It will crystalize quickly in the refrigerator.  Honey will not spoil if the moisture is down where the bees cap it.  I've never had any ferment.

[limyw]

I see no reason to harvest uncapped honey[/quote].

We here all year round has very high humidity, this made no way for the bee to ripen the honey and cap. I even have honey comb, which I purposely left inside the hive for few months, waiting for bee to cap. But I finally got the fermented honey from that comb.  :D

Here most of the time I can only get 30% capped. Mostly on the top part.

[Michael Bush]

Wow!  I have no problems with humidity here.  What other resources do you have?  If you have a dehumidifier you can put it in a closet or small room and leave the buckets open to let it dry more.

[manowar422]

limyw,
I was interested in your country's weather and looked up the info below.

If one uses the rainfall totals listed below, over 365 days you would
average 1/4" of rain every day :shock:

It's no wonder you have humidity problems :(


MALAYSIA’S CLIMATE:
Tropical climate with warm weather all year round.
Temperatures range from 21 °C to 32°C.
Annual rainfall varies from 2000mm to 2500mm. (6½ to 8 feet)

AREA:
329,758 sq. km.

POPULATION
22 million

CAPITAL:
Kuala Lumpur

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION:
Located between 2 and 7 degrees north of the Equator.
Peninsula Malaysia is separated from the states of Sabah and Sarawak by the South China Sea.
To the north of Peninsula Malaysia is Thailand while its southern neighbour is Singapore.
Sabah and Sarawak are bounded by Indonesia while Sarawak also shares a border with Brunei.

[limyw]

Thanks for all advises.

My honey production is not much, about 30kgs each harvest. So I just chilled them and sold. So far they do not complaint about the quality because I explained to them on the environment constrain. Even the honey is fermented before finishing consume, they still dont make noise.

My customers are also smart. If I say I can make honey to ferment slower by pasturising, but this will kill the active ingredient, they would definately say: no problem, I prefer the raw one! :lol: