How to store honey: where is it better to keep at home, rules and temperature, dishes

Honey can be stored for many years, retaining its beneficial properties. In this case, it is imperative to adhere to simple rules. However, not everyone knows how to store honey. First of all, it is necessary to choose the right container for the beekeeping product. Maintaining the right temperature and humidity settings is also important.

Honey storage containers

A variety of modern materials allows each person to choose the best option for storing honey.

Clay

For centuries, honey has been kept in pottery. It is considered ideal for these purposes. Such a container does not allow moisture and sunlight to pass through. In addition, it helps to maintain constant temperatures. However, now it is quite difficult to find high-quality clay containers. Besides, it's hard to call them practical.

Glass

It is best to keep honey in a glass bowl at home. This material does not react with bee products and does not produce toxic substances. The disadvantages of such containers include only transparency. This means that it does not provide protection from sunlight. To solve this problem, it is worth placing a container filled with bee nectar in a dark place.

Plastic

Bee products are often sold in plastic containers. This is due to the convenience of transportation and storage in the store. In addition, plastic is considered a cheaper material. This means that the capacity is minimally reflected in the cost of the product. At the same time, after the purchase, it is recommended to immediately pour the mass into a glass container.

Tree

Wooden utensils are considered quite rare. At the same time, it is quite acceptable to use it for storing honey. However, it is important to give preference to containers made from specific types of wood - linden, beech, birch. It is better not to use coniferous dishes. Such material includes many essential oils that change the taste and aroma of the product.

Metal

It is recommended to treat metal containers with extreme caution.Beekeepers use them to store large quantities of honey. However, they prefer materials without zinc, aluminum or lead in the composition. These components can provoke the oxidation of the product. It is not recommended to use such storage containers at home.

Storage in cells

Natural honey is quite acceptable to keep in combs. In this case, it is necessary to follow the same rules as for a regular product. It is important that it is not affected by high humidity, sunlight and temperature fluctuations.

Honeycombs are recommended to be kept in glass containers. It is enough to divide them into small parts and compactly place them in banks. If all recommendations are followed, the product will retain its freshness for more than 1 year. To increase the shelf life of the honeycomb, it is worth pouring liquid honey and sealing it with melted wax. From above, the container must be hermetically sealed.

Storage location

You can store honey in different places. For this, a kitchen cabinet or refrigerator is suitable. Some people keep the product in the cellar. In any case, it is important to adhere to certain rules.

Refrigerator

In a city apartment, honey is allowed to be kept in the refrigerator. This is where the temperature stays constant all the time. This makes it possible to avoid exposing the product to sudden temperature fluctuations and high humidity.

In addition, the product is not exposed to sunlight in the refrigerator. Close the container with honey hermetically enough so that the mass does not absorb foreign odors.

Basement and cellar

Private homes often have a cellar. However, most of these places are not very suitable for storing bee products. This is due to inappropriate temperature and humidity conditions, which can lead to spoilage of the nectar.

If there is no other place, it is recommended to keep honey in wooden barrels soaked in wax. They should not be placed near s alt, sugar, cereals, sauerkraut. Also, the keg can be removed to the bottom shelf of the pantry.

Closet and pantry

These options are suitable for storing honey in the winter. In this case, it is enough to remove the honey in a dark place and forget about it. It is important to consider that it is forbidden to keep other products nearby. It is also worth making sure that there are no insects in the pantry.

Temperature and humidity

It is best to keep honey at a temperature of +6-25 degrees. In summer, it is recommended to clean the product in a cool place. Heating the mass to a temperature of more than +35 degrees is prohibited. Already at +40 degrees, the breakdown of vitamins in the composition of the product begins.

At +60 degrees honey loses enzymes and bactericidal properties. As a result, from a healing product, it turns into an ordinary dessert.With stronger heating, sugars actively break down, and an intermediate substance, hydroxymethylfurfural, is produced. Scientists often call it a potentially dangerous carcinogen.

If you cool the heated honey, its beneficial properties will not be restored. In this case, vitamins, enzymes, essential oils and organic acids will be completely destroyed, and the main part of the sugars will be replaced by an intermediate substance. This product is completely odorless. In addition, it loses its rich and rich taste, becoming cloyingly sweet.

It is not recommended to keep honey at sub-zero temperatures. This leads to the loss of some vitamins and other useful substances. Some people freeze honey. In this case, it is worth observing a number of conditions - in particular, you should not expose the product to temperatures below -15 degrees.

Another important condition for the proper storage of the mass is the maintenance of low humidity.Like all bee products, honey is highly hygroscopic. Increasing the moisture of the product provokes its acidification. To avoid this, the container must be hermetically sealed.

Freeze

Natural bee product contains up to 20% moisture. Therefore, even at a temperature of -2 degrees, the mass freezes. To keep the sweetness constantly frozen, the temperature can be lowered to -15 degrees. Lower parameters lead to irreversible chemical processes. This entails the loss of useful and healing properties.

It is important to consider that it is recommended to keep the frozen product in portioned containers. Once defrosted, it should be fully used up.

So, to increase the shelf life of frozen bee nectar, it is important to follow the following recommendations:

1. The temperature in the freezer should be at least -15 degrees. Otherwise, the product will lose its taste and benefits.
2. Before freezing, the composition should be transferred to small containers. Once defrosted, it should be used immediately.
3. Bee nectar should be kept in tightly sealed pots, jars and containers.
4. When stored in the freezer, treats should not be placed near meat and fish.
5. It is recommended to defrost the product in vivo. It is also allowed to do this in a water bath at a temperature of no more than +40 degrees.

Do not use containers made of coniferous wood to store goodies. This will give the honey a dark color, bitterness and a specific smell. It is also not recommended to freeze food that has already been defrosted.

Does honey have an expiration date?

Many people believe that the product is not allowed to be stored for more than 12 months. They believe that after a year, bee nectar loses its beneficial properties and structure. Proponents of this theory argue that honey is not only deprived of valuable components, but also becomes harmful.

Opponents of this statement give other arguments. So, during excavations in Egypt, archaeologists found a container with an unknown mass. After conducting research, scientists found that it was honey. Moreover, it retained its taste and remained usable.

It must be said that with proper storage, a natural product retains its benefits for many years. Of course, the mass is subjected to fermentation processes. Therefore, after a while, the honey will become darker, lose some of the flavor and acquire a thick consistency.

Honey is a very useful product that contains a large number of valuable elements.In order for the mass to retain its properties for as long as possible, it is important for it to provide the correct storage conditions. In this case, the choice of capacity is of great importance, as well as maintaining optimal temperature and humidity parameters.

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