Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Honey's sucrose chains play musical chairs

Watch out for fermentation

Dear Matt: Why does my honey crystallize? Even after I nuke it to make it liquid again, the crystals remain. Could you shed some light on this annoying phenomenon? — Sidhe, North Park

Blame it on the needs of bees. They take very dilute sucrose (nectar), mix in some bee spit, pump it in and out of their snouts a few times, and finally squirt it into a cell in the hive. All this dehydrates the solution to raise its sugar content to about 50 percent, a point at which microbes can’t grow on the tasty goo and spoil the bees’ stored food. Bees who never got their high school diplomas are given career slots as honey fanners. They stand around and beat their wings, which generates a breeze, which speeds up the evaporation.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In response, the honey’s big sucrose chains begin a game of molecular musical chairs, changing to the simpler structures of fructose and glucose. More of those molecules can cram into a given volume of water. This benefits the bees because that stores more food energy in a given volume of honey.

Unfortunately for us, the 38 percent fructose, 31 percent glucose, and 17 percent water structure of cured honey is just about the saturation point for glucose — the point at which the floating molecules yearn to cling together into crystallized solids. This happens eventually to all liquid honeys, but it’s speeded up at room temperatures. But raise the temp of the gritty honey (by nuking it, for example), and you make the glucose molecules more water-soluble, so the honey’s liquefied again. But once it cools, you’re back where you started.

One caveat. When the glucose crystallizes, that raises the relative water content of the honey and makes it a nicer place for yeasts and molds to live. Basically, crystallization will cause fermentation, the conversion of sugars to carbon dioxide and alcohol. Of course, you can always stow all that bad honey in the basement for a while, then order in lots of pizzas and throw a party.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Extended family dynamics

Many of our neighbors live in the house they grew up in
Next Article

Why did Harrah's VP commit suicide last summer?

Did the fight the Rincon casino had with San Diego County over Covid play a part?

Dear Matt: Why does my honey crystallize? Even after I nuke it to make it liquid again, the crystals remain. Could you shed some light on this annoying phenomenon? — Sidhe, North Park

Blame it on the needs of bees. They take very dilute sucrose (nectar), mix in some bee spit, pump it in and out of their snouts a few times, and finally squirt it into a cell in the hive. All this dehydrates the solution to raise its sugar content to about 50 percent, a point at which microbes can’t grow on the tasty goo and spoil the bees’ stored food. Bees who never got their high school diplomas are given career slots as honey fanners. They stand around and beat their wings, which generates a breeze, which speeds up the evaporation.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In response, the honey’s big sucrose chains begin a game of molecular musical chairs, changing to the simpler structures of fructose and glucose. More of those molecules can cram into a given volume of water. This benefits the bees because that stores more food energy in a given volume of honey.

Unfortunately for us, the 38 percent fructose, 31 percent glucose, and 17 percent water structure of cured honey is just about the saturation point for glucose — the point at which the floating molecules yearn to cling together into crystallized solids. This happens eventually to all liquid honeys, but it’s speeded up at room temperatures. But raise the temp of the gritty honey (by nuking it, for example), and you make the glucose molecules more water-soluble, so the honey’s liquefied again. But once it cools, you’re back where you started.

One caveat. When the glucose crystallizes, that raises the relative water content of the honey and makes it a nicer place for yeasts and molds to live. Basically, crystallization will cause fermentation, the conversion of sugars to carbon dioxide and alcohol. Of course, you can always stow all that bad honey in the basement for a while, then order in lots of pizzas and throw a party.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Goose may have indie vibes, but they’re still a jam band

Fans turn out in force for show at SDSU
Next Article

Dia de los Muertos Celebration, Love Thy Neighbor(Hood): Food & Art Exploration

Events November 2-November 6, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader