Hi food experts
wish to have your opinion, I attached a photo of the honey.
It looks weird to me. I have never seen granular/crystalized pieces honey like this, the ones I had before was either very liquid/sticky or hard/solid.

it tastes slightly sour.

and here is a link for the honey
https://www.auchan.fr/les-grattiers-...kg/pr-92100318

Is this a quality issue or why it is in this form? Thanks

Attached Images

honey.JPG (35.8 KB, 242 views)

Looks great. Absolutely normal; most honey will end up like this over time, sometimes it's meant to be like that. If you prefer it more liquid you can break up the crystals by gently heating it, ideally in a bain marie ( i.e. over a pan of hot water).

Hot toast and butter is the best way to melt honey

Thanks for your reply! and is it a quality issue that the honey tastes slightly sour? also the first time I experience this.

Internet tells me that it means it has gone bad...
https://ashevillebeecharmer.com/hone...20taste%20sour!

Did you actually read the link you gave us? It is perfectly fine ...

I thought that as well, but the link says:

"You’ll definitely know when your honey has fermented—it will taste sour!"

In the section that says the one thing that can spoil honey is fermentation. Took me ages to spot it though.

The photo looks fine to me. But the sour taste... ? Not sure.
I found this, though:
https://www.highgroundorganics.com/u...-fermentation/

The honey is still good to eat but if fermentation is allowed to continue it will change the taste. ...

Raw honey has not been pasteurized so it contains live yeast. When the moisture content of the honey is high enough the yeast will grow, fermenting some of the sugars, making more yeast, alcohol, carbon dioxide and acetic acid all of which will change the flavor of the honey over time. When honey crystallizes the moisture content of the remaining liquid increases and fermentation becomes more likely. Place the glass jar of honey in hot water to re-liquefy it. If you wish you can allow the honey to get to 160 degrees during the re-liquefying process to pasteurize it but then it will no longer be raw. If you prefer crystallized honey you should store it in the refrigerator. The yeast can not grow at temperatures below 50 degrees.

I also learnt that some people ferment honey deliberately, to use in cooking, or to ferment other things, such as garlic, for its healing properties.

If it tastes bad, don't eat it. It's very rare for honey to go 'bad' in any way unless you've allowed it to be contaminated and it starts to ferment, but it won't do you any harm, unless you're allergic to alcohol.

My bad

Fermentation doesn’t mean the honey is “bad” - you shouldn’t get ill from it.

Research the maker. Go to the website of the company google their name see who is their suppliers. Takes probably 10 minutes to find if they buy honey in bulk from the local farmers or from China like many honey 'producers'.

OP already posted a link which shows the honey is collected in France.

OP - how old is this honey?

On the site where you showed the pot, is the review from you?!

* "A very mediocre product, the honey had crystallised, so I think it was topped off with sugar."

Once I drank a homemade honey liquor coming from Bretagne in France. It was inside a milk bottle brought by a friend to the party. Did not taste bad, enhanced drunkenness, got the same hangover as usual, so fine.

That was done in february, highly inprobable
Anyway I find it a bit ridiculous folks don't know crystalized honey, I mean even in shops half of the honey sold is crystalized, here, France, doesn't matter. Some folks like it that way, some folks like it like babies - more liquid.

Practically all non-processed honey will end up crystalized if left for long enough. Doesn't change anything, as suggested put the jar in hot bath and its back. Trust me, you want honey that is not heavily processed, doesn't matter who manufactures it.

Fermentation itself doesn't spoil product, otherwise we couldn't drink beer. Can't imagine how you can sense sourness through all the sweetness. If you don't like it, don't eat it. Otherwise enjoy.

Done a bit of beekeeping with grandpa back home, one of those things that feel as from another life an era ago...

That must be in Fahrenheit! In Celsius it would mean 10 degrees.

Then you go viking, drink it and call it "mead"

Hello there,

speaking with the authority (well!) of someone who is preceded by two generations of beekeepers (*), this state of honey is absolutely normal and likely indicates a low or none processing level - WHICH IS A DESIRABLE PROPERTY! As others have indicated, a plain warm bath of the jar under "bain marie" should be the way to go. Alternatively, you might simply mix it with your warm tea cuppa and the rest is automatic.

Finally, I would like to highlight that honey is a very special product and you'd do yourself -and nature- a favour if you try to procure your honey (or most of it) directly via a nearby beekeeper or their cooperative. You would then cut the middlemen who often have little respect for the authenticity of the product and you'd get to know the flavour of nature told by the beekeeper, who would be happy to explain to you how flavours can change with season and environmental conditions. And for those who don't know it, the beekeeper is simply the biggest BEE in this field - in all possible meanings!

(*) Grandpa's annual yield was in the 2 tones zone: I remember so well those huge metal barrels in the 80s, when I was just a little kid vacationing on the island... memories!

I don't find it ridiculous at all. We all know some things, and don't know others. You come from beekeeping with grandpa, which is a background most people people don't have, after all. There's no harm in asking.

OP's question is, in any case, only partly about the honey's being crystalised, and partly about the slightly sour taste. I'd never heard of the latter, of honey, before this thread, and have now learnt something about fermentation which I didn't know before.

I've never had honey I would call "sour". I am a fan of honey and have tasted many, many kinds from all over the place. Honey can have very different tastes and textures depending on how (or if) it's processed and what the bees consume.

I remember trying an arbutus honey from Corsica. It was a taste I would say was sort of bitter, not quite sour, and not something I liked. It hadn't fermented, it was just very different.

My general rule -if it's not pleasant to eat, then don't eat it.

Centigrade.

Tom

Miel de montagne has a slightly acrid taste, which I love, as it is mostly made from fir tree pollen. One of our tenants when I was a child kept hives in the grounds, and I used to love helping with the extraction process, when he used to give me bits of honeycomb to suck and chew, then spit the wax.
Each honey has specific features and taste variations and colour, depending ont he main flowers, or mix, involved. And as Ace says, if you don't like it when it cristallises, just put the pot in a pan full of hot water until it liquifies again, and keep it at room temps.