Honey is a natural sweetener. Bacteria usually eat sugar with great pleasure. However, honey has the unique property of being able to be stored for a long time without spoiling. What exactly makes it so effective against insects and microorganisms?
Many canned goods are perishable within a few spoonfuls — they quickly become moldy and become a breeding ground for bacteria. However, some foods have an amazing shelf life — they can be eaten for years.
Honey is one of these unique substances. Honey kept in a sealed jar — golden in color, gradually thickening, and becoming solid — does not spoil. This is due to the chemical nature of honey, as well as the way bees prepare it.
We also call it ‘food spoilage’, but it is actually the work of microorganisms. Bacteria, molds, fungi, etc. enter food and destroy it. To prevent them, humans adopt various storage methods — boiling, refrigeration, drying, salting or pickling, etc.
These microorganisms generally prefer a humid environment, moderate heat, low acidity, and an abundance of oxygen. That’s why meat and fruit can be preserved because they don’t have water when they’re dried. Food that’s been refrigerated after being cooked is exposed to the microbes inside. Pickling makes the acidity too high for the microbes to survive. The lack of oxygen in a sealed container makes it difficult for them to survive.
The battle we fight against these organisms is always ongoing. Because of their active nature, no matter how tightly protected they are, they can’t be stored for more than a certain amount of time. You’ve probably ever found your grandmother’s butterscotch sauce jar from 1985 in an old refrigerator with a thick layer of scale forming on top. (To be honest, I’ve heard of this example, but I’ve never experienced it!)
The signs of these organisms are often subtle but unmistakable — gray spots on the walls of peanut butter jars, or a foul odor from orange juice.
Honey, however, is an unusual case. The sweet liquid that bees collect from flowers is taken to the hive, concentrated, reduced in water, and with certain enzymes, increased in acidity, which inhibits the growth of certain microorganisms. In the process, they convert the sweet substance into a structure.
Next, the bees fan the honey with their wings. This evaporates the remaining moisture. As a result, the water content of honey is limited to between 15% and 18%. It is usually more concentrated than the dissolved sugar content. In fact, it is not possible to mix that much sugar with water without the help of the bees.
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Honey is rich in sugar — an attraction for microorganisms. But the low water content, natural acidity, and the closed storage environment combine to create serious obstacles to their growth.
This is a state known as low “water activity” — a fundamental principle in food science that helps preserve food for longer. Water can be bound with salt or sugar to keep it from spoiling.
This doesn’t mean that honey will never spoil. Once the jar is opened and exposed to air — humidity in the air, bacteria from dipping a spoon in it, etc., can spoil it over time.
But when you add water and add controlled organisms — you make a drink called mead. It’s not just spoilage, but in a different way — some even think of it as a sweet drink that gets you drunk in the sun.