How long does honey store?

[Wasatch Rebel]

I have this jar of honey that my mother in law put in a mason jar and sealed (hot water bath or pressure canner, I'm not sure which). It's probably at least been in that jar for 15 years. It was pretty crystallized, but I put it in a pan of boiling water and now it's liquid again. I put it in the bread recipe I made tonight, but I still don't know whether I might get sick or not. Any ideas?

[LEVE]

I've had honey stored in cans for over 20 years that we just heated and used. Everyone lived...

I wouldn't be too worried.

[Wasatch Rebel]

I've had honey stored in cans for over 20 years that we just heated and used. Everyone lived...

I wouldn't be too worried.

That's what I was thinking, but then I thought I remembered that babies could get really sick from honey--botulism---so I wasn't quite sure if the duration that it had been on the shelf might lead to other toxins.

[DMGNUT]

They've found honey in Egyptian Tombs that is still good. Honey pretty much lasts for-ever, even if it's crystallized, you just do like you did, and heat it a little to liquefy.

[DMGNUT]

Honey adds a great variety to your storage, and stores well too. A lot of our sugar (or sweeteners) is in gallon buckets of honey.

[mirkwood]

We have honey in our storage too. I was told not to worry about the shelf life, it lasts a long long time.

[ghostcat]

Years ago, I made friends with a gentleman who had been the chief honey buyer for a big concern on the west coast ( I believe that he said they were the biggest processors of honey in the world). he held that position for well over 50 years and was 90+ years old when I got to know him ( he lived next door and we rented the house from him). This was while I was on my mission in 1976-1978. He told us that honey never goes bad and to prove his point he showed us vials of honey that were sealed in 1902, the finer grades of honey had not even crystallized!!! He then gave us honey from a jar from that era to taste and it tasted just as good as if it was fresh.

He told us that the best grades of honey were the lighter shades and the best was almost as clear as water. He said that the finest Honey in the world was pure "Black Sage" honey. When I left the area he gave me a couple of jars of the "Black Sage" honey, it had a slight taste of mint to it and I have to say, it was the best tasting honey I ever laid lips on!!!

[TheSwally]

I've heard honey and suger both will last indefinitely for the most part.

[mirkwood]

Sugar only goes bad if you aren't eating it :l0 (46):

[Aldon]

Honey is not good for babies.....

I will have to find the reference information.

Older Honey is not however bad for adults and lasts for many many moons.

It has to do with the digestive system and bacteria of some sort if I remember correctly.

[TheSwally]

Yes, that sounds right, Aldon. Now that you mention it, I recall my wife telling me not to give our babies honey until age 1. I found this online:

Warning! Honey is not for babies!

Although honey is a natural, healthy food that normally cannot support bacterial life, it's important to note that it can carry C. botulinum spores which may be harmful to the undeveloped immune systems of infants. The old practice of dipping pacifiers into honey to soothe crying babies should be aborted.

Infants up to one year of age should not be fed raw honey, as their immune systems are not yet developed enough to fend off this normally benign strain. Infection can cause a flaccid paralysis weakening the baby's muscles, causing a "floppy" baby. Other symptoms include constipation, lethargy, poor feeding, weak cry, droopy eyelids, expressionless face, drooling or swallowing difficulty, and occasionally, respiratory arrest. By the age of one year, most children develop enough to resist this normally benign strain of botulinum.

Infant botulism is rarely lethal, but is obviously easy to avoid in this instance. Although food manufacturers make extensive use of honey in their products, baby food manufacturers, as a rule, will not include honey in their foods recommended for those babies under one year of age.

It must also be pointed out that infant botulism is not exclusive to the ingestion of honey. The botulism spore can also be found in dust, soil and other uncooked foods that older children and adults are exposed to daily. The risk is minimal. Yet, it is an avoidable risk, and honey should not be fed to infants under the age of twelve months. Don't play the odds.

[arbilad]

It is said that honey is bad for babies because it is believed that sometimes there are botulism spores in honey, and babies up to a year old don't have a strong enough digestive system to kill the botulism spores. I don't think that there are any actual recorded cases of a baby getting botulism from honey, though.

[LoudmouthMormon]

Yeah, we broke into grandpa's 5 gal tin of honey when he died. It was 30+ years old. About half had been crystalized, the bottom half was still honey. I bet if we'd thrown the whole thing into a hot bathtub for a few hours, it all would have been honey.


They've found honey in Egyptian Tombs that is still good.So, when I tried to track this down, I found a whole bunch of articles about how it was still liquid (after 1500+ years), and many of the articles quoted the archaeologist saying "it's still good", but I find absolutely nothing about someone actually tasting it. It was black, if I remember correctly.

[Toni]

I have this jar of honey that my mother in law put in a mason jar and sealed (hot water bath or pressure canner, I'm not sure which). It's probably at least been in that jar for 15 years. It was pretty crystallized, but I put it in a pan of boiling water and now it's liquid again. I put it in the bread recipe I made tonight, but I still don't know whether I might get sick or not. Any ideas?

You won't get sick. It doesn't have to be heated or anything - at least if it is all honey from bees going flower to flower. I don't know if it's different if the bees are given sugar water.

The only thing I've noticed from old honey is that the flavor gets really, really strong.

[Toni]

That's what I was thinking, but then I thought I remembered that babies could get really sick from honey--botulism---so I wasn't quite sure if the duration that it had been on the shelf might lead to other toxins.

From what I understand this is because most bees are given sugar water to live on in the winter instead of honey - or a new hive will be given sugar water until they make enough honey. Then mites come in and infect the bees. I'm not sure if it's the mites' droppings or the mites themselves that are supposed to cause botulism to infants. As far as I know, before the practice of giving bees sugar water, no infants got botulism from raw honey.

Old honey is heated just to get rid of the granules. If it doesn't granulate, it isn't pure honey (water or something similar has been added to it).

[Toni]

Ghostcat, very interesting comments. I learned something new. Up til now, I'd not heard of pure honey not crystalizing after several years.


I don't think that there are any actual recorded cases of a baby getting botulism from honey, though. Good point, Arbilad. I keep hearing how such and such will kill you or make you sick (usually herbs) but no name, place, nor date is ever mentioned. "It'll kill you but no one has ever died from it" type of thing.

[Earthling]

I am using honey I stored over 25 years ago - it has gone dark - but is really good in some things where you want a lot of flavor. In fact I just put it in some brown Irish soda bread. I put it in the microwave to decrystalize it.

[BackBlast]

Honey is not good for babies.....

There are micro amounts of botulism contained in honey (and bee parts, among other things). Babies do not have a digestive tract that is good enough to handle these micro problems. 1 year is the recommended minimum age, in reality most babies are developed enough to handle a little at 6 months. I'd might lean closer to a year just to be on the safe side, depending on their solid intake. Honey is not an infant food, which I think was the principle original problem.

At least, this is my understanding.

As to the main question, honey will last indefinitely if stored right. Viable honey was found in pyramids from long, long ago. This might make the estimated storage life 3000+ years...

[phylm]

There were several reports of babies being affected with botulism from honey back in the hippy/back-to-the-land movement of the '70s, when many city people moved to the country and tried to turn the calendar back to the 1700s, the organic craze began, and they fed their babies only "natural" food.

[Toni]

Thanks, phylm. I appreciate your input.

[jettsmom]

I attended a bread making class a few years ago. A man was teaching it. He had a 5 gallon bucket of honey. It was very dark and crystallized. I can't remember how old it was. He said it was still good and used it straight from the bucket, no heating. The bread was wonderful.

[CurtisG]

Honey lasts a long time...the old folks used it as an antibiotic on wounds.
Many people who suffer from seasonal allergies(including my wife) claim that eating "local honey" helps reduce symptoms.
You may recall an Old Testament prophet who lived on honey (and locusts yech) and did just fine.

[JayE]

Maybe honey dipped locusts aren't that bad - sweet and crunchy.

[signseeker]

Thought he was a New Testament prophet...?

[Aldon]

Yep, John the Baptist, but it is likely that Elijah as well as others did so as well. And Isaiah I think mentions it, so it is mentioned in OT, but occurs in NT. I think?????

[signseeker]

Either way, I have always had such a fascination with Elizabeth- JtheB's mom. Her husband was murdered, she's warned somehow to get her child out of there before the baby slaughter comes to town. This old woman takes off for the wilderness, literally, and raises her son there. Talk about the ultimate survival story. They eat what was available, they wear what was available, she teaches him to speak, teaches him the gospel -- I mean, no wonder they all called him a wild man when he appeared on the scene. Just the way he walked and moved was probably different. I bet he had to bury his mom in the wilderness. What an amazing story. I mean, I wonder if he ever got used to ... bread? I mean, how lonely was his life? I'm just at awe with that story.

[rhiamom]

Back to the topic of honey storage. I just want to point out that honey will indeed keep for many years, but it has to be pure honey. It can be filtered, but it cannot be watered down in any way. Get your honey for storage from a reputable bee keeper! Most of the honey sold commercially in the US has been watered down and/or cut with corn syrup to increase profits.

[CurtisG]

Yep, i should have mentioned that any supposed health benefit is pretty much taken away by pasteurization.
You have reminded me about the old guy who sells his honey(and produce) on the town square. He said that one place he took his bulk honey to be filtered and packaged added water to the honey.(i guess so they could charge for more jars) What he said to them cannot be posted in this forum:d0 (26):

[CurtisG]

Thought he was a New Testament prophet...?
Yes it was John the Baptist i was thinking of.
I learned something else....eating locusts wont hurt you, falling afoul of corrupt politicians will:l0 (41):

[jennvan40]

We just opened up a big 5 gallon bucket of my mom's honey from the 70's and it was NOT good. It smelled awful and was black. We talked to a local bee keeper who said that sometimes bees get a fungus that gets into the honey that will make it go bad eventually. She said that's another reason you need to make sure you know your bee keeper to make sure the bees don't have any problems.

[Toni]

I have heard that that happens to honey when the bees are fed sugar water.

[plantkiller]

I was under the impression that babies only can't be fed raw honey.. and that bread or whatever with honey as an added ingredient was cooked and therefore safe. I have fed my kids products cooked with honey for years, just never raw honey like on a sandwich or anything until they were over two. Well.. they haven't gotten sick from it yet.

[signseeker]

I was totally raised on honey and you know how great I turned out! :party:

[ghostcat]

I was totally raised on honey and you know how great I turned out! :party: Oh man!!! you just had to say that didn't you!! Now everybody will be worried!!!!!!:001_tt2:

[signseeker]

When I was growing up, one of my dad's favorite expressions was, "It'll put hair on your chest." I always wanted hair on my chest, cuz my dad was so cool and he said it like it was a compliment or sign of real awesomeness to have hair on your chest. Anyway, I suppose if the honey smells weird, it'll still put hair on your chest and that's always good, no?

[Toni]

Yeah, only raw honey is supposed to be bad for babies 'cuz they can't digest the whatever botulism type critter in it. Like I said, I've heard that it started when bees were fed sugar water instead of honey to keep them alive. Not enough nutrition to keep them healthy enough to make good honey is what seemed to be inferred. They got mites when, before, they didn't and on and on. I don't know how accurate this is but I know that junk food isn't good for humans or animals. It might not be good for bugs either.