What is "raw" honey?

What is "RAW Honey" and why does it get hard?

Honey never goes bad!

Let's get that idea out of the way immediately -- ACTUAL honey is good indefinitely and does not need to be refrigerated or anything else. 

What raw honey WILL do over time, is crystallize. The reason "store bought" honey doesn't crystallize is that it has been pasteurized and heavily filtered. That processing also kills all the good microbial stuff in the honey that you actually want... and often manufacturers add in fillers like corn syrup so that in the end, it's not really honey. Like we always say, if you don't know the beekeeper, then you don't really know what is in your honey (or not in it!)

Our raw honey is filtered just once, immediately after extraction, to remove large chunks of wax and debris from the harvesting process. Other than that, it's exactly like the bees made it, chock full of pollen, yeast, good microbes, amino acids, nutrients, etc. There's a truly impressive array of natural awesomeness in a jar of raw honey. 

Since it's outside the hive, however, raw honey will crystallize over time. This is totally normal and we actually prefer the honey partially crystallized because it is a lot easier to spread on things, doesn't run off and has a pleasing texture-- more like sweet peanut butter. 

If that's not your thing, no problem. Just warm the honey back up and it will fully liquefy again. You don't want to get it hot-- and never microwave it-- because that kills all that good natural living stuff in the honey that makes it so healthy for us. 

A great way to de-crystallize it is, after you're done using your oven, place the honey inside as the oven cools. Or you can boil a pan of water and AFTER it stops boiling, place the honey jar in the standing hot water until it is completely liquefied. For more immediate use, the half pint jars fit great in a large coffee mug full of electric-kettled hot water-- just make sure your lids are on tight!

You NEVER want to let the honey get hotter than about 115 degrees Fahrenheit. If you can't stand to touch it, it's too hot. That kills all that good stuff in the honey.

For further reading on the differences between raw and processed honey, check out this article: 

All About Raw Honey: How Is It Different Than Regular Honey?