Storing honey, or low light versus no dark storage

[dalepres]

One of the basic concepts of food storage is that, generally, storage in the opaque containers is better than allowing light into your stored food. I especially see this recommendation when it comes to storing honey but most of the honey I see for sale is in either quart jars or clear plastic containers.

So is storing in a room with the lights off enough? Near dark versus completely dark? Would it be beneficial or enough to wrap jars in tin foil? If you nearly cover a container in tin foil does it help or is the benefit completely circumvented by having a small portion near the lid uncovered?

Dale

[Guest DeborahC]

Well, I' buy honey by the gallons and Ive stored honey for a long time in clear jars with no ill effects. If you're worried, I'd say covering the jar with foil would be good.

Or... in a dark or almost dark room would be fine.

If it crystalizes, you can just heat it to make it runny again.

[Iggy]

One of the basic concepts of food storage is that, generally, storage in the opaque containers is better than allowing light into your stored food. I especially see this recommendation when it comes to storing honey but most of the honey I see for sale is in either quart jars or clear plastic containers.

So is storing in a room with the lights off enough? Near dark versus completely dark? Would it be beneficial or enough to wrap jars in tin foil? If you nearly cover a container in tin foil does it help or is the benefit completely circumvented by having a small portion near the lid uncovered?

Dale

Honey never spoils, ever. It doesn't matter whether it was stored on a shelf near a window or in the pantry with the lights out. Honey is also an analgesic. Get a bite from an insect- wash the area, then put a small amount of honey on it. It will help the sore heal faster and it also will help numb the hurt. It is great for sore throats and cold sores on your lips.

As for the majority of food- I keep mine out of direct sunlight- why cook it before I am ready to???

Why waste the tin foil?? Take a good look at your local grocery store. If they close, they turn out 1/3 to 2/3 of the lights. If they stay open 24 hours then they may only turn off 1/4 of the lights. Stores are 78 degrees to 80 degrees.

Most of the food nearest to the windows are packaged goods; bags of dog food, or seasonals that get rotated frequently. Not because of the sun exposure, but because of the Come In And Look At Me strategy.

When I lived in Oregon, I got my honey - raw - from a member of my branch. His honey was by far the best I have ever eaten. I would get it by the gallon jars, and as a treat he would add a honeycomb in one of the jars. I always made sure that when I put the lid back on, I wiped the rim of the jar with a clean wet dish cloth and rinsed the lid with clear hot water. This was so the lid would not glue shut from the honey left on it.

At the grocery store where I worked, the boss preferred that the honey be put on the top shelf. Where the light would shine through the jars and bottles and make the honey look like liquid gold. We sold more of the more honey that was on the top shelf - price wasn't solely the reason, because I would switch brands after a month. Which ever was on the top shelf sold the most. Liquid gold.

[NeuroTypical]

Mmm... honey... I don't know anything about light or dark, but here's my food storage honey story:

When grandma died, we opened her forty year old 25 lb metal bucket of honey to see what it looked like. The top half was probably just overly-crystalized honey, but it didn't really look like food any more, so we threw it away. The bottom half was good old honey in every sense of the word, and we commenced making copious amounts of honeycakes and peanut honeyballs. Yum!

LM

[Guest DeborahC]

I'm so sorry you threw away all that lucious honey.

It crystalizes from cold and over time.

All you have to do is gently heat it and it's "honey" again.

:::thinking of all those hot biscuits with honey you missed out on::::

[rameumptom]

Light tends to affect all foods over time. Photons of light hit the molecules and atoms within the food, and can change it or render it differently over time. Contact with air can also do the same thing, as oxygen tends to cause chemical reactions.

It is recommended to keep foods in cool, dark places, so that light and heat do not affect them too much. Honey is rather robust. We cover up foods that we buy in opaque containers, place them in boxes, or put them in 5 gallon buckets.

When honey crystallizes, it is due to the sugar content. It can be gently heated in the microwave or on the stove (place some in a container in a pot of water), until it melts back to its original liquid state.

[dalepres]

Interesting stuff so far and thanks to all for the information. This makes me think of the vacuum packing in Mylar bags that I like. One of the reasons for using the Mylar bags is that Mylar is a much better oxygen barrier than other plastics - even than the heavy plastic buckets we so often store our bulk grains in. I'll bet the plastic containers honey comes in aren't very good oxygen barriers. Now I wonder if I should vacuum pack the honey jars.

My wife is getting worried I am going to vacuum pack her in Mylar should she pass before I do. Sort of like the jokes of Roy Rogers having Dale Evans stuffed.

[rameumptom]

That was a joke?