Honey - use by date

Luciecat63

I have two jars of honey in my cupboard, one is from a supermarket and the other from a local producer. Both have best before dates on.
I thought honey kept forever?

oystercatcher

I thought it kept forever too.
No way would I chuck it out if past date.

Slinky

Doesn't it go a bit crystaline as it ages?

Kentish_Dave

It does go crystalline, but if you warm it it returns to a liquid state.

Some Roman honey was found a few years ago that I read was still fine, so it seems that 2,000 years works as a minimum safe lifetime.

worried_jim

Kentish_Dave wrote: »

It does go crystalline, but if you warm it it returns to a liquid state.

Some Roman honey was found a few years ago that I read was still fine, so it seems that 2,000 years works as a minimum safe lifetime.

They found some in an Egyptian tomb circa 1000bc and tried it too.

Linda32

It does keep for ever. It would only have a best before date on, not a use by, that is for meat and fish etc.

Luciecat63

Thank you - I have no idea why there are dates, but I will ignore them.

Brambling

We recently visited a honey farm and they said they only put dates on the jars because legally they have to add them but it doesn't go off

Pollycat

Luciecat63 wrote: »

I have two jars of honey in my cupboard, one is from a supermarket and the other from a local producer. Both have best before dates on.
I thought honey kept forever?

I've never taken notice of 'best before' dates on any product.

trailingspouse

'Best before' just means it will be best before a given date. After that date, in the case of honey, it might have cristallised - but it's still perfectly edible.



This is why they're talking about doing away with Best Before dates - many people are throwing food away, thinking they shouldn't eat it past that date, when in fact the food is just not quite at it's prime but still perfectly edible. This meant that a lot of food is being wasted unnecessarily.

Fen1

Do you use a scrupulously clean knife every single time you take out some honey?
The honey itself will keep forever, but you could contaminate it by using unclean cutlery, e.g. honey on knife, spread it on buttered toast, use the same knife to get more honey, so introducing butter and toast into the pot. It's this cross-contamination that is dangerous, not the honey itself.