White frosting inside my honey jars — is it spoiled, and why only some jars from the same batch?
Second year in İzmir, four hives. In August I bottled about sixty jars of my summer honey — mostly cotton and thyme from what's around us. They sat in the pantry and now half of them have white marbled patches on the inside of the glass under the honey, like frost feathers or streaks. It looks a bit like mould and one customer already messaged me a photo asking if it's safe.
The strange part is it's the same batch, same day, same extractor, and some jars are perfectly clear while the one next to it is frosted. The honey itself is starting to go firm in all of them.
Is this spoilage? Is it something I did at bottling? And is there a way to stop it happening next year, because it makes my honey look bad even though I know it's good.
#frosting#crystallisation#bottling#honey-quality
▲ 9 votes💬 4 replies✅ Solved
4 replies
InesMel · Sep 15, 2026 · ✅ Accepted answer
It's called frosting (or bloom) and harmless. As honey crystallises, tiny air bubbles get pushed against the glass and glucose crystals form white feathery patterns around them. Not mould — mould can't grow in honey below about 18% water. Why some jars and not others: the ones that trapped more air, or sat where the temperature swung. Cotton honey is one of the fastest crystallisers there is. To reduce it: let honey settle two or three days so bubbles rise, bottle slightly warm (30-35°C), pour in one go, and store at a steady temperature out of sunlight. Or cream it on purpose.
muglabalci · Sep 15, 2026
Fifteen years in Muğla and every cotton and sunflower harvest does this in my bottling too. The bigger problem in Turkey is customers who think crystallised means sugar was added — it is the opposite, it is the sign of raw honey. Put one sentence on the label explaining it. For the jars already frosted: a warm water bath at about 40°C for a few hours clears both the frosting and the crystals, never the microwave.
MieleMarco · Sep 16, 2026
One more detail from Tuscany: frosting is worst when jars go through big day-night temperature swings, because the honey expands and contracts against the glass. A pantry on an outside wall is the classic culprit. If you want a fine, even set instead, keep them at a steady cool temperature, roughly 14°C is the sweet spot for crystallisation. Your customer is holding proof it was never heated — tell her so.
elif_arici · Sep 16, 2026
Thank you all three. I sent the customer InesMel's explanation almost word for word and she bought two more jars. Ten jars went into a warm bath tonight for the market on Saturday, and next year the honey settles for three days before bottling. The pantry is on the outside wall, of course it is.