Supersaturation
A solution holding more dissolved solid than it should be able to — the state honey exists in permanently.
Definition
Honey contains roughly 80% sugar dissolved in about 17% water, which is far more than that quantity of water can properly hold at room temperature. The solution is therefore metastable: it is not at equilibrium and will move towards it given the chance. Crystallisation is that move. Glucose is less soluble than fructose and comes out first, forming crystals around any available nucleation site — a pollen grain, a dust particle, a scratch in the glass.
Where the word gets used loosely
Because the state is unstable, people assume crystallised honey has changed chemically or degraded. It has not. The sugars are identical before and after; only their physical arrangement has changed, and warming gently reverses it.
See also
Other chemistry terms
Sources
Sources
- Crystallisation of honey: mechanisms and control — Peer-reviewed food-science literature · Peer-reviewed article
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