Natural honey stored in air-tight container doesn't spoil for the following reasons
- Honey has the ability to absorb moisture from air or whatever it comes in contact with. When bacteria or virus come in contact, honey sucks out water forcibly and they then shatter like a mirror and die. Alcohol based sanitizers work on the same principle.
- Honey is slightly acidic with pH of around 3.9, making it difficult for various types of bacteria to live in it.
- Many food items have properties similar to them but only honey doesn’t spoil.
- When honey bees collect nectar from flowers, they also bring phenolic acids (natural plant chemicals), to make honey. These natural acids in honey have the ability to kill microbes and fungus.
- Honey has enzymes which produce a little hydrogen peroxide.
Because of all these reasons, many types of bacteria and virus cannot live in honey. That’s why honey doesn’t spoil.
For the same reasons, honey is used as natural antibiotic, also applied on wounds, pimples as natural ointment.
Bees make honey and seal it air-tight in the wax cells, then this fully ripen honey is good for consumption. Prematurely extracted / unripen honey spoils fast due to high water content.
Excessively heated, processed honey sold by some commercial brands looses its natural tendency and spoil. It may have artificial colors and flavors also.
Honey sourced from migratory-beekeepers, that ensure bees always have access to nectar-producing flowers, instead of feeding them with sugar, is the best.
Read honey basics (5 min) to know honey types, what influences quality, what’s organic honey, what causes bubbles in honey, migratory-beekeeping etc. all of which could enable you to find the best honey.