Crystallization

I spent a good hour messing with my jar of honey today.   Have you had honey crystalize on you?  One single crystal in it and slowly, over months of time, the contents of the entire jar will turn into crystals of honey.

My mother told me some years ago that all you need do was pop the container  into the microwave for a minute or two and the crystals would melt.   They will, it's true.  However, if the container you're storing your honey in is plastic, there is a chance it will do that melty, droopy thing non-microwave safe plastics will do.  

You could remove the honey from the cute bear-shaped or small-necked container, if only it hadn't turned into a lump of crystallized honey.  The best thing to do is apply heat in another way and keep the honey in it's container—in a non-melting kind of way.

We have one of those hot water taps at our sink for hot tea or coco or warming baby formula or even for dissolving pesky honey crystals.   I put the honey container  in a larger plastic container and filled the larger container up with hot water.   I waited and after a while I turned the container upside down to get the parts up top.

I repeated this, changing the hot water from time to time, for the next hour, waiting for all the crystals to dissolve.   While I did this, my daughter and I made mojito sorbet by zesting and squeezing limes and lemons, clipping sprigs of mint from the back yard and plucking all the green leaves off them and doing several other adult steps in the process and ultimately watching the ice cream maker churn for thirty minutes until it was done.  

By then, the honey was crystal-free.

The Big Boy Update:  My son woke up in the middle of the night and came downstairs, telling me, "the sun was in my bed."   He said it was very bright.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was watching pictures on my in-law's digital frame when one came up of my husband's motorcycle.   She cried out, "daddy's butter cycle!"

Fitness Update:  Run fail.   I haven't run in a while, but today I had a terrible time running.  I think I was dehydrated or possibly I hadn't eaten enough.  I got all the typical signs of "bonking", including narrowed vision, cramps and difficulty focusing for the latter half of the eight miles.   I had to walk a collation of times.  I was looking forward to a lot of water at the water fountain, only to find it was under significant repairs.   Tomorrow I may try to run again.   Maybe I'll have remembered how by then.