The reason some varieties of honey are fluid and others become crystallised is that bees collect nectar from different plants. Each plant produces nectar with a different consistency, so the honey that bees make from the different plant nectars has different qualities. In practice, the sugar in the nectar defines the honey’s colour and taste and how fluid it is. The proportion of the two main sugars – glucose and fructose – in the nectar defines whether honey stays fluid for a long time or whether it will start crystallising quickly. Most Finnish honey varieties crystallise quickly, meaning that they are solid, sometimes even hard and grainy. Crystallisation is a natural process, and it is caused by the high glucose content of Finnish honey. If honey is left to crystallise on its own, some of the crystals may be very large. The crystals are condensed glucose, but some people mistakenly think that there is sugar added to the honey. Nothing is ever added to honey, and adding a substance like sugar would be technically impossible, because honey already contains more sugar than a saturated sugar solution. If the honey comes from nectar that is collected from fireweed, for example, it will stay fluid for a long time. The reason for this is the high amount of fructose in fireweed nectar. We package this kind of honey and sell it as Finnish Filtered Honey (350g). Naturally, this honey will also not stay fluid forever: it will crystallise in time. Sometimes crystallisation creates large crystals, which is a sign that the honey is truly natural! The honey can be made fluid again by heating it slowly in a warm water bath. Crystallisation is not affected by whether a jar or bottle has been opened or not. Instead, it is affected by storage temperature. Honey stored in a cool environment (optimal crystallisation temperature +14°C) will crystallise more quickly than honey stored at room temperature. The fridge is too humid an environment for storing honey.