Are you wondering how to dehydrate honey and make it into a powder form? Learning to dry out your honey is a valuable survival skill, because dehydrated honey can be useful. In a pinch, you should turn your honey into powder form because the liquid honey only has long shelf life if it’s sealed appropriately in an airtight container. If you don’t protect it, it will crystalize, making the honey difficult to use.
Tools You Need To Make Honey Powder
If you are curious, “can you dehydrate honey,” you can! To pull this off successfully, you must have the right tools.
You should have a good honey sauce. A lot of store-bought honey contains added ingredients, such as corn syrup, that could impact the dehydration process and strip some of the nutritional value. Instead, it is better to go with locally-sourced honey that comes straight from the hive or from a local beekeeper.
A few key items you need to have to dry honey include:
- A reliable food dehydrator.
- Plenty of parchment paper or a silicone sheet
- A baking sheet or dehydrator tray
- A solid, silicone spatula
- Either a mortar and pestle or a food processor
- A desiccant pouch
- Honey jars or an airtight container
Once you have the right tools, it is time to start dehydrating honey.
How To Dehydrate Honey With a Dehydrator
If you have a dehydrator, there are several steps you can follow to dry out your honey. They include:
- Get the dehydrator tray or cookie sheet. Put the parchment sheet on the tray.
- Open up your honey and pour it onto the sheet. Spread it out evenly so the layer is no more than 1/8th of an inch thick. Use your spatula to help you spread out the liquid.
- Turn on the dehydrator and set it to either 48 degrees C or 120 degrees F.
- Let the dehydrator go for 24 to 48 hours. Keep an eye on the honey to make sure it does not burn. It should become crisp.
- Once the dehydrating process is done, allow it to cool to room temperature. Usually, this takes less than 30 minutes.
- Next, use your mortar and pestle or food processor to crush the honey.
- Transfer the crisp honey to a jar.
- Make sure to add a desiccant pouch before you seal the jar.
There might be some situations where you do not have a dehydrator available. What should you do?
Tools To Dehydrate Honey Without a Dehydrator
If you do not have access to a dehydrator, you can still dehydrate your honey as long as you have a few basic tools. They include:
- A silicone spatula
- A pot and stovetop
- A baking sheet
- A candy thermometer
- A desiccant pouch
- Honey jars
- Your honey
How To Dehydrate Honey Without a Dehydrator
If you don’t have a dehydrator, there are a few extra steps you need to follow to turn your honey into powder. They include:
- Start by adding the honey to the pot. Then, heat the honey slowly.
- You should use the silicone spatula to stir the honey continuously. That way, you can keep the bottom from burning.
- Use a candy thermometer to track the temperature. You should heat the honey until it is either 148 degrees C or 300 degrees F.
- Once your honey reaches this temperature, you should remove it from the stovetop.
- Take the hot honey and pour it onto the silicone or cookie sheets you have. Make sure to use caution not to burn yourself.
- Wait for the honey to cool. Because the honey is so hot, it will take longer than it did with the dehydrator.
- After the honey has cooled, crush it or grind it into smaller pieces. Then, transfer it to a jar.
- Make sure you add the desiccant pouch before you seal the jar.
Experimenting With Your Dehydrated Honey
There are plenty of ways you can add a bit of flavor and kick to your dehydrated honey. For example, you may want to add brown sugar or a few cloves to give your honey some savory flavors. Or, you can add some ground cinnamon to your dehydrated honey as well. If you really want to get creative, you might even want to add some hot peppers. Carolina Reaper peppers and ghost peppers will really give it a kick.
You might even want to consider adding lemons or star anise to your dehydrated honey. This is a matter of personal preference, so don’t hesitate to add different ingredients to different batches during the drying process.
Benefits of Dehydrated Honey
There are a number of significant benefits that come with dehydrating honey. Some of the biggest benefits include:
- Dehydrated honey will have a nearly infinite, long shelf life. It doesn’t go through fermentation because it does not have any moisture, so you don’t have to worry about it spoiling.
- You also don’t have to worry about your honey crystals forming. If your honey crystallizes, it can be nearly impossible to work with. You would have to reheat it before you can use it. Learn how to do so with this
- When you dehydrate your honey, you also prevent yeast from growing in it. That way, you don’t have to worry about yeast spoiling the taste.
- Dehydrating honey is also incredibly versatile. You can grind the dehydrated honey into a fine powder and use it as a sweetener, adding it to your coffee, baked goods, or tea.
These are just a few of the many benefits that come with dehydrating raw honey.
Learn How To Dehydrate Honey Properly
Ultimately, learning how to dehydrate pure honey can be incredibly useful for survival situations and dehydrated honey acts as a natural sweetener. Honey is sweet, nutritious, and can add a bit of flavor to your food and beverages. It will last forever as long as you do it properly, and it is easy to work with. There are multiple methods to dehydrate honey, so consider giving a few of them a try.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dehydrating Honey
There are a few common questions people ask about dehydrating honey. They include:
What happens when you dehydrate honey?
When you dry out your honey, you strip the moisture from it. This prevents it from spoiling or crystallizing.
What temperature do you dehydrate honey at?
It depends on the method you use. If you are using a dehydrator, you should heat the honey to either 120 degrees fahrenheit or 48 degrees C. If you are heating the honey on a stove, heat it to either 300 degrees fahrenheit or 148 degrees C.
How do you use dried honey?
There are plenty of ways you can use dried honey. You can add it to your coffee, tea, baked goods, or use it as a replacement for white sugar. It is cholk full of antioxidants.
How do you dry honey at home?
You can use a food dehydrator to dry your honey at home. Or, you can dry it using a pot and stovetop.
