Raw honey is completely unprocessed – not heated or pushed through a pressure filter. Our honey has never been heated and only run through a gravity strainer to remove all the wax particles. Because it hasn’t been heated and ultra-filtered, it will have a tendency to cream or solidify over time. This is completely natural.

It is completely natural for raw honey to solidify over time. How quickly this happens all depends on the source of the nectar the bees were foraging on. I love using honey in this state, it’s so creamy. To liquify again, bring water to a simmer in a small sauce pan, remove the pan from the heat and set jar in the water. Let it sit until liquid again – you may have to reheat the water depending on how solid the honey is.

Traditionally, maple sap is harvested in the late winter/early spring of the year. Sap will flow when the temperatures are above freezing during the day (40 °+ is ideal), and then dip below freezing at night. This temperature change causes the pressure to change in the tree and moves the sap up and down the sap column. There are some producers that are experimenting with fall tapping but the sugar content coming out of the tree tends to be lower, which results in a longer boil time. To ensure the longevity and health of the tree, it should only be tapped once a year.

Real maple syrup should always be refrigerated after it has been opened. The sugar content is not high enough to keep mold from forming once it is exposed to the air. If you find mold on the top of your syrup, it can still be saved. Dump the syrup into a clean pan, skim the mold off, heat syrup to 185° (do not boil), and pour into a clean container.

Maple syrup changes color over the course of the harvest season and if exposed to light and oxidation. Traditionally, the first syrup to be harvested is the lightest in color and will continue to darken as the season progresses. Taste also usually goes along with color – the darker the syrup, the stronger the flavor. There are a lot of variables that contribute to color including temperature, boil time, how quickly the sap was processed, etc.

Remain calm, it is not broken glass in the bottom of your jar of syrup. Although it resembles rock candy, it is actually sugar that has precipitated out. This happens when the syrup gets too thick (too much water has been removed). They are completely harmless and actually quite pretty!

When boiling hard to reduce maple sap into syrup, it can foam right up and over the top of the pans in the blink of an eye. To control that boil over, we add a drop of organic safflower oil when we see the foam starting to rise. That drop of oil will quickly dissipate the foam and help the sap keep a continuous rolling boil.

Unfortunately, no we cannot re-use them for sanitary and safety reasons. We just ask that you recycle them or find a way to use them yourselves. They make perfect vessels for making homemade vanilla extract or vinegars and make great flower vases.