🧪National Chemistry Week Guest Contributor: Dr. Felix Janeway & The Science of Honey🍯
- Oct 22
- 6 min read
Hey Sweet Friends!
In celebration of National Chemistry Week, we’re thrilled to feature a special post from our very own Dr. Felix Janeway- scientist, teacher, and proud member of our family (aka Bailey’s husband!).
When you marry into a beekeeping family, you quickly find yourself surrounded by more honey than you could ever imagine, and if you’re Felix, that means diving deep into the chemistry that makes it so extraordinary.
From its incredible shelf life to its natural ability to fight bacteria, Felix explores how honey’s unique composition makes it one of nature’s most fascinating (and delicious) chemical marvels. We also include some fun chemistry experiments with honey to try at home.
So grab your lab goggles and your Yorkshire Tea (Felix hails from England and it's his favorite) and celebrate science, sweetness, and the bees that make it all possible.
The Science of Honey
by Dr. Felix Janeway
When you marry into a bee-keeping family, like I did, you’re never short on honey. I have spring honey, autumn honey, creamed honey, apple honey, hot honey, very hot honey and a jar I worry is just lava with a bee on it.
Luckily, I have a lot of time to enjoy all of these varieties; honey as old as 3000 years has been found still perfectly edible in Egyptian tombs, so I suspect my cupboard will be acceptable at least until next spring.
It does seem odd that a substance which is mostly sugars, surely a feast to bacteria, is not only shelf-stable, but actively antimicrobial. Having never seen a bee in a hairnet, I assumed the magic must be in the formulation of honey itself, and started reading.
As you would expect, there is no one mixture that we can define as ‘honey’. The bees collect what they collect, incorporating flavours, scents, colours and other compounds from the many local flowers they visit along the way, making the geography and season extremely important to taste. However, we can say that all honeys tend to be around 80 % sugars, mostly glucose then fructose, if you are particular.
It is this high concentration of sugar that partially makes the honey inhospitable to microbes. With honey only having around 17 % water, microbes find themselves in a desert too dry to grow. In fact, honey has so little water in it, that the sugar molecules will attempt to grab water molecules from anywhere it can - including the air, a property called hygroscopicity.
Bees also add another safeguard against microbes using enzymes (molecular machines that carry out remarkably specific chemical reactions) to convert some of the glucose in their honey stomachs into gluconic acid as they return to the hive, giving the final honey a slightly acidic pH of 3 - 5. This acidity does two things: it prevents bacteria from producing the enzymes they need to grow, and it stops the bee’s enzymes completely converting glucose, keeping all the sugar in your jar intact rather than turning it into a jar of vinegar.
Even after the honey hits the jar, the enzymes the bees imparted remain in low concentrations as they have one more job to do. If the honey is somehow diluted, or bacteria grow and the pH of the honey is changed, the enzymes will reactivate, turning more glucose into gluconic acid, releasing hydrogen peroxide along the way as a byproduct, disinfecting the honey as it goes.
All in all, the bees have made a tiny miracle - a food that defends itself, except for against me.
Felix
Dr Felix Janeway studied his PhD in inorganic chemistry, specialising in biopolymers and medicinal chemistry. He taught at a Russell group university for 10 years before branching out into leadership development and performance consulting.. He is the son-in-law of Tom & Stacie, owners of Fingerlakes Honey Company.
🧪 Fun Honey Chemistry Experiments
Perfect for kids, classrooms, or curious readers- simple, safe, and wonderfully honey-themed!
1. The Honey Density Tower
Concept: Density and solubility
What to Do:
In a clear glass, carefully layer: honey, corn syrup, dish soap, water (colored with food dye if wanted), oil, rubbing alcohol and lamp oil.
Watch as they form layers based on density.
Drop in small objects (grape, paperclip, bead) to see where they “float.”
Science Buzz: Honey is denser than most liquids, that’s why it sinks straight to the bottom of your tea! Eperiment with other liquids.
2. The Crystallization Station
Concept: Saturation and crystallization
Experiment 1: Honey and water in the freezer
Goal: To see how adding water affects crystallization speed.
Materials: Five jars, Fingerlakes Honey Company honey, water, tablespoon, teaspoon, freezer, and a timer.
What to Do:
Add one tablespoon of honey to each of the five jars.
To four of the jars, add one, two, three, and four teaspoons of water, respectively. Leave the fifth jar with only honey.
Stir each mixture thoroughly.
Place all five jars in the freezer.
Check the jars every two minutes for signs of crystallization.
Record your observations, noting which jar crystallizes first and the temperature at which it happens.
Expected Outcome: The honey with the highest water content may crystallize faster, while the jar with no water might crystallize faster than those with a moderate amount of water, and the jars with 1-2 teaspoons of water might not crystallize quickly at all.
Science Buzz: When glucose molecules lose water and become oversaturated, they form sparkly sugar crystals, proof that honey’s sweetness never stays still.
Experiment 2: Effect of temperature
Goal: To observe how temperature affects the crystallization rate.
Materials: jar of liquid Fingerlakes Honey Company honey, (or any raw honey), a small jar, a refrigerator, and a countertop.
What to Do:
Pour some of the honey into a small jar. Place it in the refrigerator and leave the original jar on a countertop at room temperature.
Observe both jars over several weeks. Watch sugar crystals form over time!
Do a texture and taste test of both honeys.
Make the honey liquid again by placing the jar in a pan of warm water
Expected Outcome: The honey in the refrigerator will crystallize faster than the honey at room temperature. How long did it take?
Science Buzz: Temperature has a sweet impact on honey’s chemistry! When honey is chilled, the glucose molecules move more slowly and start sticking together, forming crystals. At warmer temperatures, those same molecules stay dissolved longer, so the honey stays smooth and liquid. It’s the same chemistry that turns sugar syrup into rock candy, just at a slower pace.
🍯 Sweet Chemistry in the Kitchen: Honeycomb Candy
If you’ve ever wanted to see chemistry happen right before your eyes (and then eat the results), this one’s for you! Honeycomb candy, sometimes called sponge candy or sponge toffee, is a bubbly golden treat that shows off the magic of heat, sugar, and a little baking soda chemistry.
What You’ll Need
½ cup Fingerlakes Honey Company Honey
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
1½ teaspoons baking soda
What to Do
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
In a deep saucepan, combine honey, sugar, and water. Heat over medium-high, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Continue cooking until the mixture reaches a deep amber color (about 300°F on a candy thermometer).
Quickly remove from heat and immediately whisk in the baking soda — the mixture will foam up like a mad scientist’s experiment!
Pour it onto the prepared sheet and let it cool completely.
Once hardened, break into pieces and drizzle with melted chocolate or more warm honey if desired.
Science Buzz:
When baking soda meets hot honey and sugar, it releases carbon dioxide gas. Those bubbles get trapped in the cooling candy, forming the airy, crunchy “honeycomb” texture. It’s chemistry you can crunch on! 🧪🍬
🧪🐝🍯Wrapping Up: The Chemistry Behind the Buzz
As National Chemistry Week reminds us, science isn’t just something that happens in a lab, it’s bubbling, reacting, and crystallizing all around us. From the way honey thickens and changes with temperature, to the golden chemistry behind honeycomb candy, every spoonful of honey tells a story of molecular magic.
A huge thank-you to Dr. Felix Janeway for sharing his humor, curiosity, and insight into the sweet science behind honey. His deep dive into the chemistry that keeps honey naturally preserved has us looking at our jars with a whole new sense of wonder (and hunger).
Honey’s natural sugars, enzymes, and acids make it a living laboratory, one that’s equal parts sweet and scientific. Whether you’re testing how temperature affects crystallization or watching baking soda make honey syrup foam into crunchy candy, you’re seeing real chemistry in action!
At Fingerlakes Honey Company, we believe curiosity and creativity go hand in hand (or jar in hand). So this week, celebrate the science of sweetness- experiment, taste, and learn something new. After all, when it comes to honey, chemistry has never been so delicious. 🍯🔬✨
👉 Try one of our honey experiments or recipes at home and comment below with your results! We’d love to see your sweet science in action.
Until Next Time- Stay Sweet!
Tom and Stacie
Tom and Stacie, are co-owners of Fingerlakes Honey Company located in the bee-utiful Fingerlakes region of New York State. When they are not tending to all things bees, they enjoy spending time with their grown children, their dog, and lots of chickens on their homestead. They love learning more about the bees they foster and helping others to learn more about them as well.
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