Why does honey never spoil?

Honey is famous for being one of the few foods that essentially never spoils. Archaeologists have even found pots of honey in ancient tombs, sealed thousands of years ago, that were still preserved. Almost every other food in a kitchen will eventually go bad as bacteria, mold, and yeast break it down. So what makes honey so different? The secret is not a single trick but a combination of properties that together make honey an extremely hostile place for spoilage organisms.

The first major reason is that honey contains very little water. Spoilage is caused by microorganisms like bacteria and fungi, and these organisms need moisture to live and multiply. Properly made honey has a very low water content, far too dry for most microbes to survive. On top of this, honey is mostly sugar, and sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it actively pulls water toward itself. If a stray microbe lands in honey, the sugar draws moisture out of it, leaving the microbe dehydrated and unable to grow.

The second reason honey resists spoilage is its acidity. Honey is mildly acidic, with a low pH roughly in the range of lemon juice. Most bacteria and other spoilage organisms prefer neutral conditions and struggle to grow in an acidic environment. This acidity comes partly from acids produced when bees process nectar with their own enzymes. So even a microbe that somehow tolerated the dryness would still face an acidic environment working against it.

What makes honey special is that no single property alone makes it spoil-proof. Other foods are sugary, and other foods are acidic, yet they still go bad eventually. Honey is unusual because it combines very low moisture, high sugar concentration, and acidity all at once, and bee enzymes also help produce small amounts of natural antimicrobial substances. There is, however, one important condition: honey only stays preserved if it is sealed and kept dry. Because honey attracts moisture from the air, an open jar in a humid place can absorb enough water to eventually allow fermentation. Stored properly, though, honey can remain good almost forever.

This article was written using information from Wikipedia.