Does baking with honey cause loss of its beneficial components?

July 23, 2021 10:51 AM

I read that you shouldn't heat up honey or it loses most of its beneficial components--enzymes, probiotics, antioxidants, etc. Anything above 102 F will start to cook off the good stuff within.

I like to use raw, unheated, unfiltered honey in my granola recipe that cooks for 20 minutes at 325 F. But I pay more for raw honey. So, when I bake this granola with expensive raw honey it in, is it essentially turning the expensive honey into regular, cheap honey, or "not raw" honey, without all the benefits of raw honey? If so, I guess I can start buying the cheaper stuff for granola.

Any honey experts out there that know more than random crap found on the internet?

posted by luvmywife to Food & Drink (2 answers total)

If the only thing you like about the "raw" honey is that it's raw, then yeah if you cook it at 325F it's not raw anymore. But if you also like other things about the raw honey, like that it's locally produced or fair trade or especially beautiful or delicious, then the raw honey may still be worth it even though you cook it. Also if you go really cheap some "honey" products may contain non-honey sweeteners like HFCS or rice syrup.
posted by mskyle at 11:29 AM on July 23, 2021 [2 favorites]

Pretty much any proteins in it (most of the kinds of things you're describing) will be denatured--their components will be there but they won't do the job they're supposed to be doing. Any bacteria/yeasts (probiotic or not) will be killed. Some antioxidants might make it, I'm not sure what's in honey offhand. Waxes/oils may degrade a little. Most of the flavor components would still be there, save a little browning of the sugars, so if you're using it for the taste then I bet you'd be able to tell the difference between your raw honey and whatever you pick up from the grocery.
posted by tchemgrrl at 2:05 PM on July 23, 2021 [3 favorites]