If your honey has gone crunchy, it’s not a sign of a flaw, but of quality. And even if it’s not quite spreadable, it’s a brilliant excuse to make honey cake Without bees, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy coffee, apples and many of the other fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts and oils they pollinate. There are 275 species of wild bee in the UK alone, and more than 20,000 worldwide: help protect them by buying fruit and veg from farms that don’t spray their crops with pesticides, and wherever possible, buy your honey from small apiaries (large bee populations push out wild pollinators). And, of course, don’t waste honey if it crystallises. Honey crystallises with age, becoming granular as the glucose molecules separate from the water. This can take anywhere from two hours to two years, and is often thought to be a sign of poor quality or adulteration. In fact, quite the opposite is true: if honey does not begin to granulate after a long time and remains clear, it’s an indication of dilution or