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Because if you leave us in the bottle for too long you will see us at our worst instead of at our best. 
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Ahhh yes. HTC speaks from personal experience!
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The workaround to the expiration date is, when you get the jar home (it would take 20 years to get the label off it so I don't recommend that approach), pour the contents into any used 20w50 oil bottle. Preferably one that is not see-through (thus avoiding any talk of crystallizations/etc).
You do own a lawn mower don't you?
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As I understand most of the honey found in market is adulterated. Adding some other stuff like sucrose syrup to increase quantity. Once you add stuff to it there has to be an expiry date.
Zen and the art of software maintenance : rm -rf *
Maths is like love : a simple idea but it can get complicated.
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Pure honey virtually never goes off. A problem is that some commercially-sold honey is actually a mix of honey and sugar-water and this can ferment (as can raw honey with too high a water content). Large-scale producers therefore put a short "best-before" to "encourage" consumers not to try it after that date, when the ruse might be discovered. Some hobby beekeepers will do similarly if they don't have the confidence that they've measured the water content correctly. Unfortunately some local trading standards departments also don't trust producers and will challenge those who put too long a BBE date on. The other factor is that people still expect the BBE to apply even if they've opened the jar. Once open, we can no longer control the humidity nor prevent external contaminants getting into the honey, so that's another reason producers will use a relatively short BBE date. Finally, remember they are BEST BEFORE dates, not USE BY. They refer to the quality of the product, not to product safety.
As the partner of a hobby-scale honey producer, we put a BBE date of a couple of years on our jars. In practice our high quality, pure raw honey tends to be so good that the customers finish it in a few weeks and come back for more. OTOH we've got big jars of "cooking" honey that are years old and are absolutely fine. (This is honey that might be a percentage or so higher than we'd like on water content, or has been extracted from brood frames, or has a high pollen content. Absolutely fine to eat but not the high-quality product we like to sell to the public).
As to crystallisation, in my experience that is 90% down to nectar source. Some honeys, like ivy or rapeseed, will crystalise easily and quickly, with ivy in particular setting to a very stiff consistency. Other honeys will stay liquid much more easily. The second factor is storage temperature; too cool and it will crystalise. When runny honey crystallises in the jar it can look blotchy or discoloured and will need to come up to almost blood temperature to dissolve. Taste-wise, there's no difference - it's the same honey. Then there's creamed, which is stirred honey "seeded" with crystallised honey, but we don't do that! We just literally spin it out of the comb, sieve it once, and pour into the jar. 
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Thank you Derek - much better than any answer from Wikipedia.
You've answered my original question. 
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Yum! I would totally trade you fresh eggs for fresh honey if it were practical. I need to meet some beekeepers in my area!
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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The answer is regulations, and they change from place to place.
First: all food has to have a stated expiration date. Even for 100% pure honey, as it has to be for example in my country, you still need it.
Second: safety. You don't want the old idiot grandma (both my grandmas are class 1 public dangers since when they were young, it's a miracle they survived at all and didn't kill anyone, despite one of them repeatedly trying) serving 20 years old, opened, badly kept honey. While the honey won't spoil there will be bacteria depositing on the surface or in the product due to natural contamination.
GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
modified 9-Mar-22 6:25am.
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At least in plastic containers dates for things that don't spoil like water, honey and the like are not for the product itself but for the plastic container. Plastic begins to break down over time and will contaminate the water bottled within.
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COMPOUNDS?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I kind of figured this one would go quickly!
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@GregUtas
Where's the CCC? 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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You're only half an hour early! It will appear momentarily.
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I keep reminding myself that every time someone has predicted the end of humanity they've been wrong. We've always existed on the precipice of disaster - it's just sometimes we notice. Throughout our history, we were one superbug, one asteroid, heck, maybe one alien invasion, and eventually one madman with an arsenal of nukes away from total annihilation.
Nevertheless, we persist.
*deep cleansing breath*
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Only takes one person to be right.
But then, we won't know that they were.
// TODO: Insert something here Top ten reasons why I'm lazy
1.
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honey the codewitch wrote: We've always existed on the precipice of disaster
That's exactly what papa dinosaur said looking at that big ball of flame hurling down toward the Earth. The mice preferred to play it safe and ran underground.
Mircea
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It seems you didn't read the small prints on the insurance policy... 
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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Quote: Persistance is futile
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We're all going to die. It's just a matter of 'when.' Not much use worrying about it, but still useful to keep in shape to get the most out of whatever is left. Love, laugh, and f*** off! Change the world while you are at it!
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Highly recommended for those who appreciate old music: Marco Beasley, l'Arpeggiata: Stefano Landi - Passacaglia della vita[^]
I've found a translation of they lyrics - I don't know how faithful it is, but at least it gives an approximate idea. The song is beautiful even if you don't understand the words:
The Passacaglia of Life
Oh how wrong you are
to think that the years
will never end.
We must die.
Life is a dream,
that seems so sweet,
but joy is all too brief.
We must die.
Of no avail is medicine,
of no use is quinine,
we cannot be cured.
We must die.
Worthless are lamentations,
threats, bravado
produced by our courage.
We must die.
No learned doctrine
can find the words
to calm this boldness
We must die.
There is no means
to untie this knot,
it is useless to flee.
We must die.
It is the same for everyone,
a wily man cannot
shield himself from the blow,
We must die.
Cruel Death
is unfaithful to all,
and shames everyone.
Die we must.
And yet, o madness
o ravings,
it seems like lying to oneself.
Die we must.
We die singing,
we die playing
the cittern, the bagpipe, yet
die we must.
We die dancing,
drinking, eating;
with this carrion,
die we must.
Youths, children,
and all men
must end in dust.
We must die.
The healthy, the sick,
the brave, the defenceless,
must all make an end,
We must die.
And when you are least
thinking of it, in your breast,
all comes to an end,
We must die.
If you do not think of this,
you have lost your senses,
you are dead and you can say:
We must die.
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Do you really care about humanity though?
Humanity may survive, but you may not.
Humanity may survive, and you may too, but you might go back to the stone age.
If you do survive, but life as we know it is forever gone, do you not wish that nuke hit you on the head too?
If you don't survive, do you really care what humanity does?
Dead people are not known for being particularly caring.
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I've considered all this at points. I tend to wax morbid.
Sander Rossel wrote: Dead people are not known for being particularly caring.
That's why I'm not so concerned about my own death. I won't miss losing my ego because I'll be dead.
But on the other hand, stories of the Mad Max sort get to me, because hope dies. That's its own fresh hell. That may be worse than death.
I don't fear living through that myself. But I do fear for humankind when there's a madman who might see nukes as his only way out.
Then again I'm prone to anxiety, and I have meds I can take for that as needed. Until this mess in eastern europe blows over I'll probably be going through them. Meh.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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MEDIOCRE!
honey the codewitch wrote: Until this mess in eastern europe blows over I'll probably be going through them. Meh.
May take months or even years
People and media will get tired of it though, so you won't read about it as much and stop worrying as much by extension.
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