Honey as a preservative

[scentlady]

I was at a craft show where a bee keeper was selling lotion with honey in it. It also had vit E oil and water among other things in the list of ingredients. i thought a lotion with water needed a preservative but he said honey was a natural preservative and that no other preservative was necessary. It really was quite nice but I didn't buy it because I wasn't sure if he was right. Was he right?

[Beth]

If you haven't already, you can comb through this website:

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2009/04/preservatives.html

Here's what she says about natural preservatives-

As for natural preservatives - here's the bad news. There really aren't any out there for homecrafters. Some studies are being done on Japanese honeysuckle, a natural paraben, but they're not promising in the long term

If you don't want to use synthetic preservatives, there are few options available to you if you want to make water based products. The Herbarie has a few options you might want to investigate - they have some that appear natural.

The general consensus is that there really isn't a good, effective natural preservative available to homecrafters. This might change in the future as there's tons of research being done, but for now...well, there's nothing I would trust.

[caryfh]

Honey naturally preserves itself, probably because there is so much natural sugar in it any free water is tied up. Sort of like how companies can use sugar and salt to tie up free water in their products to preserve the shelf-life. But honey, cannot be used to preserve other items. Perhaps the woman at the show was confused by information she had received. Honey is naturally preserved, not a "natural preservative". And even in that statement there are issues, I mean there is a reason why they don't recommend feeding it to children under the age of 1 - but of course at this moment I cannot recall what it was that could be present in the honey.

[TallTayl]

Honey naturally preserves itself, probably because there is so much natural sugar in it any free water is tied up. Sort of like how companies can use sugar and salt to tie up free water in their products to preserve the shelf-life. But honey, cannot be used to preserve other items. Perhaps the woman at the show was confused by information she had received. Honey is naturally preserved, not a "natural preservative". And even in that statement there are issues, I mean there is a reason why they don't recommend feeding it to children under the age of 1 - but of course at this moment I cannot recall what it was that could be present in the honey.

Botulism. Specifically Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum)

Once introduced to an aqueous environment the sugars in the honey create a very favorable place for bacterial, fungal and microbial growth.

[Kitn]

No way honey preserves that lotion in any way shape or form. She is sadly mistaken, I hope she has insurance.