While I'm not a bee-keeper I have several friends who are, and I have a local farmer's market where I can get fresh locally produced honey, too; so today's post is all about honey. Fall fruits are great for making breads and butters, and honey makes a great ingredient in those recipes, but often it is only included for a bit of flavor. If you'd rather completely substitute honey for refined sugar, here are a few pointers. In many recipes you can substitute honey for up to half of the sugar in equal amounts, but observe the following in baked goods: - Reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey used.
- Add 1/2 tsp baking soda for each cup of honey used.
- Reduce the oven temp. by 25 degrees.
You can store honey in the pantry or on the counter, but refrigeration might accelerate crystallization, a natural process. If your honey crystalizes, remove the lid and put the container in warm water, or alternatively, microwave a cup of it for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every thirty seconds. The honey is perfectly fine to use then.
Don't forget, honey is not recommended for infants under one year of age, but for older children it is a wholesome way to add the sweetness they crave in their diets.
I got this info from the national honey board. If you'd like a list of honey-specific recipes--as opposed to doctoring your own recipes--check out their website:
Happy sweetening!
I bought some honey recently. I'm impressed by the number of different kinds. My favorite is Wildflower Honey.
ReplyDeleteHey great post! I think I'll link up to it if you don't mind. I would like to add that you should not microwave your honey if it is stored in those cheap PLASTIC squeezy bottles, which is what most people use.
ReplyDeleteCindy Bee
Robin...I was amazed at the difference in depth of flavor between the "generic" honey from the store and this I just got at the farm market. Wow! And, Cindy. Thanks for the reminder! I don't even want to think about the cleaning mess if the plastic melted, not to mention the mystery chemicals you'd be ingesting if the honey only just started to leach them out of the bottle.
ReplyDelete