cooking good in greene

I'm in love with you - Honey.

Tips for buying, storing and using honey.

^{Source: The National Honey Board}

^{See also our Boomer Journeys article.}   

If you are going to buy honey, you will probably have four options. Comb honey is the honey in its natural container – the honeycomb. Both are edible.

Cut comb or chunk honey has the liquid honey with pieces of the comb. Liquid honey or extracted honey is extracted from the comb and is usually free of any visible crystals or beeswax. Whipped, creamed or granulated honey is the liquid honey blended and whipped into the consistency of butter.

The flavor and color of the honey depend on the flowers used by the bees to produce the honey. They can range from fruit blossoms to eucalyptus which has a slightly menthol taste, to herbs, grasses and other plants. The honeys are often blended together or the bees may use more than one floral source for nectar. There are about 300 distinct and unique honeys available in the United States.

Special note to people with infants.  There is a danger in using honey.

Under no circumstances feed honey or honey products to a child less than a year old. Honey is one of several raw agricultural products that can carry “infant botulism”. The spores of this botulinum are widely distributed in air and dust.

The disease is rare but serious. Since it was officially recognized in the 1970’s, there have been no reports of children over the age of 11 months with the disease. Most affected children have not been linked to honey consumption or exposure.

Storing honey:

Because of its antimicrobial properties, honey stores almost indefinitely if in a tightly closed container kept in a warm, dry place. It can also be frozen.

Do not keep honey in the refrigerator since it absorbs liquid and will become runny. If the honey becomes crystallized, you can return it to a liquid state by warming the honey slowly over water on the stove or by warming in a microwave. Be careful not to burn the honey.

Since honey is 80% sugar and 20% water, it is sweeter than sugar and you will need to use less. If you are substituting honey for sugar you can substitute up to ½ of the sugar with honey. If you do substitute, you will need to reduce the liquid content of the recipe by ¼ cup for every cup of honey used.

If substituting honey for sugar in baked goods, you will need to add ½ teaspoon of baking soda for every cup of honey used. You will also have to reduce the oven temperature by 25^oF to prevent over browning or burning.

Related Story:  Substituting honey for other sweeteners
Related Recipe  Honey Oatmeal Cookies , Chocolate Zucchini Cake

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