Sept/Oct 2019 41
✽ Cooking with honey has added a lot
of adventure to our kitchen experiences, which weren’t
too tame before. No, I’m not going to hit you with a long
“honey is better for you” line, though I’m sure it is. My
enthusiasm for honey and other all-natural foods is more
from the taste standpoint. Natural food deserves natural
sweetening, and cooking with honey is fun.
I’ve experimented quite a bit and learned quite a bit
since we made the change from sugar. First, I read what
The Joy of Cooking had to say, since it’s usually a good place
to start researching a food preparation problem. Next, I
asked friends. Then, I started trying.
The honey trip began when my husband, John, visited
our neighborhood beekeeper to get supplies for my
Christmas baking, and came back with a 5-pound tin, plus
a honeycomb (a gift). Tip No. 1: Whenever possible, buy
direct from a nearby source. If you use honey for all or
most of your sweetening, you’ll need a lot of it, and this
way you’ll be able to purchase in bulk and get the best
possible price. You’ll also be sure that the product meets
your standards: Unheated, bees fed no sugar or drugs, etc.
And, as a bonus, you’ll quite likely get to know a skilled
bee-keeper who can teach you things you didn’t know
about bees or honey.
All of the first-attempt recipes I prepared with
honey tasted so good, and our beekeeper’s prices were
so reasonable (only a little more than white sugar per
“sweetening unit”), that our use of his wares sort of
snowballed — and so did our education.Cooking with Honey
First of all, I learned to slow down, because naturally
sweetened baked goods brown faster, which is a difference
I like. To keep my modified breads and muffins from
getting overly browned before they’ve cooked through, I
bake them a little longer at a lower temperature. When I’m
converting a new sugar recipe to honey for the first time, I
automatically reduce the recommended oven temperature
by 25 degrees Fahrenheit.Of course, the same consideration applies to other
cooking methods, as well as to baking. All dishes made
with honey seem to stick a little sooner or burn a little
faster. I stir more often than I used to, and I’m forever
turning down the flame.
Another point to remember is that honey adds liquid to
a recipe: About three tablespoons of extra fluid per cup of
sweetening or one-quarter cup per pound. Even when you
allow for that fact, your baked goods will tend to be moister
than those made with sugar, and the longer, slower baking
that prevents burning will also help keep the texture moist
rather than wet.
Also, because honey is slightly acidic, I add a little
baking soda — one-eighth to one-quarter teaspoon per cup
of sweetening — to most batters and doughs. I don’t add it
to yeast breads, though, because the leavening thrives in the
mildly acidic environment.FRO
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Learn tips for substituting honey for sugar, and discover recipes
for syrups, jams, jellies, breads, puddings, and muffins.