Honey isn’t just for a bear named Winnie the Pooh. It’s for home cooks and guests and bed & breakfast proprietors too!
While March is a month mixed with winter and spring, it also signals warmer temperatures, gentle rains and sun-filled days are near. Soon flowers will be in full bloom and bees will buzz, and as this change of seasons approaches, we are granted the opportunity to get better acquainted with the joys of honey.
Honey is one of the few great foods that has an almost unlimited range of culinary uses. From hot tea to smoothies, baked goods to fresh fruit, appetizers to sauces, and condiments to soup (yes, I said soup,) honey can be used in such a wide variety of recipes, the possibilities are seemingly endless.
But before exploring recipes with honey that are perfectly tailored to B&B cuisine, let’s look at how honey is best used when cooking. The following information, as suggested by the National Honey Board, contains basic tips and guidelines all cooks should be familiar with:
- The color of honey can range from pale and nearly colorless to deep amber brown in appearance, depending on what blossoms the producing bees visited in search of nectar. While the flavor of honeys can range from mild to bold, a standard rule of thumb is that the lighter the color of a honey – the lighter and more mild the flavor, while the darker the honey – the more deep and rich the taste.
- Honey should be kept at room temperature, making your kitchen pantry, counter top or cabinet an ideal environment for storage.
- Sealed and properly stored, honey can remain stable and viable for years. Because the stability of honey is almost entirely dictated by temperature, if ideally sealed and maintained, honey can have a shelf life of anywhere from 2 years, to 2 decades and even centuries. Though as a general rule, honey begins to darken in color and lose its optimum flavor and aroma after only a couple of years.
- Curious about honey and crystallization? Crystallization is a naturally occurring process in which the liquid in honey turns slowly to solid. Storing honey in the refrigerator will increase the rate of honey’s crystallization, but crystallized honey can be easily rectified. Simply place the bottle or jar of honey in a warm water bath, stirring frequently until the crystals are dissolved, or place the honey in a microwave-safe container, lid off, and microwave briefly (stirring often) until the crystals dissolve (checking and stirring about every 15 seconds or so.) Whenever warming honey in the microwave, be careful not to boil or scorch.
- When cooking with honey, it’s easiest (and best) to cook from recipes created specifically for and developed with honey in mind. This takes the guesswork out of experimentation, as honey (in most recipes) can replace approximately half of the amount granulated sugar needed. In some recipes, nearly all the sugar called for can be replaced with honey.
- Honey has greater sweetening power than sugar due to it’s high fructose content. Typically, this means you can use less honey than sugar to achieve the same amount of sweetness.
- When (re)creating your own recipes for baking with honey, it helps to remember the following tips: reduce the amount of liquids called for by 1/4 cup for every cup of honey used; for every cup of honey used – add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to the recipe; lastly, lower the baking temperature of the original recipe by at least 25 degrees F to prevent the over-browning or scorching of honey.
- A 12 ounce jar of honey is equal to 1 cup.
- For ease in baking and cleaning, spray your measuring cups and spoons with non-stick cooking spray before measuring honey. The honey will slide out and clean up will be a snap!
- With many honeys being locally produced, it is increasingly easier to find and serve honey from your area which helps promote community tourism and sustainable agriculture from within the comforts of your B&B inn.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Such beautiful honey, with its comb — I’m so glad that beekeeping is becoming more popular and local honey more available. I don’t often use sweeteners, with diabetics in the family, but I always have a jar or two of local honey on hand. It’s especially good in chili, believe it or not — perhaps not the typical B&B food, but delicious!
I certainly am enjoying all of your informative posts. I can honestly say I never considered replacing sugar in a recipe with honey, but I’ll certainly give it a try. This article on honey really caught my attention as I recently spoke with a friend who firmly believes that “clover honey” especially, contains medicinal advantages. The “Sunshine State” ranks third in honey production, at least it did in 2005, and I’m thinking as you–that finding locally produced products is important for your state, community, and definitely adds to a B&B’s warmth. It’s something a tourist can take home with them with fond memories.
This is a sweeeet post! We’re always buying honey from our local farmers market but have never really been as informed as you have. Thanks for the great info and now eating honey has so much more meaning!
I love strong black tea with whole milk and honey. One of the great things about Starbucks is that, in addition to coffee, it has very good tea (Tazo) and always has honey to put in it. When I went to Paris a number of years ago I read about a shop that sold almost nothing but honey. We found it and what a treat. At “La Maison du Miel” we were encouraged to sample many kinds. They came in every shade from very light to very dark. Some had a very unusual taste. Many were sugared, as the varieties sugar at different rates–and as you point out, there is nothing wrong with honey that has turned to sugar. While in the US the common honey is clover, orange blossom or “wildflower”, in France it was Acacia. It was available in small buckets. We couldn’t take a bucket with us, but left with a jar of the Acacia and a couple of sampler boxes of the more unusual kinds.
I heard once that a bee produces about a teaspoon of honey in the course of its lifetime. For whatever reason, this makes me reluctant to use large quantities at a time–my spoonful of honey for my tea representing the full life’s work of a little craftsman. Another thing I marvel over is that we cannot make honey. We could collect limitless supplies of nectar and nothing we did with them would make honey. Sort of like milk I guess, but not quite.
My second favorite use for honey is with butter on a hot bran muffin.
Honey is a miracle.
Lydia – Using a touch of honey in chili sounds delicious! Thanks for the suggestion — personally, I’d love to try it sometime and will!
Denise – I’m glad you’re enjoying the posts and I hope this one has encouraged you to experiment with honey a bit more, at least in your baking and cooking. I wasn’t aware Florida ranked 3rd in US production of honey. Thanks for bringing that too my attention, now I’ll have to research what states rank 1 & 2 (although I do know that Utah is known as the Beehive State!) Also, I’m a firm believer in supporting local economies, particularly through the use of locally produced foods. It might interest you to know — I’ve heard that consuming honey produced from the area in which you live helps your body build immunity to potential allergens in your local environment. I don’t know how much truth is in that statement versus wives’ tale, but it certainly is interesting to consider!
WORC – Thank you for the compliment. I’m glad my honey post has sweetened your day!
Agatha – I loved hearing your story, particularly of your travels in France! Now I am imagining small buckets of Acacia lining the tables or shelves in bistros and patisseries, but am glad to hear you managed to bring some home. The rumors of a worker bee only producing a limited amount of honey in its lifetime is true, but the amount is far less than 1 teaspoon. In fact, according to the National Honey Board, the average worker honey bee can only produce about 1/12th a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime, making honey a very delicate and valuable commodity indeed. I’m with you — honey is a miracle!