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Cooking with Honey
The drawbacks of modern
industrialized food production for
personal health and general quality
of life have become well known. Good
homemakers and cooks remain
vigilant: making the extra effort,
paying the added expense, ever
on-the-lookout for refreshing ways
to make healthy, organic meals more
delicious and appealing to your family
and friends.
Raw, unfiltered gourmet honey,
direct from the beekeeper, is a
simple luxury that will improve the
richness, depth, and nutritional
quality of all your meals.
Many of us have been handed down the
mistaken idea that you can't really
cook with honey. For most of our
mothers and grandmothers, cane sugar
was significantly cheaper and more
readily available than honey, and
foreign labor made possible the
giant advertising budgets which
engrained our consciousness. But
now, with specialty honey like
Gallberry-Tupelo and Pure Maine
Wildflower so readily available and
easy to order, we can look freshly
at how we sweeten our food.
Whether it is with morning tea or
coffee, on toast or pancakes, or as
a secret, hidden ingredient in
soups, salads, sauces, gravies, or
casseroles, It is more healthy,
complex and delicious than white
sugar, and comes straight from our
fields to you: raw, unfiltered,
unheated: a whole, unprocessed honey
complete with it's inherent
vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and
antioxidants. Though I have included
some of our favorite honey recipes,
we encourage you to experiment with
your own recipes as well, adding
honey wherever you are curious. Seek
the joy of the moment with sweetness
and delight!
Honey, Nature's Own Preservative
Cooking with honey not only improves
the flavor and nutrition of meals,
but acts to some degree as a natural
preservative. One reason is that
honey is a natural humectant,
meaning it draws water from the air.
Another possible reason for the
preservative quality of honey is
also associated with it's high
antioxidant content
(Science News Online 9/12/98).
When used as a marinade, glaze or
sauce, honey has been shown to
preserve color, texture and
freshness of flavor in meat and
vegetables.
Use in your camping food
(Salsa, bean salad, vegetable/pasta
salad, baked products), as it helps
food survive for a week of living out
of a pre-packed cooler.
General guidelines for cooking with
honey
The key to creatively cooking with honey, in most cases, is to use it
in small amounts, experiment often, and consider that there are few
foods which it doesn’t improve.
Baking with Honey
I take a recipe for any standard cake or cookies
and make a quick judgement based on my expectations of final texture,
flavor and density. Honey is a bit sweeter by volume, so you can
reduce the total volume of sweetener in a recipe which calls for
sugar. For muffins, snack cakes, and cookies, I use the general rule
of dividing the total sweetener amount into half-sugar half-honey.
Honey is also heavier and slightly more acidic than sugar, so adding a
half-teaspoon of baking soda works well.
If your goal is to make an extremely light, fluffy cake, well, then I
wouldn't use much honey. But for muffins or tea cakes designed to have
a moister texture, I use at least half honey, and for banana bread and
pumpkin pie I eliminate all the refined sugar and just use honey (or a
combination of honey and maple syrup).
You can use all honey for sweetening corn bread, which keeps it moist
and affords the option of using less fat, if that is a goal. I have
never tried to make something as light as an Angel Food cake with
honey, as I suspect that the weight of the honey would change the cake
so much I would have to re-name it.
Whether or not you like honey and chocolate together is a personal
taste. Like honey in coffee, I have grown to love its richness, depth,
and how, with the differences in raw honey from one batch to the next,
each time is a new experience... BEEING HERE NOW!
Honey in Sauces, Soups, Stews, Dressings
You can use the principle of balancing Sweet-Sour-Salty-Spicy to
creatively pull together a delicious meal using whatever food is
available in your fridge - Using raw honey in the balance of these
four, simple elements has guided excellent cooks from every region of
the world, throughout history.
I include specific recipes for using honey in salsa, barbeque sauce,
Vietnamese dressing, etc., but as a general principle, if you add a
tablespoon of honey to a pot of beans or a stew or stir fry, you can
balance out the sweetness (so that its hard to identify as sweet) by
adding roughly equal amounts of garlic and/or chilies (spicy), lime or
vinegar (sour), and either soy, fish sauce, Worcester (salty) or even
plain salt. Then adding your favorite aromatic herbs.
If you are cooking for kids you will probably have to pull back on the
garlic and chilies, but they will sure eat more of what is good for
them with some nutritious, raw honey added, and a little lime to
balance it out. Your guests will ooh and ahh and ask you for the
recipe, and you can just smile...(the power of Honey!)
Try the Recipes below. This information has been given by Maine & New
England Bee
Keepers
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Applesauce Honey Cake
This moist, delicious recipe also works with cut up
apple pieces - and makes fantastic muffins!
1/2 cup margerine
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup applesauce (or chopped apples)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 t clove (optional)
1 1/2 - 2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup rasins
1 cup walnuts (optional)
Cream margerine, sugar and egg. Dissolve soda in applesauce and add.
(If using apple chunks, add at the end) Add dry ingredients to make a
fairly stiff batter. Add rasins and nuts, pour into small tube pan or
long loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 55 - 60 min.
For muffins, bake approximately 35 min.
New
England Baked Beans
Raised on Saturday night baked bean suppers in New England? Try this
recipe for memories of the past!
Ingredients:
2 lbs. dry beans (try Maine yellow eyes or Jacob's
Cattle for that authentic downeast flavor, Great Northern, Vermont
Cranberry or White Navy also work)
2 onions, coarsely chopped
1/4 lb. salt pork or smoked ham (or substitute
veggie oil)
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp. molasses
1/8 teaspoon each of ground clove, black pepper, whole mustard seed
and fresh nutmeg
salt to taste (2 Tbsp.)
water to cover
Combine all ingredients in a bean pot or dutch oven (4 quart cast iron
pot) and let soak over night. Bake, covered in a slow oven (300F) for
three to five hours. (it depends on the age of the beans. It's
scandalous the way grocery stores will sell you two year old beans,
but they will.). Check at three hours and add more liquid if
necessary, don't let them dry out.
Black Bean Soup
Honey improves any bean soup! Serve with Golden Corn bread.
1 lb (16 oz) dried black (or any) beans
2 cups chopped onion
1 head garlic
2 T honey
1 T lime juice or vinegar
1 or 2 dried chiles
water to fill large soup pot.
(optional: broth, leftover bones, pork fat, or 2 T olive oil)
Soak beans as time is available, overnight is best. Add ingredients,
cook on med-low heat until desired soupiness, approx. 3 hrs.
Frosty Honey Latte
By Sonia J Woodrum, Secretary
Sagadahoc County Beekeepers Assn.
1/4 C of Boiling water
1/4 C of Honey
3/4 C of cold water
2 T instant coffee granules
1 cinnamon stick (or 1 vanilla bean) 2 inch piece
1 quart low fat milk
ice cubes
Dissolve cofee granules in boiling water;
stir in honey. Add cold water and cinnamon stick;
stir to mix. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
To make latte, fill a tall glass with ice cudes; stir in1/4 C
of coffee-honey concentrat. Fill glass with milk; stir to mix.
Makes 4 servings
Golden Corn Bread
Honey, buttermilk and whole wheat flour make this recipe just a little
better than the others!
Ingredients:
3 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk or low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup butter or margerine, melted
1/2 cup honey
3 eggs, beaten
Grease a 12 x 8 pan and preheat to 350. Combine dry ingredients,
combine wet ingredients, add until just moistened. Bake 25 minutes or
until golden brown.
Serve with Black Bean Soup!
Honey Barbeque Glaze
Great for pork, chicken, duck or goose. Plays beautifully against a
hot, tangy barbeque sauce!
Ingredients:
Approx 1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil.
For barbecued pork make a glaze from equal parts of honey and light
soy sauce plus a touch of sesame oil. When the slow cooked barbecue is
done, paint it thickly with the glaze and put it under high heat for
about ten minutes, painting once or twice more with the glaze.
Similar techniques, with or without the sesame oil work well for roast
birds, chicken, goose, duck or guinea hens. Painting with glaze four
or five times at the end of the roast will give an attractive and
tasty look to your roast that plays well against smoky chilis or
barbecue flavor.
Honey Butter
By Jim and Barb Reed, Mt. Desert Down East Chapter
Honey Butter is wonderful on toast, muffins, pancakes, waffles,
biscuits, etc.! It makes a great gift too! This recipe uses raw honey.
"Raw honey" describes honey in it's natural state; it has not been
heated to retard crystallization and pollen has not bee filtered out.
The beneficial nature (enzymes and pollen, anti-bacterial and
antioxidant characteristics, for instance) of honey is retained in
"raw honey".
This recipe differs from the usual one where the proportion of honey
to butter is one to one. At the Windsor Fair, the following recipe was
much preferred by the throngs who tasted the two versions. Thanks to
Jim and Barb Reed for serving up a good treat at the Windsor Fair.
Here's their secret:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup honey
Cream the butter. Add the honey and blend/whip until smooth. Store in
covered glass containers and refrigerated. Variations include adding
some grated rind of an orange. Or, add about 1/4 teaspoon of ground
cinnamon. Invent your own special blend!
Honey Pancake
Syrup
Thin it with water, or mix with maple syrup!
Warm honey gently with your favorite chopped fresh fruit and a little
bit of water. Use on pancakes, waffles or fresh biscuits. Also
delicious is to mix equal parts maple syrup and honey. Mmmm....
Honey Pollen Nut Cake
butter and flour for the pan
dash of ground nutmet
1/2 C Maine Honey
dash of ground cinnamon
3 eggs separated
a handful of currants or raisins, if desired
1/2 C all purpose flour
a pinch of salt
2Tbsp bee pollen granules
1/2 C chopped nuts
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8 inch square
metal baking pan. Beat together the honey and egg yokes until light
and fluffy. Mix together the flour and pollen and fold into the honey
mixture. Then fold in ground nuts, spices and fruit. Beat egg whites
with a pinch of salt until stiff and shiny. Fold into the batter.
Gently scrape batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or
until golden brown. Makes one 8 inch cake.
Honey Pumpkin
Muffins
Add your favorite nuts or seeds!
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup cooked squash or pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup rasins
1/2 cup nuts
3/4 cup roasted pumpkin or suflower seeds (optional)
Cream butter, sugar, honey, egg. Mix dry ingredients & add. Bake 350
for approx. 25 minutes.
Honey Sweet
Potatoes
By Cindy Cronkhite - Maine Beekeepers Organization
2 cups warm mashed sweet potatoes
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbls light brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup miniature marsh
Blend sweet potatoes, salt, brown sugar, honey, butter,and milk.
Spoon into a buttered 1-quart cassrole dish. Top with marshmellows.
Bake at 350 F until marshmellows are browned.
Makes 4 servings
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Healthier and tastier version of a "must have" perfect recipe!
1 1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar (white or brown)
1 cup honey (or a little less)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1.5 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts
1 package chips
Mix all ingredients in the order given. Grease cookie sheet, drop in
teaspoonfuls. Bake at 375, 8 - 10 min.
Canneles de Bordeaux
Cannele molds are coated with beeswax. The wax makes the unmolding
easier, and most important gives the canneles their distinctive,
crunchy crust. These extraordinary little confections are a specialty
of Bordeaux, where nuns were said to have created them more than 200
years ago using the flour they salvaged from the holds of sailing
ships anchored in the Port de la Lune. I like to call them "portable
creme brulee" because they contrast a crunchy caramelized exterior
with a moist, custardy center. This recipe is a bit particular. You
really need authentic copper cannele molds and you really do need to
coat them with beeswax (which you can find at some health-food store
and farmer's markets). The wax makes the unmolding easier, and - most
important ? gives the canneles their distinctive, crunchy crust. Make
sure you let the batter rest for the full twelve hours. The best way
to eat these is with a cup of strong coffee. You can also serve them
as a dessert, cut in half and drizzled with caramel sauce.
3 cups milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
7 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pastry flour
1 extra-large egg yolk
2 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons dark rum
3 ounces beeswax, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
In a small saucepan, combine the milk, vanilla bean,
and its scrapings. Bring the milk to the scalding point over medium
high heat, then remove the pan from the heat and add the 3 tablespoons
of butter. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour. In a separate
small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, eggs and rum. Whisk the egg
mixture into the sugar and flour mixture, then whisk in the lukewarm
milk mixture. Strain into a container; cover and refrigerate for at
least 12 hours.
To prepare molds for baking, melt the beeswax in a
saucepan over low heat. Add the remaining 3/4 cup butter to the melted
wax and stir until the butter is melted. Remove the mixture from the
heat and, using a narrow pastry brush, carefully coat the inside of 18
(2 by 1-inch) canneles molds. (Dedicate this brush to canneles making
because the wax will get into the brush.) If the wax mixture starts to
set up or thicken, return it to the heat for a moment until it thins.
Remove the batter from the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before
baking it.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Place the waxed canneles molds on a heavy baking sheet
with a rim to prevent any wax and butter that melts from the molds
from dripping onto the bottom of your oven and creating a fire hazard.
Fill the molds 3/4 full with the batter, whisking the batter
frequently and well to ensure that the sugar and flour remain evenly
distributed.
Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the surface of the canneles is
dark brown. Remove from the oven, being very careful not to spill any
of the hot wax on yourself. (It is wise to keep children and pets out
of the kitchen during this part of the process.) Using tongs or an old
towel, pick up each mold and tap it upside down to remove the canneles.
If it doesn't come out after a few taps, using a paring knife to
loosen it from the sides. And...viola! Serve warm from the oven.
Home & Farm Uses
Non Toxic Wood Finish
For wooden toys you can make your own polish/finish/protectant : mix
equal part mineral oil and beeswax. Heat in a double boiler and rub on
furniture or toys, then buff off excess.
Cracked Hooves
Mix together equal parts of melted beeswax and honey for a good home
remedy for cracked hooves of animals. Clean and dry the crack before
applying the mixture.
Share your Honey Sweet
Tip with us!
Email your recipe or Tip to me directly at
mail@naturesflame.com
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