A Bear's Guide to Cooking with Honey - Article

by Eliza Ward

If you want to cook sweets and avoid the negative health effects of refined sugar, honey is an great alternative. But honey can be a challenge to cook with, so many people avoid it. But once you know how to use honey in your favorite sweet recipes, you will realize how easy it really is.

Here are a few useful tips for cooking with honey:

1. As a general rule, because honey can be as much as twice as sweet as sugar, when using honey in a recipes use less than the sugar amount recommended. Replace one cup of sugar with half a cup of honey. Additionally, because honey is hygroscopic (meaning it attracts water), reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey added.

2. You must beat honey recipes longer and more vigorous compared to sugar recipes.

3. When baking, add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for each cup of honey used. This will neutralize honey's acidity and help the cakes and pastries rise properly.

4. Honey recipes brown faster than sugar recipes, so reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees F.

5. When using honey in jams, jellies, or candies, increase the cooking temperature just a bit to allow the extra liquid to evaporate.

6. The flavor of the honey should be considered when cooking with honey - since honey has the power to balance, enhance or impart some of its flavor to other foods. So taste the honey before you decide which variety to use. Make sure it is a flavor that enhances your recipe.

Next article: The History of Honey

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