Honey can be challenging to cook with for several reasons. So many people may not cook with it because they don’t know how.
But once you know how to use honey in your favorite kitchen creations, it’s not hard at all to use.
Over Coming The Challenges Of Cooking With Honey
According to BeeBuzz, honey is liquid when it is bottled but does crystalize after bottling over time.
Honey is a supersaturated liquid, meaning it contains more sugar than water and therefore, is a slow moving liquid.
Like sugar, honey will burn at high temperatures. But honey can burn easier and faster than sugar.
If you want honey to flow easily, that is to liquify honey, the best temperature to do so is between 95 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
To prevent honey from burning when placed in the oven, lower the temperature by 25 degrees than what the recipe calls for.
– Read More And Learn The Alternative Cooking Methods to Frying Food – with recipes –
Replacing Sugar With Honey
Replacing sugar with honey will ruin some recipes if you don’t make an allowance for the extra liquid that honey adds.
Reduce other liquids in the recipe by 1/4 cup for every 1 cup of honey used.
Also when replacing sugar with honey, it will be equal amounts. That is, 1 cup of honey for 1 cup of sugar.
With most muffins, simple quick breads, and yeast breads, you can make the substitution without any adjustment to the other ingredients.
With cakes and cookie recipes, you should decrease the amount of liquid in the recipe to account for the honey.
Honey is also very easy to use in pies. Since they are already somewhat liquid, you can replace the sugar with honey.
If the pie filling seems too runny, just add a little extra thickener before you pour it in your pie shell.
Flavor Profile & Sweetness Of Honey
The flavor of honey can sometimes be an issue. All flowers that are pollenated by honey bees have different flavor profiles.
Examples of differing flavors are clover, orange, raspberry or lavender blossoms among others.
Depending on how sweet you want your recipe to be try one of the following :
1. Darker honey for a sweeter, more potent flavor.
2. Lighter-colored honey for a more subtle flavor.
Acidity Of Honey
To cut the acidity of honey you can mix in 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for every one cup of honey if baking soda is not already included in the recipe.
According to The HoneyBee Hobbyist, honey is acidic and has a pH range as low as 3.4 and as high as 6.1 on the pH scale.
The pH of honey, on average, is 3.9. What determines the acidity of honey is the floral source from which the bees collect the nectar.
How To Measure & Store Honey
To prevent the honey sticking to the measuring spoon or cups, lubricate the spoons and cups with water, oil or egg white. This will facilitate easy and accurate measurements of honey.
When shopping for honey just remember that a 12-ounce jar of honey is equivalent to an 8-ounce cup for liquid measurements.
Store your honey in an airtight container to prevent it from absorbing any moisture outside the container and from crystalizing.
Accordingly bee keepers, the temperature you store honey at can affect the pace of this process. Temperatures around 57 degrees Fahrenheit makes honey crystallize faster.
It will also help keep the honey indefinitely. Keep the honey at room temperature to facilitate use in cooking and baking, as refrigerated honey can thicken.
Try These Delicious Favorites With Honey Added
- Instant Pot Pork Loin Chops With Honey Garlic Sauce
- Homemade Honey Barbecue Sauce
- Honey Roasted Nuts
- Blueberry Cupcakes – Paleo Style
More Deliciously Yummy Recipes
- Trofie Al Rosso Pesto
- Indian Ginger-Tomato Curried Kidney Beans
- Rosso Pesto (Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto)
- Dandelion Greens With A Lemon Yogurt Coriander Dressing
- Cooking With Cumin
