Honey

COPYRIGHT 2011 by Michael Long

Most of us know Honey as a sweet, golden liquid.  In addition to being a great natural sweetener, honey has a bunch of other benefits.  If you have a sore throat, take some honey, it will soothe the throat.  If your diabetic, honey under the tongue will raise your blood sugar and keep you out of trouble. For athletes looking for a natural energy boost before a big game, honey will provide a quick energy in all circumstances.  

Honey can be found in several different forms:

• Comb Honey  is a honey in it's original form; "Honey inside of the honeycomb,  and the beeswax comb is edible!!!!


• Cut Comb  Cut comb honey is liquid honey that has added chunks of the honey comb in the jar or container 


• Liquid Honey  is a honey that is free of visible crystals,  and is extracted from the honey comb by centrifugal force and straining.  Because liquid honey mixes so well into a variety of foods it's especially convenient for cooking and baking.  Most of the honey that is produced here in the United States is sold in the liquid form. 


• Naturally Crystallized Honey  Naturally crystallized honey is honey in which part of the glucose content has spontaneously crystallized.  And it's safe to eat.


• Whipped (or Cremed) Honey, While all honey will crystallize in time,  This honey is brought to market in a crystallized state.  The crystallization is controlled so that, at room temperature, the honey can be spread like butter or jelly.  In many countries around the world, whipped honey is preferred to the liquid form especially at breakfast time.  

Honey in normally bought and sold in one of two ways, by variety and color.  Most consumers whether buying in a supermarket or farmers market will typically by either a blend of pure honeys, the so called Supermarket Store brands or a Clover Honey.

And More Helpful Hints

Here are some more helpful hints for the kitchen.  Tricks to keep you from running to the store at the last minute.

 Baking powder will go bad,  and the best way to check it is Mix 1 teaspoon (5gm) with 1/2 cup hot water.  The mix should bubble immediately.  If it doesn't toss it out.  You have bad baking powder

Baking powder should be replaced every 6-12 months

To test Baking soda, ¼ teaspoon to 2 teaspoons VINEGAR mix should bubble immediately

To make Baking Powder is a pretty simple thing to do.

• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Mix the baking soda and cream of tartar together until well combined. The yield is one tablespoon.

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Cream of Tartar

Cream of tartar is the common name for potassium hydrogen tartar and also tartaric acid salt.  It is obtained when tartaric acid is half neutralized with potassium hydroxide, transforming it into a salt. Grapes are the only significant natural source of tartaric acid, and cream of tartar is obtained from sediment produced in the process of aging wine. It is found on the insides of the wine barrels and sometimes at the bottom of bottles of wine. It crystallizes out as a hard crust in the barrels.

Cream of tartar is best known for helping stabilize and give more volume to beaten egg whites. It is used as the leavening agent in baking powder.

Normally when cream of tartar is used in a cookie, it is used together with baking soda. The two of them combined work like a double-acting baking powder. When substituting for cream of tartar, you must also substitute for the baking soda.

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Self-rising flour

If your recipe calls for self-rising flour and you only have all-purpose, here's how you can save the day.. Measure out the amount of flour into a separate bowl and for each cup of flour add 1.5 teaspoon baking powder and one half teaspoon of salt, Mix that up and  POOF you have self-rising flour.

Can be stored in an Air tight container for Months 

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 Brown Sugar  

Your out of Brown sugar, but you have granulated sugar and you have molasses.  The formula or recipe is 1 cup sugar and 2 Tablespoons molasses.  In a stand mixer (can be done by hand with a fork).  Put the sugar and molasses in your mixer bowl and with the whisk attachment, start that puppy up..... run on medium speed till all mixed,  this may take a while to do. But it does go together. If you have some clumps that refuse to break up,  use a fork to break them up.  And POOF again,  you've made brown sugar.

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I hope these little hints will help,  everyone runs short on stuff, and just maybe this will help.

 

SOME OF MY SOURCES

Here is a list of some of my sources.  You'll also see the web address, and comments.  Most of these you may already know about, Some you may not. I hope you find this list helpful.  Almost everyone I've ordered from. If not ordered from, at least chatted with. 

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The National Pork Board:    http://www.porkbeinspired.com/Cut_Sausage.aspx 

  A great website, Covering just about anything you might want to know about Pork.

The National Onion Association:  http://www.onions-usa.org/

  Another great site.  Kim will get back to you asap with an E-mail  Super lady over there.

Oregon Truffle Oil:  https://www.oregontruffleoil.com/

  White Truffle Oil: Never ordered from them.  However, there website is very clean.  I would feel safe ordering from them. 

The Fresh Loaf:  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/   

  Carries News & information for the Amateur Bakers & Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

The Chocolate Life: http://www.thechocolatelife.com/

  An internet group set up for chocolatetiers to meet & converse, trade ideas.  I'm a member.  Extremely helpful group to anyone that asks questions etc.  A group anyone with an interest in chocolates should join.

Dessert Professional:  http://www.dessertprofessional.com/ 

  Another internet group for the dessert maker etc.  Another wonderful group that I'm a member of.  You can ask them anything about desserts and they will work with you to get an answer.  Another group you should join if your into desserts.  Fantastic group!!!



Amazon.Com:  https://www.amazon.com

  I order tons of stuff from there. Great service, Wait for sales if you can.  I have found some great deals. 



Self Life Advice:  http://shelflifeadvice.com/

  A very nice website about self life.  They have a Tips, A list of all foods and how long they are good for.  Everyone should look at this one!!!



Still Tasty:  http://www.stilltasty.com/

  Another great website.  Pretty much the same as the one above.  It's a matter of which one is the easiest for you to get around on.



Allergies:  http://grou.ps/allergy_bloggers/home

  A group for people with allergies.  A wonder website.  Covers all food allergies.



National Pasta Association: http://www.ilovepasta.org/index.html

  A place to go to find out just about anything you want to know about pasta.



Bake Decorate Celebrate:  http://www.bakedecoratecelebrate.com/

  A pretty inspiring website for cake decorating for the amateur baker. 



I'm cooked:  http://www.imcooked.com/

  A website to post your cooking video's 



The Chocolate Addict:   http://www.thechocolateaddict.com

  A great website about chocolates, working with chocolates, video's,& materials.



Calorie Counter:  http://caloriecount.about.com/

  Looks like a very usable website.  I've used it several times and was very happy.



Pressure cooking with Lorna Sass:  http://pressurecookingwithlornasass.wordpress.com/

  If your into Pressure Cooking this is the go to lady. Book author, Chef



National Honey Board: http://www.honey.com/nhb/home/

  The National Honey Board,  What more needs to be said!!!



Dry Spice:  http://www.dryspice.com/

  Little containers that you put in your spice containers.  I use alot of these.  Tell Ken that I sent you...



ChocolateSource:  http://www.chocolatesource.com/home/index.asp

  All Chocolates,  Great people to work with.  All your major brands. 

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I hope that some of these websites are of some help to you.  These are all from my "Favorites"  I have a ton more, But these are the most active ones.  I'm sure that I didn't list some of your favorites, So bear with me on that.  Let me know if you a favorite one or ones, and I'll list those also.