Welcome to Ambrose Honeyworks.
Bees, the little insects that have been around since before the dawn of man, bring you honey, beeswax, propolis, royal jelly and pollen all of which are consumed and used to this day. From nectar and pollen, bees produce wax and honey for their consumption and ours.
Beeswax, secreted by special glands in the bee's body, was one of the few media available for producing light for centuries; since the dawn of civilization through medieval times, the crusades from Europe and brought to the Americas and continues to be available for our enjoyment.
Our site is mostly about bees, beekeeping and raw honey, but knowing that this may not interest everyone, I've put together some brief tips on cooking with honey - the natural sweetner. If you think you'd like to learn a little more about bees and beekeeping in general, I welcome you to explore our site.
Honey is considered a healthy sweetner and allows you to cook without the negative health effects of refined sugar. For instance, you are less likely to get a suguar "high" after consuming something made with honey since it is metabolized by your body more slowly.
Although it is a delicious and natural sweetner, keep in mind that cooking with honey can be challenging if you don't know how to do it properly. Once you're aware of what to look out for when cooking with honey, it's really not very difficult. As an example, you must keep in mind that honey burns more easily than normal sugar, so you will generally need to cook or bake at a lower temperature.
Some people also find it challenging to replace sugar with honey as it's difficult to account for measurement differences when using honey, which is of course a liquid. In order not to ruin your recipes, you've got to make an allowance for the extra liquid that honey adds. Something like pies are also easy to make with honey as they are already somewhat liquid. If the pie's filling seems too runny with honey, you can always add a little thickner before you pour it into the pie shell.
For the most part, muffins, simple quick breads, and yeast breads, you're able to make the substitution with little or no adjustment. More complex substitutions occur when baking cakes or cookies, where you will have to use less than what the recipe calls for when using sugar.
For the most part, flavor is not generally an issue when using honey instead of sugar. If you are making a recipe where you don't want the flavor to be noticeable, try to use a mild flvored honey (which will usually be a very pale clover color.)
Bee Well
-Ambrose Honeyworks
