Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-04-14

washington, April Io.-N dliooS '"SS
| in which the housewife can use honey
I, to advantage are suggested in the ne"
, publication of the United states de-
| partment Of Agriculture - Farmers
| Bulletin 653, Honey and It's Uses IN
| the Home" In this country honey mas
| hitherto not been in as common use as
| in Europe, especially in cookery. IL IS.
| however, a comparatively simple mat
| ter to substitute it in many recipes lor
| common sugar or for molasses, ana
| when this is done the resulting flavor
| is often both novel and agreeable.
one of the great advantages in the
| use of honey is that cakes made with
! it will keep much longer than those
| made with sugar. A honey CAKE maze
with butter. for instance, will keep Its
| quality until the butter grows rancid,
and one made without butter Will keep
| fresh for months. For this reason hon
| ey is especially useful in recipes tina,
| call for no butter Icing made with
! honey has the same advantage, and
, some icing made in the experimental
! laboratory of the Department of Agri-
| culture was found at the end of 10
| months to be as soft and in as good
! condition as when it was first made.
| Tho experiments conducted by the
| Department indicate that many of the
| instructions in the old cookbOoks for
| the preparation of honey are unneces-
| sarily elaborate For example. it used
| to be thought that honey had TO be
brought TO the boiling point and then
skinned and cooled. Since honey is
h
cess requires great care. EXPERIMENTS
showed, however, that 1T appears To ne
quite unnecessary, and it is probable
that the notion arose at a time when
ordinary commercial honey contained
more impurities than at present. SINH
larry, the older recipes say that the
! dough should be kept at least one day
before the soda is added. No evidence
to support this theory was found by
the investigators. On the other hand,
however, they did discover that dough
conta ming honey can be more easily
kneaded if allowed to stand for several
days.
Again, the use of potash is recon-
mended in most of the recipes in for
eign coohbooks as a means of raising
the dough. The properties of potash
are quite similar to ordinary baking
soda, and there seems no reason why
the latter should not do just as well.
Baking soda is a common kitchen COM
modify in America. and potassium bi
carbonate-the potash of the cookery
book is almost unknown for household
purposes. AS a matter of fact, a little
experience will enable any competent
A. f,,1Iv
for sugar in bread, cake, preserved
fruits, sauces, and candies. 1t is safe
to estimate that cupful Of honey will
sweeten a dish about as much as a
cupful of sugar, but since honey con-
tains water in addition, there is less
need for milk or other liquids. For
practical purposes it is accurate enough
to consider that for each cupful of
honey quarter of a cupful is added
to the recipe. If these facts are kept
in mind special honey recipes are .un-
necessary.
Honey is marketed in two forms,
known respectively as comb honey and
extracted honey, the former being
used much like jam or marmalade and
the latter either in that way or for
some prejudice against extracted hon
ey-or honey removed from the comb
because it was believed that this was
frequently adulterated. However pre-
valent this practice may have been in
the past, recent legislation and the eff
forts Of honey producers themselves
have made it dangerous and unprolita-
BILE. There is now, it is believed, little
adulterated extracted honey on the
market. Comb honey is practically
certain to be the pure product of the
hive, because it can only be adultera-
ted by processes which cost more than
they save. When sold at retail there
is now comparatively little difference
in the cost of comb and extracted hon
ey, but the latter can be purchased at
wholesale very much cheaper. The
reason for this is that the producer of
comb honey makes a product which is
practically ready to be delivered to the
consumer. Moreover, it costs the bee
keeper less to produce extracted hon.
ey while the wholesaler who purchases
extracted honey has several processes
to go through with before he can sell
1t at retail. If the housewife is willing
" w tHeSe herself, Sne can effect
considerable saving.
The simplest and, perhaps, most pop
ular way Of using honey is to serve it
like jam or strip with bread, pancakes,
etc. When used in this way an ounce
Of honey may be regarded as the equi-
valent of an ounce of jam. When in
tended for sirup it is sometimes dilu-
ted with hot water, not only to make
1t less sweet, but also easier to pour.
The housewife will also find some form
OF tart fruit served with honey, cottage
cheese, and bread and butter an at
tractive combination and an economi-
| cal substitute for the much priced and
very expensive Barbecue currants
which are themselves often cooked in
honey and served with cream cheese
and crackers. The following are typi-
cal Of an almost endless number of
honey recipes:
HONEY AND NUT BRAN MUFFINS-
cup honey, cup flour, from / to 4 tea
spoon soda. teaspoon salt, 2 cups bran,
l tablespoon melted butter, /. cups milk,
cup finely chopped English walnuts.
Sift together the -four soda and salt, and.
\ A.