Honey in Food Preparation (2808)

Honey is one-fifth sweeter than granulated sugar. You can use it to partly replace sugar in some baked desserts. Honey, in spite of its sweetness, is chemically acidic, so it will not fit in every recipe. Here are guidelines for substituting honey in recipes.

One cup honey contains one-fourth cup water. As a rule, when you replace sugar with honey, cut the liquid by one-fourth cup for each cup of honey used. So, if a recipe calls for one cup sugar, use one cup honey and reduce the liquid by one-fourth cup.

When you use honey in cake and cookie recipes, prevent overbrowning by lowering the baking temperature by 25 degrees F. The texture will be more moist than the original recipe.

When you use honey to sweeten fruits, use light-flavored honey so it does not mask fruit flavor. Honey has a strong flavor.

To freeze sliced or crushed fruits, use one part honey to four to five parts fruit. For whole fruits, add one cup water to each two cups of honey. Use just enough diluted honey to cover fruit.

To use honey when you make jelly, decrease the amount of sugar used. For example, if a recipe calls for seven cups of sugar, use five cups sugar and two cups honey.

To use honey syrup to can fruits, use proportions of one cup sugar and one cup honey. For sweet fruits, add four cups water to the sugar and honey combination. For slightly acid fruits, add three cups water; for acid fruits, use two cups of water. For highly acid fruits, use only one cup water to the one cup sugar and one cup honey combination. Boil sugar, honey, and water together for five minutes.

Caution: children under age one must not have honey.

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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