Honey

The best known product of the hive.

The waxen walls of a bee’s honeycomb have a
gold-tinged translucence, are fragile and easily
crushed. Yet, left untouched, it can be perfectly
preserved. Edible honeycomb was found in the
tombs of the Pharaohs, over 3,000 years old.
Harvesting honey is as old as man's sweet tooth.

Archaeologists have unearthed in northern
Israel the ruins of a beekeeping operation 3000
years old. The hives, made from straw and
unbaked clay, are intact. They were stacked in
rows in a room. Along with the hives were
found honeycombs and beeswax.

Out of the 20,00 species of bees, 4 produce honey. Bees forage for nectar (a sweet liquid), and pollen (a powder). Nectar has a high carbohydrate content and pollen a high protein content.

Bees actually have two stomachs; their honey crop which they use like a nectar backpack and their regular stomach. The honey crop holds almost 70 mg of nectar and when full, it weighs almost as much as the bee does. Honeybees must visit between 100 and 1500 flowers in order to fill their honey crop.

Nectar is almost 80% water with some complex sugars. House bees add a salivary enzyme to the nectar to convert it to honey. When the moisture content has dropped to less than 20%, the bees move the ripe droplet of honey to a cell. When full of honey, the cell is capped with fresh wax. Honey that has been harvested by the beekeeper with the moisture content above 20%, is considered unripe and will ferment. Capped honey can also ferment if humidity is high. Harvested unripe honey can be manually dried by the beekeeper. Honey weighs about 12 lbs. per gallon.

Honey is classified according to source, color, and flavor. Nectar gathered from several sources is called wildflower honey. Color wise, honey ranges from white, light amber, dark amber, to straw colored. Flavor is mild in the lighter colored honeys; generally the darker the honey the stronger the flavor.

Honey is packaged either as liquid, comb, a combination of both, or creamed. Liquid honey has a tendency to eventually crystallize. In an effort to control this, some beekeepers make creamed honey. Creamed honey is the controlled granulation of honey and results in extremely small sugar crystals. The smaller the crystals the better the creamed honey. A good creamed honey is smooth, not grainy. It spreads like butter at room temperature, and unlike liquid honey, doesn't drip.

Heating Honey

Heating honey to 150 degrees tends to stall crystallization. However heating honey up to 98 degrees causes loss of nearly 200 compounds. Heating to 104 degrees destroys invertase, the bee enzyme that converts nectar to honey. Pasteurized honey is heated to 170 degrees and held there for four to five minutes, essentially destroying the nutrition. Heating honey to high temperatures causes it to burn, changes the flavor and destroys the compounds that have health benefits. For the best honey, the consumer should buy filtered, unprocessed honey locally.

Store tightly sealed liquid honey in a cool, dry place for up to 1 year; store comb and chunk honey for 6 months. While honey can be frozen, it should not be refrigerated. When refrigerated, honey crystallizes, becoming gooey and grainy. Honey can be re-liquefied by microwaving for about 30 seconds at 100 percent power or in a pan of hot water over low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Honey Substitution

Honey can be substituted for sugar, and sugar substituted for honey. However, since honey is ounce for ounce sweeter than sugar, you need to use less of it in most recipes.

Sugar Substitution: 1 1/4 cup sugar + 1/4 cup water = 1 cup honey

Honey Substitution :
1 C. sugar = 3/4 C. honey minus 1/4 C. liquid or plus 4 Tbs. flour plus 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 C. sugar = 6 Tbs. honey minus 2 Tbs. liquid or plus 2 Tbs. flour plus 1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/3 C. sugar = 1/4 C. honey minus 1 1/2 Tbs. liquid or plus 1 1/2 Tbs. flour plus 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 C. sugar = 3 Tbs. honey minus 1 Tbs. liquid or plus 1 Tbs. flour plus 1/16 tsp. baking soda

Cook cakes and other baked goods made with honey on lower temperature. Honey softens cookie batters. For crisper variety of cookies, add 4 Tbs. flour for each 3/4 cup honey used.

Honey Conversion Charts

Honey volume vs. weight conversions

Honey volume weight chart:
Honey	Cup	Gram	Ounce	Pound	Kilogram	Tablespoon	Teaspoon
cup US	1	340g	12 oz	0.75 lb	0.34Kg	16	48
ounce	0.08	28g	1 oz	0.06 lb	0.03Kg	1.3	4
fluid ounce	0.1	42.5g	1.5 oz	0.09 lb	0.04Kg	2	6
pound	1.33	453.6g	15.9 oz	1 lb	0.45Kg	21	64
kilogram	2.94	1000g	35.3 oz	2.2 lb	1Kg	47	141
tablespoon	0.06	21g	0.75 oz	0.05 lb	0.02Kg	1	3
teaspoon	0.02	7.1g	0.25 oz	0.015 lb	0.007Kg	0.33	1

Convert cup of honey into grams, ounces, or tablespoons.

Honey equivalent measurements
Cups	Grams	Ounces	Tablespoons
⅛ cup of honey	42.5 gram	1.5 ounce	2 tbl.sp
¼ cup of honey	85 gram	3 ounce	4 tbl.sp
⅓ cup of honey	113.3 gram	4 ounce	5.3 tbl.sp
⅜ cup of honey	127.5 gram	4.5 ounce	6 tbl.sp
½ cup of honey	170 gram	6 ounce	8 tbl.sp
⅝ cup of honey	212.5 gram	7.5 ounce	10 tbl.sp
⅔ cup of honey	226.7 gram	8 ounce	10.7 tbl.sp
¾ cup of honey	255 gram	9 ounce	12 tbl.sp
⅞ cup of honey	297.5 gram	10.5 ounce	14 tbl.sp
1 cup of honey	340 gram	12 oz	16 tbl.sp

Characteristics of Honey

Pure honey lasts a long time. It does, however, darken with age . Two characteristics of honey are fermentation and granulation.

Fermentation
Honey is hydroscopic which means that honey absorbs moisture. If the moisture content of honey exceeds 18.6%, the fermentation yeast in the honey will turn the sugars of the honey into alcohol. This causes honey to have a sour taste. The honey yeast is not able to grow at cool temperatures, with the optimum temperature for honey fermentation being above 80°. If honey is stored at below 50°, the yeast cannot grow. While fermented honey can be feed back to the bees, it is unfit for human consumption. It is recommended that if honey is to be stored for any length of time, it should have a moisture content of around 17%. A good way to keep honey for long periods of time is to freeze it.

Granulation
All honey granulates at some point. That is, it becomes a semi solid sugar-like substance. Honey that has granulated can be returned to a liquid state by heating it. Granulated honey in jars can be put into a water bath having a temperature of 95 to 120 degrees F. Honey is darkened each time it is subjected to heat. If honey is heated to over 160 degrees F. for any period of time, the taste will change and the color will darken considerably. It will also result in damage to the nutritional value of honey. Commercial honey packers usually heat honey to 160 degrees and then rapidly cool it. This causes the death of the yeast and reduces crystallization for several years, giving the product long life on the grocery stores shelf. The resulting honey is, however, devoid of any nutritional value.