Kitchen Quick Tips - Frying Bacon

Sprinkle a little sugar in the skillet when frying bacon to prevent sticking.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Cooking Bacon on an Outdoor Grill

Cooking a larger amount of bacon is a cinch using an outdoor grill.  Heat the grill to medium then brush of the grate.  Place the strips of bacon directly on the grate across the rungs.  Cook moving the strips as necessary to prevent flare-ups, turning once until desired crispness.  Remove from grill.  There's no need to drain.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Cooking Bacon in the Oven

Quickly cook a larger amount of bacon in the oven with minimum clean-up and no draining.  Place aluminium foil on the bottom of a baking sheet.  Place a wire drying rack on top on the baking sheet to form a space for the grease to drip.  Place the strips of bacon on the wire rack.  Bake at 350°F to desired crispness.

Tomato Juice Just Out of Pressure Canner

I have an All American pressure canner, model 921.  I like to process my tomato products in the pressure canner because the processing time is less which makes a difference as to how many times the canner can run in a day.  The process time for tomato juice in a boiling water bath canner (BWB) is 40 minutes for 1 L jars but only 15 minutes using the pressure canner (PC).   The pressure canner is more energy efficient as I can process a larger number of jars at a time.  The PC only uses 3 L of water per load in comparison to the BWB canner that uses several L of water.

Tomato products are healthier when pressure canned.  Pressure canning increases the antioxidant properties of lycopene.  Now a pressure canner is quite easy to operate.  There are safety features built in to prevent over pressurizing.  As with any stovetop cooking, the pressure canner should not be left unattended.  When filling jars, it is important to leave a 2.5 cm (1 in) headspace.  Most seal failures and/or liquid loss when pressure canning are due to insufficient headspace.  Heat the water in the pressure canner to avoid thermal shock before adding the filled jars. Secure the lid per manufacturer's instructions then vent for 10 minutes.  Venting allows any trapped air in the jars to escape.  In a BWB canner the temperature is 100ºC (212ºF), just enough to kill bacteria, yeasts and molds in high acid foods (eg. fruits, jams, pickles).  The food does not get hot enough in the jars to boil.  The processing temperature in a PC is 116ºC (240ºC), enough to kill bacteria, yeasts, molds and destroy any botulinum toxin that may be present in low acid foods (eg. vegetables, meats, soups).

Foods taken from the PC are usually still boiling in the jar as seen in the video I took of tomato juice just out of the canner.  It is very important to not tilt the jars when removing them as that can cause the contents to erupt, leaking hot liquid everywhere creating a rather dangerous situation.  Do not put the hot jars directly onto the countertop.  Use cork trivets or t-towels to sit the jars on to prevent thermal shock.  It is very important to not adjust the rings unless you are using glass inserts or Tattler lids.  Do not adjust the rings if using the metal single use lids.  Jars should be left undisturbed for 24 hours then remove the rings and check the seal.  Wash and dry the jars and rings.  Rings can be replaced loosely on the jars for storage if desired.

Tomato Tips and Home Canned Tomato Juice

Before I start the tomato posts, I thought it would be nice to give a few tips for processing tomatoes.  Aside of the tomatoes I grow, I get hampers of field tomatoes for processing.  A hamper is 5/8 of a bushel or 15 kg (33.1 lb).  Many tomato product recipes call for a certain number of kilograms or pounds while others indicate the required weight followed by the number of milliliters or cups of prepared tomatoes needed.  This gives you and estimate of how many tomatoes to buy if necessary.  On average, 454 g (1 lb) of tomatoes will give a yield of 500 ml (2 c) chopped tomatoes or 625 ml (2½ c) sliced tomatoes or 375 ml (1½ c) crushed or puréed tomatoes.

Tomatoes should be firm and ripe.  Do not use tomatoes with signs of spoilage.  It is common to lose as much as 10% in weight due to spoiled tomatoes in a hamper.  The longer a hamper sits, the more that will be lost to spoilage so only buy or pick what you can comfortably process within a 48 hour period.  Washed well in soap to remove any soil.  Rinse then transfer to a sink of cold water with about a 125 ml (½ c) of white vinegar.  Let soak about 10 minutes.  This will remove any contaminants as well as kill of surface bacteria.  Tomatoes can then be blanched to slip the skins off if desired.

I usually make two or three products per hamper of tomatoes.  When tomatoes are cut, pectase is activated causing the tomato to drain liquid.  Seeding and draining tomatoes that will used for certain products is desirable as it reduces the cook time.  The liquid can be collected, strained and made into tomato stock.  Most of my tomato products are home canned using a pressure canner wherever possible although a few are processed in a boiling water bath canner (BWB).  However, many can also be frozen if you don't want to can them.  All home canned tomato products must be acidified with citric acid, lemon juice or vinegar.  Home frozen tomato products do not need to be acidified.

Commercially canned tomato juice is not expensive but home canned tomato juice is by far superior in flavour.  Home canned tomato juice lacks the tinny flavour many complain about because it is canned in glass jars rather than metal cans.  It is also a great way to use up excess tomatoes from the garden as any variety of tomatoes work well for juice.

I canned 5 L of plain tomato juice in the pressure canner.  I have also been experimenting with a Clamato juice clone which is a spice up version to tomato juice using clam juice as an ingredient (more to come).  Tomato juice can be processed in a BWB canner (500 ml jars 35 min, 1L jars 40 min or 1.5 L jars 50 min) or in the pressure cooker (500 ml or 1 L 15 min at 10 lb pressure) at altitudes up to 1,000 feet above sea levels.  Refer to the altitude adjustment chart on the Canning FYI page if you are above that altitude for timing and pressure adujstment.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Finding Cooking Inspiration

[Sorry, delayed due to Victoria Day holiday]


If you are looking for ways to save on your food dollars the most effective method is too cook from home from scratch. By scratch, I mean use the whole foods and raw ingredients to make a meal rather than high priced mixes and convenience foods. One of the biggest problems with home cooking is you can easily get into a rut, cooking the same foods in the same way so you end up getting bored. It's not as much about not wanting to cooking but more of a tired of cooking the same old thing. Whether you are just starting out learning to cook or you are an experienced home cook you will need to find cooking inspiration from time to time. What are good sources for cooking inspiration?

Here are some of the ways I find cooking inspiration:

• word of mouth - My kids, other family members and friends call and/or email me with details of dishes they enjoyed whether homemade or at a restaurant. They call me when they experiment with new ingredients or to tell me I simply have to try something they liked. This kind foodie talk helps to stimulate your interest in food. Sharing foodie talk is a great inspiration!
  


• printed materials (cookbooks/magazines) - This really is a traditional method of finding recipes. Anyone interested in cooking usually has a small collection of cookbooks. I prefer ones that have a picture of the finished dish. Older cookbooks often may or may not be illustrated but they usually do not have pictures of the finished dish. Still they can be quite useful for finding new recipes to try. Many including myself are turning to these older cookbooks especially those from the depression era because the recipes tend to be on the frugal side.
  
  There are many sources for cookbooks/magazines including free magazines. While I have bought or been gifted with several new cookbooks, quite a few of the cookbooks in my collection were bought used. Good sources for used cookbooks are resale stores and yard sales with prices ranging from 25¢ to $1. Borrowing a cookbook from the library or a family or friend is a good way to try out a few new recipes without any cash outlay. The problem with borrowing is you don't have a hard copy but read down for my solution.
  
  
• television - There are a lot of good cooking shows on tv. I admit to be addicted to the food channel! It's on most afternoons especially when I'm looking for something just a bit different for dinner. I used to tape an entire afternoon of cooking shows for later viewing but now I tape only those I know I want to review based on the show's description. Now the new PVR receivers allow easy recording without using video tapes so that is an option as well. The downsides to television is some essential steps are not shown and it's not as convenient as a cookbook unless you have a television in your kitchen.
  
  
• video - I mentioned recording television cooking shows but there are also a lot of cooking videos available in various formats. Again resale stores and yard sales are great sources for cooking videos.
  
  
• restaurants - This is one of my favourite sources for cooking inspiration! Not only do I get a good visual as to the finished dish I get to smell and taste the finished dish. Trying to duplicate a dish I liked becomes the challenge.
  
  
• online - There are literally hundreds of thousands of cooking databases, cooking websites and blogs available online. In addition to that many manufacturers have websites that include a recipe section for using their products. Some websites allow you to search for a dish simply by the ingredients you want to use. YouTube and similar types of video sharing sites have great cooking video clips as well. Finally you can get digital cookbooks and videos for your handheld device (eg. Palm, iPod, iPod Touch etc.) either with no charge or for a small fee or you can upload you own cooking information to your handheld using the sync function. That means you can have your favourite dishes and food related topics at your fingertips even when away from home. The best part of online resources is they are basically free!


• experiment - When you do your grocery shopping, pick up one ingredient, herb, spice, fruit or vegetable you have not used before. It does not need to be expensive and in fact I suggest keeping the cost to just a couple of dollars. Keep it simple! Remember this is going to be a learning experience. When you get home go online and find a dish that uses the item you bought. Try to use it with foods you already have in your pantry or freezer.
  
  Remember how you cook foods affects how they look and taste. Try a different way to cook a vegetable, meat, fish or poultry. If you always boil potatoes for mashing try steaming them for nicer results. If you always steam asparagus, try grilling or baking for a different result. This simple method helps to stimulate your imagination and keeps you interested in cooking. It costs nothing but can be very rewarding!
  

Previously if I wanted a copy of a recipe I either had to write it out in long form, photocopy it or buy the cookbook/magazine but that is now a thing of the past! Instead I use my digital camera to take a picture of the recipe. Save as digital images to use as desired. Transfer to a flash drive to use on your kitchen computer. Essentially this costs you nothing aside of your initial equipment and ink if you decide to print out the recipe. This works well for any printed material such as cookbooks and magazines. It also works well for taking pictures of restaurant menus that often highlight the key ingredients in the dish. It is an excellent way to capture the look and presentation of the dish. Most restaurants do not have a problem with you doing this but if in doubt just ask.

Hard Boiled Eggs, Deviled Eggs and Scallop Potatoes

Two foods say Easter, eggs and ham. Hard boiled eggs are a must especially for decorating since soft boiled and raw eggs tend not to fare too well for Easter egg hunts or decorating. I have to tell you I cook a lot of hard boiled eggs throughout the year with only about a dozen being used for Easter eggs. Even though ham is seen as an Easter meat, I have to tell you it is popular here year round. Still ham is our traditional Easter Sunday meal.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Hard boiled eggs form the basis of many dishes and are not difficult to make. Three problems can result with hard boiled eggs. A hard boiled eggs needs to be cooked long enough to ensure the yolk is cooked all the way through. A dark green discolouration can form on the yolk that is aesthetically unappealing when the yolk will show in the final dish. The green (ferreous sulphide) forms from a chemical reaction of the sulfur from the amino acids in the egg white with the iron in the yolk when the egg temperature exceeds 158ºF. The longer your eggs cook, the greater th chance of this discolouration forming. Finally, an extremely fresh egg will not peel easily so if hard boiling plan on using these eggs for something like egg salad. Two week old eggs make for the easiest to peel hard boiled eggs. Hard boiled eggs will keep in the refrigerator a couple of days if peeled and up to one week if unpeeled.

Method: Place the eggs in a single layer in a large pot. Cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil. Turn off the heat. Cover pot and let sit 20 minutes. Immediately cool in cold water to prevent the yolk from discolouring. Peel*

* Save the egg shells for use in the garden.


Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are a classic when it comes to appetizers. They can be plain or fancy but either way they are quick and easy to make and are always a crowd pleaser. Deviled eggs are almost a comfort food.

Method: Prepare hard boiled eggs as above. Use a sharp knife to cut each egg in half. Wipe blade after each cut. Carefully pop the yolk out of the egg into a separate bowl. Break up the yolk with a fork. Stir in 2 finely chopped green onions, ¼ tsp sea salt, ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper and enough Miracle Whip or mayonnaise to blend nicely. Spoon the mixture back into the egg whites. Garnish with a pinch of dried parsley and a pinch of Spanish paprika.

Glazed Ham

Ham is the traditional meat of choice for Easter in North America because of the early curing processes. Meat slaughtered in the fall if not consumed during the winter was cured for spring. Since curing took a long time, the first hams were ready around Easter. Today we can simply go to our local grocery store or abbatoir's for a ham or we can cure and smoke the ham at home. During the Easter season when hams are often on sale, it makes good sense to buy one or two for the freezer.

I bought a small Vienna Smoked Black Forest Ham for $1.88/lb ($4.14/kg) totaling $7.6 with the intentions of canning the ham. We had Easter dinner at our kids so I fully intended not cooking Easter Sunday. My husband spotted the coveted ham destined to be canned the declared that ham with scalloped potatoes would be great. Dang! I put the ham in the oven at 200ºF with a glaze of ½ c maple syrup and 1 tsp Dijon mustard. It was moist and tasty.

Scallop Potatoes

Scallop potatoes marry nicely with ham. I've seen so many recipes for scallop potatoes but not really like my mom's. Her's was rich, creamy and unpretentious. They take the very minimal of what most cooks have in their pantry at all times. Don't let their simplicity fool you as these are wonderful scallop potatoes sure to please. Oh, and they will make a mess in your oven so do make sure you place the casserole dish on a tray to prevent dripping.

Method: Peel about 8 medium potatoes. Slice thinly using a mandolin. Liberally butter a casserole pan. Place one layer of potatoes on the bottom. Sprinkle with finely chopped onions, about 2 tbsp flour, salt and fresh ground pepper. Add a few small dabs of butter. Continue layering in this fashion ending with an onion, flour and butter layer. Sprinkle with chopped chives. Pour about 2 cups of scalded milk over the potatoes or enough scalded milk to bring the milk to just under the final potato layer. Bake at 350ºF until potatoes are browned on top, soft and sauce is bubbly. Remove from oven.

Ham Dinner

Ham is ideal in that there is very, very little waste even if it is a bone in ham. The bone from a bone in ham can be used for soup or beans. A boneless ham has virtually no waste. This was a boneless ham so all meat. The ham was moist and tender with just enough glaze left over to use a small amount as a sauce. I served the ham with Old Fashioned Vermont beans, scallop potatoes and steamed spinach.

Steamed spinach has to be our favourite method for cooked spinach. Steaming gives a nice texture while keeping the nutrients in the spinach. Steaming also results in a brighter green. This is the method I use whenever cooked spinach is called for in a recipe.

Method: Wash the spinach. Place in steamer basket. Put about 1 - inch of water in the pot and place steamer basket over it. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. The steam will finish cooking the spinach. Remove from basket and allow to drain. Stir in butter if desired.

Important Canning Note & Last Night's Dinner - Sweet & Sour Pork Loin Ribs

Things are a little slow in the kitchen right now so a bit of housekeeping and chit chat.


An Important Note on Canning Recipes: Altitude Adjustments
It has been brought to my attention that I haven't mentioned the need to adjust processing times if using a boiling water bath (BWB) canner or pressure canner at altitudes higher than 1,000 ft (305 M) above sea level. This is an oversight on my part based on the assumption that anyone using my recipes would know to adjust the processing if they live at a higher altitude. We live below 1,000 ft (305 M) above sea level so like many canning recipes found online, mine are written to be processed at that level. At higher altitudes, the length of processing needs to be increased BWB canning and the pressure needs to be increased for pressure canning.

I created the altitude adjustment chart image in Photoshop CS2 using USDA recommendations and information from the charts found here. I liked the incorporation of both Imperial and Metric measurements for a universally useful resource. I will be going through the archives to note the canning recipes with a link back to my chart but this will take some time. I will also be adding a link in the sidebar to the altitude adjustment chart.

Tossed Salad

A good portion of the meals entries on this blog don't include pictures of sides like salads and the other foods that go into making our meals. Salads are one of those sides that are usually served at most dinners and quite often are served by themselves for dinner. This time of year really makes me yearn for fresh picked salad greens. Being in a cold winter climate that isn't always possible unless you grow a few pots of salad greens on a windowsill. Unfortunately I don't have salad greens grown but have herbs planted in containers. I started one larger pot of mescalin mix so hopefully will be clipping that in another couple of weeks. So we are relying on store bought greens for salads.

This tossed salad was made with iceberg lettuce as a base. Iceberg lettuce while popular for the crunch has very little nutritional value. It's not something that I grow or use very often. When I do, I like pairing it with darker raw green vegetables like sweet peppers and broccoli. Cucumbers, tomatoes, sliced mushrooms and just a little cheddar cheese completed the toppings. A sun dried tomato and oregano dressing was the finishing touch.

Sweet & Sour Pork Loin Ribs

On my quest to use one food item from the pantry and another from the freezer, I decided on pork loin ribs. These are large meaty ribs with no bones so ends up being a rather frugal choice for meat. It reheats well and can easily be froze.

This was a rather large package of pork loin ribs at just under 11 kg (5 lb). I decided to use a sweet and sour sauce on the ribs much the same I do with chicken wings. This is a slow cook process. The sweet and sour sauce is ideal for chicken or pork and works just as well in a slow cooker as a roaster although it does not caramelize to the same degree in a slow cooker.

Method: The meat goes in a covered roaster with just about a 250 ml (1 c) water at 135ºC (275ºF) for about 3 hours. It is important to leave the meat alone without lifting the lid. At the end of 3 hours, remove the roaster and drain most of the liquid. Reserve the liquid for cooking rice. Mix the sauce (recipe follows) then pour over the meat. For this amount of meat I used 2.5 times the recipe amounts. Increase temperature to 150º (300ºF) for about one hour. Increase temperature to 177ºC (350ºF), remove lid and continue cooking for about 30 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan to a serving platter. Drizzle sauce over top.

Sweet & Sour Sauce

1 c ketchup
¼ c vinegar
¼ c brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ finely chopped onion
1 tsp prepared mustard

Mix together. Pour over meat and bake or roast.
*Recipe easily doubles.

Catching Up from Chrismas

One of the best parts about Christmas aside of family is the wonderful abundance of food. It is everywhere! There's all kinds of foods that only seem to come out at holidays. I've done minimal cooking yet am surrounded by an excess of food so needed to preserve. At the same time I wanted a couple of lighter dishes because a lot of the holiday meals this time of year are rich and heavy.

Kibby

One of our Christmas traditions is kibby. Traditionally this is made with lamb but our family makes it with thrice ground extra lean ground steak. The meat is always fresh ground the day of making it. This is very important because the majority of it is eaten raw usually served in pita bread with a little olive oil and cumin. Making kibby is more of a knack so I don't have an actual recipe. It is passed down from mother to daughter or daughter-in-law in our family. I used 5 lb of meat to make the kibby this year. The following evening I baked it as kibby will not keep longer than a day. Because it is so lean I pour a bit of olive oil over the meat before baking. After baking I let the meat cool then slice thin and freeze.

Vacuum Sealed

Our traditional meat for Christmas dinner is turkey with all the fixings. This year's turkey was 22 pounds served with stuffing, gravy, fancy mashed potatoes, home canned green beans and home frozen corn nibblets. I didn't make an official dessert because there were so many cookies and sweets already out on trays. Despite nine for that meal there were a lot of left-overs. I left enough out for snacking and dinner the following day then packaged up the rest for the freezer. I ended up with a good sized turkey breast (1), turkey in gravy (2) and turkey slices (3) so that isn't too bad. I also vacuum sealed the kibby slices (4). Vacuum sealing is really the way to go but if you've been reading this blog you already know that.

Turkey Stock

Turkey stock is a given anytime I roast a turkey. Again I don't have an actual recipe.

[Method] What I do is put the carcass in a large stock pot then cover with water. I add a couple of carrots and celery stocks cut into large chunks along with a large unpeeled onion cut in half. Then I bring it to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 3 hours. The resulting is then either canned or froze.

This turkey stock batch resulted in 9 L of stock. Doing the math that works out to 15 cents per litre so to all those who ask if cooking from scratch or canning is worth it, my cost says definitely. Homemade also can be salt and preservative free so you end up with a better quality product. Now, many foods look wonderful in the jar but most stocks aren't. There will be a bit of a fat layer and more of one if you don't defat. However by carefully pouring the stock you can eliminate any of this fat.

Garlic Pasta with Shrimp

I've been doing rather simple meals to break up the monotony of turkey. I've posted how I make garlic pasta with shrimp before. This time I took advantage of extra shrimp on hand for the holidays. So the shrimp was larger but the effect was the same. Garnished with Parmigiano Reggiano and parsley flakes and served with a tossed salad it was a delightful change from some of the heavier holiday meals.

What I did differently this time was to purposely cook and season enough angle hair pasta for left-overs for the following night's meal. Purposely creating left-overs sounds different but I do this quite a bit because the planned left-overs give me a basis another meal. To me this simply makes good sense.

Spaghetti Pie

Spaghetti pie is oh so simple to make! All you need is left-over spaghetti or in my case angel hair pasta and something to fill it with. Basically you end up making the pasta into a crust. Cut into wedges for a lovely presentation. I used garlic buttered pasta for this pie but you could plain pasta. A bit of butter will help.

The end result is a wonderful dish that is served in wedges. I used home canned barbeque pork topping home canned green beans. Then I topped with home canned mushrooms and three cheeses. This really is a simple meal that just doesn't taste simple.

Method: Beat two eggs and blend into the pasta. Form the pasta into a nest coming up the sides of a round baking dish. Fill as desired (see above). Bake then cut into wedges and enjoy.

Canning Green Beans

Asparagus, Yellow Wax Beans,
Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans, Herb Glazed Carrots, Corn

Natalie made a comment on yesterday's entry requesting* a write-up on canning green beans that included both the method and tips. Pictured are asparagus, yellow wax beans (1) and Kentucky Wonder pole beans (2) harvested from my garden at our previous house. I'm not canning beans at the moment but will if I find them for a good price. If you've been following this blog you already know I didn't have a vegetable garden this year so had to depend on purchased produce with the exception of tomatoes. When canning produce from your garden it is always a good idea to can more than you think will be needed. My goal is two year supply. This gives a bit of protection against a less than ideal growing season the following year reducing the amount of produce you have to purchase. When canning purchased produce based on seasonal availability or sales, I aim for a one year supply. Of course when the opportunity presents itself, I always try to take advantage of it.

* If you have a request for a particular dish/food or method, please leave a comment. I can't make any promises but if I've made the dish/food or know how to, I will try to help you out with a more detailed write-up. I may even try out a requested dish if I haven't made it then give my feedback.

Canning beans either string or wax is rather straight forward. As produce goes, there isn't a lot of prep work for canning. Wash the beans and trim ends. Remove the string. Cut into about 1 - inch pieces. Beans can be either hot pack or raw pack. I prefer raw packing as I think the beans have a better texture. The processing times are the same for either method. Pay particular attention to the headspace requirement as anything less than 1 - inch will cause the lids to buckle and the jars to loose liquid. Salt is an option and can be omitted entirely if desired.

To hot pack: Place the beans in a large stock pot. Cover with water. Boil the beans 5 minutes then fill hot, sterilized jars leaving 1 - inch headspace. Add salt if desired, 1 tsp per 1 L (quart) or 1/2 tsp per 500 ml jar (pint). Cover with the boiling cooking liquid leaving 1 - inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe the rim. Adjust the two piece lids. Process 500 ml (pints) for 20 minutes and 1 L (quarts) for 25 minutes at 10 lb pressure**.

To raw pack: Boil water. Pack the raw beans tightly into hot, sterilized jars leaving 1 - inch headspace. Add salt if desired, 1 tsp per 1 L (quart) or 1/2 tsp per 500 ml jar (pint). Cover with the boiling water. Remove air bubbles. Wipe the rim. Adjust the two piece lids. Process 500 ml (pints) for 20 minutes and 1 L (quarts) for 25 minutes at 10 lb pressure**.

**Processing time is for weighted gauge pressure canner at 0 - 1,000 feet above sea level. Be sure to adjust is you are above this altitude. Use 11 lb pressure if you have a dial gauge and adjust for altitude if necessary.

Raw Honey

One of the first things I do when trying a new recipe is to adjust the sweetener. If a recipe calls for granulated sugar, it is replaced with either organic sugar in a lesser amount if possible or honey. One of the reasons for this is reducing heavily processed foods where possible. The other reason is flavour. White granulated sugar adds only sweetness, no flavour and is heavily refined. Honey is by far my favourite sweetener for cooking or baking. Not only does it add flavour but also health benefits.

Raw Honey

I buy my raw honey from a local beekeeper several times a year. Local honey is important because there is less chance of developing an allergy to it. The best time to buy honey is in the summer and fall months when it is freshest. The colour of the honey will range of a pale amber to a deep golden amber depending on what flowers the bees collected the nectar from. The darker the honey the stronger the flavour. If buying honey in the stores, look for 100% pure.

Honey is about 25% sweeter than sugar because it has a higher fructose content. It is easier to digest than white sugar. To substitute 1 c white sugar use 2/3 c honey. Not only do you get more flavour but you save calories as well. Honey adds moisture that gives a nice texture to baked goods. When baking with honey reduce the oven temperature by 15ºC (25ºF).

Store honey in air tight containers to prevent the honey from absorbing moisture from the air in a cool, dry place. I like to vacuum seal in 500 ml mason jars for storage. Honey will keep almost indefinitely but will crystallize during storage. This does not harm the honey as it a natural property. If this happens, simply warm the container in hot water for 15 minutes. Do not microwave as this will alter the flavour. Store bought liquid honey is pasteurized to prevent crystallization whereas raw honey is not so it will crystallize sooner.

Raw honey is anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal as well as having anti-tumour and anti-oxident properties. As a food, honey provides a lot of health benefits. Honey's antiseptic properties have been used for wound healing for centuries. The darker the honey the better it is for burn healing. Honey can be used in homemade skin treatments like facials.

Warning: Honey or honey- containing products should not be fed to infants under the age of one. Honey may contain Clostridium botulinum spores and toxin that can cause infant botulism. Honey is safe for those over the age of one year.

With all the benefits honey has to offer, this is one staple that should be on your shelves!

Icing Sugar

I've had a couple of emails requesting clarification. Here we can buy "icing sugar" which is a very fine powdered sugar typically used for making icings, hence the name. It must be a Canadian thing! In other areas it is labelled as powdered sugar which is the same thing. Now if you can't find either, take 2-3 c of granulated sugar and process in a food processor until powdered similar to a fine flour. Sift it then use as needed. Store in an airtight container or vacuum seal for longer storage.

Garden Gnome
© 2006