All About Sugar is the article. Excerpt is about honey
hpsnickers1
Posts: 2,783 Member
http://www.wwrecipes.com/sugar.htm (just doing some research and this is the first article I came across)
I thought this little bit about honey was interesting because I see people swearing by honey when it really isn't any better than sugar (I always thought it was) and in the end your body processed all sugar as just that - sugar. Please take with a grain of salt like most (if not all) internet articles. (Mmmmmm sweet & salty!)
Cave paintings near Valencia, Spain depict humans gathering wild honey over 10,000 years ago, and there is written evidence of the cultivation of honey in India and Egypt as long as 4,000 years ago. For thousands of years it was humankind's only source of (relatively) pure sugar, and the domestication of the honey bee and cultivation of honey has been well established all over the Old World for many centuries. Native North Americans did not taste honey until the arrival of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) in about 1625. New World bees live exclusively in tropical zones and collect liquid not only from flowers (like their well-mannered European cousins) but from fruits, resins, carrion, and even animal droppings, which must certainly result in some interesting tasting honeys.
The production of honey by honey bees is a complicated process which is not fully understood by scientists. Simply stated, the bees drink the nectar from flowering plants and store it in an organ they (the scientists, not the bees) call a honey sac. The nectar is acted upon by enzymes in the honey sac until the sugar level is 50 to 60 percent, and then the bees deposit the concentrated nectar in the hexagonal wax cells we (us, not the scientists) call honeycomb.
Don't go raiding the hive yet though because it still isn't honey. The nectar is further concentrated through evaporation in a process called "ripening" which takes about three weeks, depending on the surrounding temperature and humidity. This process is assisted by the beating of the bees' wings which agitates the air and hastens evaporation. Once the water content is reduced to about 17 percent, it's honey.
Commercially produced honey is usually centrifuged to separate the honey from the wax comb, and then heated to about 155F (68C) to destroy yeasts and bacteria, and then strained to remove impurities. Honey is frequently sold in the comb or with small bits of wax mixed in with the honey, and the wax is entirely edible.
The chemistry of honey is almost as complicated as its production, and I think I've already done all the complicated stuff I care to do in one day.
The actual chemical composition of honey varies because the chemistry of the nectar it is made from varies. Most of the nectar that honey bees process into honey is between 10 and 80 percent sugar, but the combination of sugars is unique to each species of plant. (We're going to talk about the different types of saccharides in a few days, I promise, but for the time being make a note that some flower nectars are mostly sucrose, some are mostly fructose, some have a healthy portion of glucose thrown in, and some don't.) This variability among nectars is what gives different honeys their unique flavors. The most common types of honey available in the USA are made from the nectar of clover, orange blossoms, linden trees, sunflowers, dandelions, and thistles. Many other types of honeys are available commercially, including eucalyptus, sage, thyme, tupelo, and buckwheat, and each has its own characteristic flavor. Some nectars are poisonous to humans and not to bees, and therefore the resulting honey is toxic. Unless you were raised in the woods by a family of friendly squirrels and are foraging for wild honey, this needn't be of concern to you.
So, who cares about the different saccharides found in honey anyway? I have to confess that I really don't care much either, but it does have to do with cooking with honey, so let's talk about it a little. After the bees have worked their magic on the nectar they have collected, the resulting honey is about 38 percent fructose, 31 percent glucose, and about 10 percent other sugars. The balance is mostly water with trace amounts of acids and minerals.
What is important to the cook is that some sugars are sweeter than others, and that some are more fond of water than others. Because fructose is sweeter than sucrose (white sugar), one measure of honey is considered the equivalent of one and a quarter measures of sugar, but honey also contains water so the amount of liquid added to a recipe must be reduced a little when substituting honey for sugar.
Substituting honey for sugar in baked goods not only gives them a distinctive flavor, but also improves their keeping qualities. This is because different sugars are more attracted to water than other sugars. As they say in the Land of People Who Like To Use Big Words, fructose is more hygroscopic than sucrose, so honey will keep breads, cakes, and cookies more moist than plain sugar will by holding on to the water they contain, and even swiping a few unsuspecting water molecules from the air on humid days if the opportunity arises.
Well, I think that's about all we need to know about honey for now, don't you? Tomorrow we'll begin an action-packed, suspense-filled look at other liquid sugars, so please stay tuned.
Before we move on to other liquid forms of sugar, let me squeeze in a few more words about honey. In spite of the claims of some "natural" food enthusiasts, there is little to recommend honey as a food substance other than its high concentration of sugars. It is virtually devoid of vitamins-in fact, the body uses more vitamin B, niacin, and thiamine to metabolize the sugars than the honey provides, so its vitamin benefit is actually negative.
Honey has long been esteemed for its antibacterial properties and has formed the basis of medicines, dressings for wounds, and folk remedies for thousands of years. Modern science now knows that honey contains trace amounts of hydrogen peroxide, and this is believed the be the component responsible for the alleged curative powers of honey.
Finally, children under the age of one year should never be given honey. It contains bacteria in small quantities that are harmless to bees and healthy humans, but the immune systems of infants are no match for them and even a small amount of honey can result in illness and even death. Please take note.
I thought this little bit about honey was interesting because I see people swearing by honey when it really isn't any better than sugar (I always thought it was) and in the end your body processed all sugar as just that - sugar. Please take with a grain of salt like most (if not all) internet articles. (Mmmmmm sweet & salty!)
Cave paintings near Valencia, Spain depict humans gathering wild honey over 10,000 years ago, and there is written evidence of the cultivation of honey in India and Egypt as long as 4,000 years ago. For thousands of years it was humankind's only source of (relatively) pure sugar, and the domestication of the honey bee and cultivation of honey has been well established all over the Old World for many centuries. Native North Americans did not taste honey until the arrival of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) in about 1625. New World bees live exclusively in tropical zones and collect liquid not only from flowers (like their well-mannered European cousins) but from fruits, resins, carrion, and even animal droppings, which must certainly result in some interesting tasting honeys.
The production of honey by honey bees is a complicated process which is not fully understood by scientists. Simply stated, the bees drink the nectar from flowering plants and store it in an organ they (the scientists, not the bees) call a honey sac. The nectar is acted upon by enzymes in the honey sac until the sugar level is 50 to 60 percent, and then the bees deposit the concentrated nectar in the hexagonal wax cells we (us, not the scientists) call honeycomb.
Don't go raiding the hive yet though because it still isn't honey. The nectar is further concentrated through evaporation in a process called "ripening" which takes about three weeks, depending on the surrounding temperature and humidity. This process is assisted by the beating of the bees' wings which agitates the air and hastens evaporation. Once the water content is reduced to about 17 percent, it's honey.
Commercially produced honey is usually centrifuged to separate the honey from the wax comb, and then heated to about 155F (68C) to destroy yeasts and bacteria, and then strained to remove impurities. Honey is frequently sold in the comb or with small bits of wax mixed in with the honey, and the wax is entirely edible.
The chemistry of honey is almost as complicated as its production, and I think I've already done all the complicated stuff I care to do in one day.
The actual chemical composition of honey varies because the chemistry of the nectar it is made from varies. Most of the nectar that honey bees process into honey is between 10 and 80 percent sugar, but the combination of sugars is unique to each species of plant. (We're going to talk about the different types of saccharides in a few days, I promise, but for the time being make a note that some flower nectars are mostly sucrose, some are mostly fructose, some have a healthy portion of glucose thrown in, and some don't.) This variability among nectars is what gives different honeys their unique flavors. The most common types of honey available in the USA are made from the nectar of clover, orange blossoms, linden trees, sunflowers, dandelions, and thistles. Many other types of honeys are available commercially, including eucalyptus, sage, thyme, tupelo, and buckwheat, and each has its own characteristic flavor. Some nectars are poisonous to humans and not to bees, and therefore the resulting honey is toxic. Unless you were raised in the woods by a family of friendly squirrels and are foraging for wild honey, this needn't be of concern to you.
So, who cares about the different saccharides found in honey anyway? I have to confess that I really don't care much either, but it does have to do with cooking with honey, so let's talk about it a little. After the bees have worked their magic on the nectar they have collected, the resulting honey is about 38 percent fructose, 31 percent glucose, and about 10 percent other sugars. The balance is mostly water with trace amounts of acids and minerals.
What is important to the cook is that some sugars are sweeter than others, and that some are more fond of water than others. Because fructose is sweeter than sucrose (white sugar), one measure of honey is considered the equivalent of one and a quarter measures of sugar, but honey also contains water so the amount of liquid added to a recipe must be reduced a little when substituting honey for sugar.
Substituting honey for sugar in baked goods not only gives them a distinctive flavor, but also improves their keeping qualities. This is because different sugars are more attracted to water than other sugars. As they say in the Land of People Who Like To Use Big Words, fructose is more hygroscopic than sucrose, so honey will keep breads, cakes, and cookies more moist than plain sugar will by holding on to the water they contain, and even swiping a few unsuspecting water molecules from the air on humid days if the opportunity arises.
Well, I think that's about all we need to know about honey for now, don't you? Tomorrow we'll begin an action-packed, suspense-filled look at other liquid sugars, so please stay tuned.
Before we move on to other liquid forms of sugar, let me squeeze in a few more words about honey. In spite of the claims of some "natural" food enthusiasts, there is little to recommend honey as a food substance other than its high concentration of sugars. It is virtually devoid of vitamins-in fact, the body uses more vitamin B, niacin, and thiamine to metabolize the sugars than the honey provides, so its vitamin benefit is actually negative.
Honey has long been esteemed for its antibacterial properties and has formed the basis of medicines, dressings for wounds, and folk remedies for thousands of years. Modern science now knows that honey contains trace amounts of hydrogen peroxide, and this is believed the be the component responsible for the alleged curative powers of honey.
Finally, children under the age of one year should never be given honey. It contains bacteria in small quantities that are harmless to bees and healthy humans, but the immune systems of infants are no match for them and even a small amount of honey can result in illness and even death. Please take note.
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Replies
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Interesting - I always thought honey was better for you too. I'm not allowed to have honey at ay rate so it doesn't matter. Gone are the days of honey smeared muffins. *sigh*0
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Bump0
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fresh honey comb is my favorite "candy"...YUM! I dont eat the wax though, I only chew it..
anyway I do think that in small quantities it is indeed healthy.. but all things in moderation..0 -
fresh honey comb is my favorite "candy"...YUM! I dont eat the wax though, I only chew it..
I would love to try this. They made liquid filled wax candies when I was little. I wasn't much on the candy part but loved to chew on the wax. Does that mean we are wierd? (I was a wierd little girl).0 -
Interesting - I always thought honey was better for you too. I'm not allowed to have honey at ay rate so it doesn't matter. Gone are the days of honey smeared muffins. *sigh*
I still prefer the flavor over sugar (I could drink the stuff by itself - I know gross). But I do try and limit all sugar.0 -
Am I the only one who doesn't like honey? :laugh:0
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fresh honey comb is my favorite "candy"...YUM! I dont eat the wax though, I only chew it..
I would love to try this. They made liquid filled wax candies when I was little. I wasn't much on the candy part but loved to chew on the wax. Does that mean we are wierd? (I was a wierd little girl).
that doesnt make us weird, it makes us a part of the awesome wax chewers club.. its a real thing, I just invented it... what is weird is that I have made lip balm from the chewed wax.. people thought it was gross.. but i boiled the wax pretty good and it was just going on my lips..ok so I am wierd..0
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