Adding Honey To Food And Drink

People take honey for granted and in doing so, rarely consider how much can be achieved by using honey as an ingredient either as a substitute or as an added flavouring in dishes and at meal times.

In the home, honey is known by many to be a substitute for sugar and used mostly in cakes and desserts and hot drinks. With less calories than refined sugar and often much sweeter, its replacement effect is more beneficial. Doubly so as honey can help keep a cake moist whereas sugar would not.

Honey Used To Add More Flavour To Meals

Chefs on the other hand, with their knowledge transferring from radio and TV programmes and into homes countrywide, have taught us how to use honey in more varied ways. While honey is nutritious, in certain dishes it's nice to glaze a portion of vegetables with honey.

You can also use honey in sweet and sour sauce and a variety of hotter dishes as it balances the sweetness against the spices and chillies. Generally main dishes can be changed with the addition of different types of the golden nectar.

When you visit your butchers, meat products may have been cured using honey before delivery to market. This provides an additional taste before cooking, for instance honey cured hams. With tougher meats add honey during the cooking process either as a marinade or coating to offer a more succulent and tender meat. To re-imagine roast chicken, drop the alternatives and simply glaze the chicken with golden honey, it will make for a tastier and more crispy skin.

There are different flavours of honey also which you can experiment with. It's not just the sweetness that we can find useful during cooking. For additional flavours in cakes and desserts why not try Clear Greek Honey which offers naturally occurring flavourings of aniseed and liquorice.

Create Hot And Cold Drinks For Different Occasions

Mexican Set honey has a fruit flavour which can be used in drinks, meats and puddings for extra taste effect. Though its use is not only food. Honey has been used for centuries to make mead, a popular drink during the medieval years and can still be bought today in many countries, both in the UK and in Russia as Kvas.

Honey beers are starting to make a come back. Honey also finds its place in a selection of liqueurs, most notably Metheglin and Honey Ale which is more alcohol based, is blended with hops to offer an intriguingly strong tipple.

So the next time you use honey in your yoghurt at breakfast or in tea before you go to bed at night, imagine how much more use you can make of this golden liquid. Shop around for different flavours and varieties to spice up your meals and home made cuisine.