2.12.5 Honey beer

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Honey beer is easier and faster to make than mead. It cannot be stored for more than a few hours but once it has become flat, it may be revitalized by addition of more honey. Across the African continent, there are many ways of preparing this popular beverage. Without knowledge of microbiology some ingenious ways have been designed to maintain yeast cultures and inoculate subsequent batches with the desired kind of yeast. Uncontrolled as the process might appear to the uninitiated, there are brewers who have excellent control without knowing the biological background of the brewing process. The following are a few recipes from East Africa.

Figure 2.17: Honey beer fermentation can be so rapid that the broth appears to be boiling.

Addition of pollen and brood is accidental. While pollen may add nutrients for the yeast, the brood mostly causes acidity and off-flavours in the beer. It should therefore be avoided as much as possible.

2.12.6 Honey liqueurs

The following 4 recipes are taken from a promotional leaflet for various liqueurs which was printed in 1903. The alcoholic portion of the liqueur is not derived from honey fermentation, but through the addition of alcohol in its pure form or as a distilled beverage such as aquavit, schnaps, gin, vodka, cachassa, rum or arrack.

4) The honey itseij may be the only aromatic substance added to the alcoholic beverage like honey aquavit or honey whisAy. It is added to the distilled beverage either directly or with a little water. The quantities vary with the desired results, but the choice of honey is extremely important to harmonize flavours.

To avoid separation of honey and pureed fruits or nuts only crystallized honeys should be used. There are basically two techniques. The ingredients are mixed with the liquid honey at the same time as the seed crystals or they are mixed after the crystallization has been completed, to obtain either a hard or soft product, respectively. To mix dried fruits with crystallized and softened honey in small batches, a clean meat grinder may be used.

In the following recipe apricots have been used but other fruits can be selected and fruit proportions be increased until those of fruit spreads and marmalades are reached. When changing the type of honey and fruits, care should be taken that their flavours are compatible.

If the moisture content of the honey is high and fermentation is possible, pasteurize the honey after mixing with the pureed or ground fruit at 65 ⁰C for 10 minutes. Add the seed honey to a small quantity of liquid honey. when evenly mixed, add to the rest of the liquid honey fruit mix. If a meat grinder is available and fermentation risk is low, the dry fruit and the seed honey plus a small quantity of liquid honey may be passed through it twice. Mix thoroughly with the liquid honey and fill into clean, wide-mouthed jars. Seal and leave to stand at 14 ⁰C for at least 5 days or until crystallized. Finally, clean the outside of the jars and apply an attractive label.

Honey tahena paste

Prepare the sesame seed butter (chop sesame seeds in a blender or grind until fine), emulsijy to prevent oil separation and add the honey. Optional additions are 0.1 part artificial honey flavour, 3 parts sorbitol (to decrease desiccation of the paste) or 2 parts lecithin (to improve texture and spreadability). Creamed honey should be used. Packed in either wide-mouth jars or aluminum tubes, the paste should be refrigerated at 6⁰C to prevent changes in appearance (oil separation) and organoleptic characteristics which may occur in even relatively short periods of time.

Dulce de Leche

For this very popular Argentinean spread which is normally made with refined sugar, honey is dissolved in a small amount of water. Milk is added, mixed well and boiled careflilly while stirring until the mixture has a creamy, paste-like consistency. Proportions may vary from 1:8 to 1.1 for the honey and milk depending on the desired flavour and consistency. Preparation from dried milk dissolved in very little water is possible and faster, but less heating will result in other flavours.

2.12.8 Honey with fruits and nuts

Fruits in honey

Sun-dried fruits with as low a moisture content as possible should be used, but they should still be soft. They can be placed directly into the honey, either whole, chopped or pureed. Partially dried fruits or those with a high moisture content even when dried should be covered with honey for a few days in a sealed container. After the honey is poured off the process can be repeated two or three times until the honey is no longer diluted with water quice) from the fruits. Then the fruits can be mixed with the final batch of honey and bottled. This process is necessary since the juice in the fruit will add too much water to the honey. Pasteurization of both fruits and honey will improve hygiene and storability and will reduce the risk of fermentation, but may affect the flavour. The diluted honey which is removed during the process can be used as fruit syrup preferably after being pasteurized.

Nuts in honey

If bottled by hand, or if the bottling machine allows, honey and nuts can be mixed before bottling. Otherwise the correct amount of honey should be placed into the jar and the nuts added later. The correct ratios need to be adjusted for each nut type. Nuts should be tightly packed so that they cannot float to the top and leave a pure honey stratum at the bottom. Some packers use a special clear plastic insert to keep the nuts from floating to the top.

2.12.9 Honey with pollen and propolis

Finely grind the dry pollen pellets and the hardened frozen) propolis. Warm 200 parts of honey in a water bath and mix in the pollen and propolis powder. After a few minutes of cooling stir the mixture into the rest of the honey. If refrigerated, the honey will stiffen and have less of a tendency to separate. Royal jelly might be added as well or propolis extract (paste) may be used instead of raw propolis. Propolis and pollen can also be mixed in equal volumes. It would of course be best to include all these ingredients in crystallized (creamed) honey before or after crystallization.

Pure liquid honey or honey mixed with other beneficial creams or ointments may be used to dress wounds. The following is a very versatile paste useful as a home remedy for many ailments.

Melt the wax and during cooling mix in the propolis extract and finally the honey. Store in a tight jar in a cool and dark place. This paste can be applied on all kinds of sores and open wounds, can be cliewed for mouth infections like paradontosis or used for skin damaged due to radiation, poisoning or acid burns. For serious infections or wounds, however, a doctor should be consulted.

Honey can replace cane sugar in almost any recipe. Since honeys are of different flavours and compositions, however, such replacements may result in changes of flavour, consistency, cooking times and the quantities of other ingredients required. In industrial baked products honey is therefore only used to replace small quantities of sugar. In addition, strong flavoured or dark, cheap honeys are preferred since less honey is required to obtain some honey flavour and consequently, less of the cheaper sugar has to be replaced. When substituting most or all of the sugar with honey, mild-flavoured honeys may be more desirable as they will not overpower other flavours of the product.

Since honey is denser than crystallized, packed sugar and therefore has greater sweetening power per volume than sugar, most cookery books recommend the use of 1 cup of honey for 1 ¼ cups of sugar or that 1 cup of sugar can be replaced by 4/5 of a cup of honey. Recommendations are not uniform, and others recommend replacing 1 cup of sugar with only ½ to ³A of a cup of honey. When recipes are given in weight, honey can be substituted approximately 1:1 or, considering the moisture content, add up to 20% more honey in weight than sugar. The extra water added in the form of honey needs to be accounted for as well. Thus for every cup of honey added, approximately 1/5 to ¼ of a cup less liquid should be used in the recipe. By weight: for every 1 kg of sugar substituted by 1000-1200 g of honey, 180-200 g (180-200 ml) less water should be used. For most corn syrups, honey can be substituted 1:1 by weight as well as by volume, even though corn syrup often contains more water than honey. For industrial quantities more specific calculations based also on the sugar composition of the specific honey, are necessary.

Too much honey in a recipe may cause too much browning in a baked product. To neutralize the acidity of honey (unless sour cream or sour milk is called for in the recipe) add a pinch of baking soda. If honey is substituted in jams, jellies or candies, slightly higher temperatures must be used in cooking, but conversely, when baking bread, lower temperatures are required. In candies, more persistent beating (mixing) and slightly higher caramelization temperatures are needed. Also careful packaging and storage of the final product may be required to prevent absorption of atmospheric moisture.

When using honey for a recipe that also involves use of oil or fat, measure the oil or fat first in the measuring container. Removal of honey from the same container will then be easier and more complete.

This marmalade is special in that it uses pre-dried fi~uit pulp, which reduces cooking time and thereby also preserves a much better flavour and uses less energy (fuel wood). It also uses less sugar than other traditional recipes, yet preserves well. Though originally formulated for sugar, a portion of the sugar can be replaced. By replacing only 5 to 10% of the sugar with a mild honey, the flavour can be slightly improved. Using more honey will produce a stronger honey flavour and increases the cost. The original recipe had been formulated by G. Amoriggi (personal communication) for small to medium scale processing using sun-dried pulp. Many more food canning and preservation recipes can be found in Geiskopf (1984).

This jelly recipe follows the instructions of a pectin manufacturer, Unipectina Spa in Bergamo, Italy.

If no mechanical mixer is available, the pectin can also be dispersed in a small quantity of honey and the water be added to this paste. To avoid fermentation, the mix may be heated to 77⁰C and bottled without any other sterilization or it may be heated to 60-65 ⁰C and bottled in sterilized jars. The final solids content should be 65-68% at a pH of 3.1-3.3. The honey acts here as a sweetening as well as a flavouring agent. Parts of it can be replaced with fruit juices or purees to provide other flavours.

Honey fruit syrup - from a promotional pamphlet of 1910

Honey-fruit-vinegar syrup - from a promotional pamphlet of 1903

Syrup base for herbal preparations

If the plant extracts were made with alcohol the storage life of the syrup is increased. Otherwise some alcohol may be added as a preservative.

1. Ingredients (in parts by weight) after the Italian Pharmacopoeia from Negri (1979):

Prepare an inflision (tea) of the mashed rose petals in the boiling water and leave for 24 hours. Filter through a very fine cloth and press out. Mix the rose water with the liquid honey and leave in the cold until it reaches a density of 1.32. This mixture has a limited storage life. As an alternative to the last stage, boil the mix briefly and bottle while hot.

1. Ingredients (in parts by weight) after the German Pharmacopoeia from Negri (1979):

Mash and soak the rose petals in the alcohol for 24 hours. Filter and press the obtained liquid and mix with the other ingredients. Reduce to a final volume of 10 parts by heating in a water bath. As an alternative to the last stage, the mixture can be boiled briefly and bottled hot.

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