Thomasina's Tip Sheet: Ways to Use Honey ~ Free Printable

"Honey is the only natural food that,
as long as it is kept airtight, does not spoil."

~ The Beekeeper's Bible by Richard Jones

Although it is indeed Saturday, welcome to another edition of "Fun Friday" this spring with Beatrix Potter! Mrs. Tittlemouse (wise, prudent and health-minded as she was), was exceptionally fond of keeping a stockpile of raw honey in her prized pantry. While most foods have a humble shelf-life, honey (if stored properly) can last forever! Unfortunately, it was quite difficult for her to maintain a constant supply (as I am sure you have read in her homemaking adventures?!) for honey can be used in so many different ways to bless the home (which also makes it an excellent preparedness item)! Would you like a peak into the ways she uses honey? 

"Mrs. tittlemouse went on her way to a distant storeroom, to fetch cherry-stones and thistle-down seed for dinner. All along the passage she sniffed, and looked at the floor. "I smell a smell of honey..."

~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

Homemaking Hints about Honey:

• 1 pound of honey equals about 1 and 3/8 cups of honey. 

• When substituting sugar with honey, reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by ¼ cup for each cup of honey used. 

• "In baked goods, add ½ teaspoon baking soda for each cup of honey used. Reduce oven temperature by 25° F to prevent over-browning." (source)

• Honey is 1 to 1.5 times sweeter than sugar. If replacing honey with sugar in a recipe, we usually replace ¾ cup of honey for every cup of sugar called for. Sometimes we even reduce by half (meaning 1/2 cup of honey for every cup of sugar).

• According to the National Honey Board, honey is best stored in a sealed container at room temperature, between 64-75°F (18-24°C). Cooler temperatures, between 35-60°F, hasten honey's natural crystallization process. If honey does crystallize, remove the lid and place in a jar of warm water until crystals dissolve. Honey stored at temperatures above 85°F for extended periods of time will darken in color and be subject to subtle flavor changes. For long-term storage, the use of air-tight, moisture-resistant stainless steel drums is recommended.

• For easy removal, measure honey in a cup you previously used for measuring oil or butter. 

• Honey acts as a binder and thickener for sauces, dressings, marinades and dips (it is an emulsifier).

• Honey provides and retains moisture to a variety of dishes and can even extend the shelf life of baked goods (it is a humectant) (source).

• According to the Simply Canning blog, when canning with honey, keep in mind that honey is sweeter. For every cup of sugar called for, replace with ¾ cup of honey. You will also need to remember that when you add honey you are adding liquid content. Therefore, reduce the other liquid content by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey added. For more thorough information on canning with honey, visit here.

• What to do with the remnant honey that is inside the jar that is hard to scrape out? 
• Add some vinegar, oil and herbs to make a healthy salad dressing (such as 3 tbsp. vinegar, 1 garlic clove chopped/minced, your favorite herbs and 1/2 c. olive oil). 
• Add a tea bag and hot water and brew a sweetened tea. 
• Add some herbs and either vodka or apple cider vinegar to make a sweetened medicinal tincture. 

• Warning: The National Honey Board, along with other health organizations, recommends that honey not be fed to infants under one year of age (due to the rare but possible, infest botulism).

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mrs. Tittlemouse! Now what I really—really should like—would be a little dish of honey!"
~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

Healthy Food Recipes Using Honey:

• Healthy Snacks (PDF printable recipe HERE from the National Honey Board)

• Honey Caramels

• Honey Cinnamon Spread (recipe shared on accompanying printable)

• Honey Dijon Dressing (recipe shared on accompanying printable)

• Honey Sweetened Pumpkin Cake

• Lemon Honey Marmalade (Canning)

• Oatmeal Honey Muffins (Mix in a Jar)

• Peaches Canned in Honey

• Pumpkin Honey Bread Loaf

• Spiced Honey Echinacea Cooler (Beverage)

• Spinach Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

• 10K Cereal Bars

Honey as a Preserver:

"Honey has the capacity to serve as a natural food preservative. Research has demonstrated the potential for honey to reduce enzymatic browning in fruits and vegetables and prevent lipid oxidation in meats. Most of the antibacterial activity of the honeys occurs due to hydrogen peroxide generation.

Other researchers have identified the flavonoids in honey, particularly caffeic acid and ferulic acid, as the most likely contributors.

Honey has antimicrobial properties that discourage the growth or persistence of many microorganisms. The microbes that may be found in honey are primarily yeasts and spore-forming bacteria. No vegetative forms of disease-causing bacterial spores have been found in honey."

~ National Honey Board

"Honey is well known as a cough and cold remedy, usually drunk in combination with the likes of lemon, apple cider vinegar, or whiskey. A study in 2007 at Penn State Medical College showed that honey was a more effective treatment than remedies containing dextromethorphan, the drug used in many cough medicines. A spoonful of honey also soothes a sore throat."

~ The Beekeeper's Bible by Richard Jones

Medicinal Honey (Herbal Projects):

• All-Natural allergy tonic

• Herb infused honey (recipe shared on accompanying printable)

• Herbal oxymel (recipe shared on accompanying printable)

• Honey cough medicine

• Honey cough syrup (recipe #2) ~ (PDF printable recipe HERE from National Honey Board)

• Pooh's medicinal honey

• Simple honey lemon cough syrup

Honey for Your Health:

"Honey contains a variety of oligosaccharides that may function as prebiotics. Research conducted at Michigan State University has shown that adding honey to fermented dairy products such as yogurt can enhance the growth, activity, and viability of Bifidobacteria as well as other commercial oligosaccharides.

Honey is a natural source of readily available carbohydrates, providing 17 grams of carbohydrates per tablespoon and may serve as an inexpensive alternative to commercial sports gels."

~ National Honey Board

"Tiddly, widdly, widdly? no honey? no honey, Mrs. Tittlemouse?"
~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

Honey and Hygiene (Bath & Body Care):

• Honey is a humectant (which means it attracts and retains moisture). This makes honey a lovely addition to a variety of moisturizing products including cleansers, creams, shampoos and conditioners. Look for honey in store-bought beauty products or simply add a squeeze of honey to your moisturizer, shampoo or soap at home (source).

• Use as a daily face cleanser. "...a daily face wash of pure raw honey, used in place of soap, is a wonderful way to balance, cleanser and repair all skin types." ~ Jan Berry, 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health & Home

• Honey, Rose and Oat Face Cleanser Recipe

• Lavender-Honey Milk Bath  (recipe shared on accompanying printable)

• Foaming Vanilla Honey Bath (recipe shared on accompanying printable)

• Honey Hair Conditioner (recipe shared on accompanying printable)

• Here are additional recipes for how to make a honey oatmeal face mask, coconut honeybee lip balm and a harvest pumpkin exfoliating mask.

You will find Thomasina's "Ways to Use Honey" Printable HERE. Perhaps you would like to place them in Mrs. Tittlemouse's "Manual of Household Hints and Delights" until you are ready to use them? This is simply a safe place you can store all of her homemaking printables to have them handy. You will find the free download here if you are interested. The cover page is designed to slide into the front of the binder as a title page insert. The tabs are best printed on card stock, affixed with glue to card stock and staggered as you attach them. It is just a bit of extra fluff!

For Further Reading and Fun:

• Honey Coloring Page with Scripture
• Honey Labels for Honey Projects (shared on accompanying printable)
• Sweet Seven Bee-Utiful Uses for Honey
• The Beekeeper's Bible by Richard Jones
• Unit Study on Bees {Free Homeschooling Thematic Study}

“My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb,

which is sweet to thy taste...” 

~ Proverbs 24:13

We hope you have enjoyed this information and printable by Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse. If so, you may also be interested in her matching recipe cards, free printable pantry labels, weekly to-do lists, DIY bug spray, her "un-paper" towel tutorial and the make-your-own "old fashioned" furniture polish. Happy Friday to you dear friends!

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Shabbilicious Friday,  Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. This post may contain affiliate links (which are merchant links that help to support this site at no additional cost to you if you purchase an item through them). Credit for some of the Homemaking Hints: tip #1, tip #2, tip #3, tip #4, tip #5. Coloring page graphic is courtesy of the National Honey Board.