June Sugar and Honey

Posted by LivingProvident on Jul 29th, 2009 | no comments home title

Emergency Preparedness Goal

Place $20.00 in your “Cash Stash” location. We should have $120.00 now.
Vitamins
Tarp
Plastic Zip lock bags
Pencils / pens
Paper

Food Storage Goal

Sugar
Honey

Challenge

Buy some sugar? If you have a lot in storage use some of it. Can some fruit or make jam. Try a new honey Recipe. Keep your garden growing well – - weed and water wisely.

Disaster Preparation

Earthquake proof food storage shelves so bottles don’t fall and break. Attach a small board, metal strapping, or heavy wire across the face of the shelf. In addition, make sure your family sleeps where nothing can fall off the wall or shelf on top of them.

Hot Tip

A food starch called can be used for making jam in place of the more expensive pectin.

June Tips For Success

Ahh….Sugar

(Ahh…Honey Honey…)

You should store 60 lbs. of sugar per person. Many people feel they do not eat that much sugar, but when divided into other sub–categories, you may find that you really do need that much. Plus, if you are eating more “basic” food storage, you may use more sugar than you presently use. Keep in mind the canning season when one can go through bags ans bags of sugar. Included in your sugar storage (and possible lbs. / person for each are:

Granulated sugar (40 lbs / person)
Brown Sugar (3 lbs./person)
Molasses (1 lb. / person)
Honey (3 lbs/person)
Corn Syrup (3 lbs/person)
Jams & Jellies (3 lbs/person)
Powdered fruit drink (6 lbs/person)Jell-O (1 lb./person)

As with anything you must tailor items stored to fit your personal tastes and use. If your family goes through a jar of jam a week, store 52 jars. You must take inventory to customize your storage for your family.

When storing sugar, it is the one item NOT needing to be in cans or buckets with oxy packs. Sugar is used to reserve other items, so it also preserves itself. Bugs will not get into it. (if they do they won’t live?) It may clump, but only needs to be smashed again. You may store sugar in the bags it comes in either laying flat and stacked on your shelf or standing like books on end.

Some other items in the sugar category should be preserved in containers. Bugs CAN get into Jell-O (especially after it is opened). Corn syrup should be rotated. Brown sugar may harden, but a slice of apple can be placed in the bag shortly before you use it and it will soften the sugar. Honey will last forever. If it is pure honey it will eventually crystallize, but will melt down if the can is placed in a pan of water and slowly heated over the stove. Be sure you store some sugar. Buy it is bulk and save?

Pure crystalline honey keeps indefinitely, has nutrients which refined sugar lacks, and contains about 400 calories per pound less than sugar. Honey is also much sweeter to the taste than sugar. Five-gallon cans of Honey are usually more economical than sugar. You may rebottle or repack bulk honey for convenience in using if desired. No processing is required – harmful bacteria cannot live in pure honey.

Always mix honey thoroughly with other recipe ingredients before turning mixture into baking pans. This will prevent a too moist, over-sweetened layer from collecting on the top. Make it a rule to combine honey with the liquid ingredients to assure complete distribution in the mixture. Freezing bread with honey used as sweetening is not advised, since honey deteriorates when frozen. This can cause “mushiness” upon thawing. When using honey in substitution for sugar in standard recipes, a general rule is to reduce the amount of another ingredient by 1/4 Cup for each cup of honey used to replace sugar.

Comb honey keeps best in covered containers in a cool, dark and dry place. It is the purest form of honey, and requires no preservatives. However, be sure to keep honey covered. When left uncovered, honey picks up other odors and loses its own aroma. Honey in storage usually gets darker in color and stronger in flavor, but remains useful as ever.

Pure honey usually becomes granulated as it ages, or if stored at cold temperatures. Granulation is a natural aging process and does not affect the honey except for color and flavor. To bring granulated honey back to liquid form simply place the container of honey in a pan of warm water until the granules disappear. If more heat is required, keep the container off the bottom of the panby putting a rack under it, and setting the pan over low heat. Be careful not to overheat granulated honey, since to much heat caused the honey to change color and flavor. It’s easier to de-granulate smaller amounts of honey and less frustrating too.

How to Make Brown Sugar

Thinking of making homemade brown sugar? The ingredients are simple– sugar and molasses.

Get a mixing bowl and a fork or an electric hand mixer. Set aside.
Measure 1 cup sugar and place in the mixing bowl.
Add 1 tbsp. molasses into the mixing bowl with the sugar.
Use a fork or an electric hand mixer (at medium speed) to mix the sugar and molasses until thoroughly blended.
Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula, and then continue to mix until the sugar and molasses are well mixed.
Add an additional 1 tbsp. molasses to the mixture, if you prefer a darker shade of brown sugar, and continue to mix until well blended.
Enjoy your homemade brown sugar right from your kitchen.