When I moved out and started taking care of my own house, I actually ended up buying a lot of honey. Not because I liked it; it still tasted kind of yucky. Rather, I used it in bread making, which I did a lot. It worked very well in bread, and I liked telling myself that it didn't have any white sugar in it!
But when Chad and I went low carb, of course we stopped making bread, and the honey sat around for a long time. Eventually I just got rid of it, because, hey, what are we going to do with it?
The thing with honey, though, is that there are some paleo people who use it and believe that it's good for them. I'll agree that it's probably better than pure white sugar, but I'm not certain it's actually good for you.
Well, a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law got a big jar of raw honey that her brother-in-law had gotten from bees he cared for. And because I'm a) frugal and b) a very curious person, I asked if I could take some home with me.
It's not much. A little less than a cup of honey. I wanted to make sure that if I liked it, and figured out how I could use it, I had enough for whatever I wanted to use it for, but not so much that I'd feel forced to eat a bunch of it.
I tasted it. It's really different from the honey I used to buy in the store. It's sweet and mild, maybe even a little floral, with no pungent nasty flavors at all. I can actually say I like this honey. The problem I have now is, am I going to use it? And if so, how? I think if I use it in small quantities, it won't be so bad. I was thinking I could use it to make some low carb granola, to help stick the ingredients together better.
My other thought was to use it in some of my low sugar jam making. I have the new Preserving with Pomona's Pectin book, which is a book all about making low sugar jam and jelly. Some of the recipes call for honey instead of sugar, and they look delicious.
What do you guys think? Is it something worth working into my diet in small quantities? If you suddenly had raw local honey, how would you use it?
I personally would not. Although potentially 'less dangerous' than regular other sugars, it still is a combination of fructose and glucose. Although research has shown it's better than other sugars for us, that cannot be denied. And I would question any source as proving it's 'organic.' No one can say for sure WHERE those bees have flown and therefore fed from. Your own land might be safe, but who's to say they haven't flown to the neighbors property that regularly uses pesticide?
ReplyDeleteToo much of a slippery slope for me personally. But I don't use almond or coconut flour, out of own personal fear of the slippery slope, so I am probably in the minority on the subject.
The important thing is to keep it in very small amounts, if you choose to continue to consume it, regardless of the source. :)