HONEY AND BEESWAX Honey.—Honey is not, as some suppose, produced by bees, but is the sweet material collected from flowers by the honeybee and stored by them as food for themselves and their pro geny, hence the aroma and flavor of honey varies with its source, that from white clover or buckwheat usu ally being regarded as the best. In Turkey and some other countries honey produced by certain plants is poisonous, and that of others is in jurious to health. Honey is fre quently adulterated with glycerin and glucose, and various imitations of honey can be made of other mate rials suitably flavored with various essential oils.
Honey is deposited by bees in wax cells known as honeycomb. When pure it consists partly of a sirup of sugar that will not crystallize, and partly of crystallized grains some what like grape sugar. The finest quality, called virgin honey, is that which drips freely from the comb. The ordinary quality is obtained by melting the comb and extracting the honey by pressure. It should be noted that if honey is heated in iron or copper utensils it takes on a dark er color, hence porcelain, earthen ware, or tinware should be employed for this purpose. The proper pro portion of water to be added in ex tracting or purifying honey is equal parts by weight.
To Extract Honey.—First strain the comb through a sieve to free the honey from the wax. Melt it with gen tle heat in a double boiler and take off the scum with a skimmer as fast as it appears. Let cool, pour into jars and seal with paraffin, waxed tops, or otherwise, so as to be air-tight.
To Preserve Honey in the Comb.— Set aside for this purpose combs that do not contain pollen, stand them edgewise in earthenware jars or tin cans, and cover them with extracted honey. Cover the tops with paraffin or otherwise to exclude the air.
To Clarify Honey. — Melt down the pure honey in a double boiler of porcelain or earthenware, and strain while hot through a flannel cloth dipped in hot water. This dissolves the crystals and converts the honey into a uniform thick sirup. The test is not 3,s acceptable, but the honey keeps better and is more wholesome.
Or beat up the white of an egg to a stiff froth and whip it into 4 or 5 pounds of honey. Stir in pure water to make a sirup of the consistency of cream, and boil until the white of egg can be removed with Et skimmer.
Pour out the honey into a milk can or other receptacle having a spigot or faucet at the bottom, and let stand for about a month. Then draw off the clarified honey from the spigot.
Or melt down the honey in a dou ble boiler with clear water to a sirup of the consistency of cream, and stir in 6 ounces of purified animal char coal to 8 pounds of honey. Simmer with gentle heat for 20 minutes. If the sirup is sour, stir in a little prepared chalk to sweeten it, strain through a flannel cloth dipped in hot water, and let stand over a slow fire until the excess of water it contains is removed by evaporation.
Or dissolve the honey with water in a double boiler, and let it boil up briskly, stirring four or five times at intervals, but not skimming. Re move from the fire, let cool and pour on cloth strainers covered with an inch or more of fresh white sand. After the honey has run through, pour on gradually clear water, to rinse the strainer, and finally with gentle heat evaporate the excess of water from the honey.
Or to clarify on a large scale, mix 9 large fresh eggs with 9i gallons of water for each half barrel of honey, in a tin-lined vat. Simmer with gen tle heat, skim and filter through strong linen strainers covered with about 1 inch of clear white sand. Afterwards evaporate the excess of water with gentle heat.
To Make Artificial Honey.—The cost of pure honey is so great that various artificial preparations are manufactured, and these may be put up if desired for home use in place of honey and maple sirup at less ex pense.
Dissolve in 1 pint of boiling water ounce of alum. Remove frona the fire, stir in 4 pounds of granulated sugar, bring to a boil and stir until dissolved. Remove quickly, strain through cheese cloth, and when near ly cool stir in 1 teaspoonful of arti ficial honey-flavoring extract com posed as follows: To pint of 98 per cent alcohol add ounce of Jamaica ginger, 3 drops of attar of roses and shake well before using. This extract must be prepared in small quantities only as required for use. This was for merly closely guarded as a trade se cret, and a great deal of artificial honey made from this recipe has been placed upon the market.