Or to make so-called French honey, break into a bowl 4 large fresh eggs and add the yolks of 2 more. Stir in 1 pound of granulated sugar, add the juice of 4 lemons and the grated rind of 2, and stir in i pound of butter. Melt over a slow fire to the consistency of honey.
In addition to the above are nu merous recipes for diluting or adul terating pure honey with sugar sirup and various flavoring substances.
Dissolve 8 pounds of white sugar in 2 quarts of water, boil 4 min utes, stir in 1 pound of pure honey and while hot strain through a flan nel cloth dipped in hot water. When nearly cool add 1 or 2 drops of oil of peppermint and a drop of attar of roses.
A standard recipe consists of a mix ture of 5 pounds of clear light-brown or coffee sugar, pounds of bee bred honey, pounds of soft water, 20 grains of pure cream of tartar, 11 ounces of gum arable. Boil these in gredients in a porcelain or tinware utensil for 5 minutes. Then add an infusion of 1 teaspoonful of pulver ized slippery elm bark in 8 ounces of water, straining it into the mixture through a piece of cheese cloth.
Now stir in the whites of 2 eggs beaten to a stiff froth, boil 2 min utes, remove the white of egg with a skimmer as it rises, remove and when lukewarm flavor with 1 drop of at tar of roses, 6 drops of oil of pepper mint, and add pound or more of pure honey. This is an old standard recipe that perhaps can hardly be improved upon. The decoction of slippery elm should, however, be omitted in warm weather, as other wise it will ferment and cause a scum on the surface. The larger the quantity of pure honey the better will be the flavor and value of the product.
Or 1 pound of honey will impart its natural flavor to about double the weight of pure white sugar, thus making a useful sirup for domestic purposes, nearly equal in value to the pure honey, and less likely to disa gree with those who are unable to use the pure article. To make this sirup dissolve 2 pounds of pure granulated sugar in about 12 or 15 ounces of boiling water, and add 1 ounce of pun arable dissolved in a little boil ing water, or the white of 1 egg. Bring to a boil and remove the scum with a skimmer as it appears. Re move this clarified sugar sirup from the fire and stir in 8 ounces of pure bee honey. When partially cool, stir
in 4 ounces more, and when luke warm stir in the remaining 4 ounces, making 1 pound all told. Flavor when nearly cold with a few drops of essence of peppermint and a drop or two of attar of roses. The quality can be improved by the use of a little less water and the addition of a some what larger proportion of honey. To Prepare Beeswax.—To prepare beeswax melt the honeycomb in boil ing water. Let cool, when the wax will form a cake on the surface. Re move the cake, scrape off any irn purities from the bottom, and repeat if necessary.
To Refine Beeswax.—Add about 5 per cent water to crude beeswax and melt with gentle heat. Raise to a boil, let boil for a few minutes, and add about I per cent concentrated nitric acid. Use for this purpose an earthenware vessel set in boiling wa ter, and continue to boil until the fumes of the acid cease to be evolved.
Or when the melted wax has boiled for a few minutes scatter 5 or 6 per cent of sulphuric acid over the surface of the melted wax. It must be done with care. If the vessel is not sufficiently deep the wax will froth up and run over the sides. Af ter adding the acid cover the mix ture, remove it from the fire, and be fore it is quite cool skim it off with a heated ladle. Take care not to dis turb the sediment. Scrape the im purities from the inside of the cake. Remelt and strain through cheese cloth. The addition of a little an notto will improve the color of the wax.
To Whiten Beeswax.—Melt up the wax with gentle heat and dip into it thin bard-wood boards, plates, or any suitable flat articles previously dipped in water to prevent the wax sticking. When these are removed they will be covered with a thin plate of wax. Loosen this film of wax with a knife and strip it off. Spread these thin sheets upon a white cloth upon the grass and expose them to the sun and air to bleach. Afterwards re melt and form into cakes.
Or melt the wax with hot water and squeeze through a fine linen cloth. Pour in shallow molds and when hard expose to the air, sprink ling frequently with water and turning from time to time until quite white.