Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 13:29:16 -0400
From: “N.A. Booko”
Subject: Dumping my Sweetie . . .
About five months ago, I made a vow to stop eating so much refined sugar. Some forty years ago, I cut way down on using salt and have had no regrets. Perfect blood pressure and perfect cholesterol. Not that I have been a sugar addict, but I have been known to go on binges eating certain foods (ice cream for one) in excess. It is very difficult to buy any prepared or processed foods that don’t have some sugar. It is in just about everything. Day after day consuming products with just a little sugar, really adds up.
I almost never buy a product that sugar is the second ingredient listed on the nutrition label. And not happy about it, if sugar is in the next four listed ingredients. And I don’t use artificial or sugarless sweeteners either.
What I have done, for my sweet tooth and some cooking is to use local raw honey. I made the mistake once of buying honey at Food Lion- It appeared on the front label, that the honey was of American origin, but in tiny nearly invisible wording on the bottle itself , were the words “Product of Turkey”- It is said that nearly 95 % of all commercial honey sold in stores is imported and processed in a way that strips it of vital and beneficial ingredients. No pollen.
One worry was how to make bread- Since I make my own bread, I knew that sugar activates yeast. I was hesitant to try and substitute honey for sugar, fearing the bread would be gummy and not rise properly. I was wrong. I can tell no difference in bread made with honey compared to sugar. The bread machine I use, calls for 3 tablespoons of sugar – so, I use three tablespoons of honey- it has never failed.
Mornings when I have toast or an English muffin, I drizzle a little honey instead of jelly- I have found that a teaspoon of honey, is sweeter than a teaspoon of sugar. So I always use a little less when putting it on berries and such.
There seems to be plenty of fresh raw honey for sale in Chatham County- There is the Chatham County Bee Keepers Assoc. http://chathambeekeepers.wordpress.com/ and I have bought fresh raw honey from Pat Jones (919 362 7027)- You may have seen Pat volunteering at the Saint Bart’s Community lunches on Thursdays. I have also bought honey from Rick Kondrachi (919 548 1742) Rick is usually set up in Pittsboro every month during First Sunday. He has two kinds of honey- Light and dark. The dark is yummy.
Goodbye my sugar . . parting is such sweet sorrow . .
N.A. Booko