Honey is a staple in every homesteader’s pantry. The sweet sticky gooey stuff has copious amounts of uses. Many folks use honey to preserve meat, in natural remedies, as well as a morale booster.
Even though honey has a virtually indefinite shelf-life, buying or making honey powder is still a great idea. First of all, when made and stored properly it can keep up to at least 25 years. Secondly, storing honey powder will take up far less space than jars of honey.
Powdered honey can be used in recipes just like sugar – but it will not act like sugar when combined with the other ingredients. Honey powder will not add any chewy texture in baked goods nor will it caramelize.
When cooking or baking with powdered honey, I recommended using only one part powdered honey and one part sugar or another sweetening ingredient to preserve the intended texture in recipes. This ratio will save costs on both your honey and sugar.
What Is Honey Powder?
Honey powder is essentially dehydrated honey that has been ground into a powder. It can be purchased or made as a single ingredient, or blended with herbs, spices, or citrus rind to enhance the flavor.
Powdered honey can be used as a flavoring agent in recipes, as a dry rub ingredient, and be sprinkled over either cold or hot cereals as a nutrient enhancer.
Some homesteaders sprinkle powdered honey on both nuts and seeds to sweeten them, and add nutrients before roasting them.
Honey coated roasted sunflower seeds are an incredible treat, and can be made over an open flame in mere minutes.
Because of the possible antiseptic and antibacterial properties in honey, it has been used in powdered form when making natural lotions, salves, soap, and bath salts.
Commercially manufactured honey powder might contain some type of stabilizer, like maltodextrin or dextrose. When you make the powdered honey yourself, you can go the all natural route and use only 100% raw honey as the sole ingredient.
Is Powdered Honey Real Honey?
Whether you buy it or make it yourself, honey powder is real honey. Powdered honey should always be made from 100% pure raw honey.
Do not assume all so-called honey on grocery store shelves is actually honey, though. So many varieties, especially cheaper ones, boast nowhere near a 100 percent pure honey base.
Dehydrated Honey
Equipment
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dehydrator
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plastic liner
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butter knife
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food processor or blender
Ingredients
- honey
Instructions
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Line your dehydrator with plastic liner that sits inside the tray, or cut our a piece of wax or parchment paper to line the machine tray. If you have an air fryer machine, it may also have a dehydrating feature – you can line the metal trays with wax or parchment paper, also.
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Using a butter knife, spread out the honey onto the lined tray as evenly and thinly as possible. The layer of honey shouldn’t be more than around one-eighth of an inch thick.
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Use the dehydrator setting on the machine that will dry the honey at about 120 degrees F (48 Celsius).
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For best results, put the honey in the dehydrator early in the morning, and it should be thoroughly dried by the following one.
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To test the honey to see if it has dried completely, break off a piece. If dried, the honey will audibly snap away from the remainder in the tray and be brittle – both looking and feeling like a thinned hunk of peanut brittle.
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Once the honey is dried, turn off the machine, and start breaking it into chunks.
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Place the chunks in your food processor or blender and pulverize them into a powder.
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Immediately remove the powdered honey from the machine to avoid it absorbing excess moisture.
Notes
- To dehydrate properly and evenly, the honey should be level not only on each tray, but match the level of honey on each tray being used in the drying process.
- If your dehydrator does not have a temperature gauge, select the fruit setting. If you are using an air fryer oven to dehydrate the honey, you may be able to reduce the drying time without causing crystallization with a heat setting up to 130 degrees F (54 Celsius).
Storage
Store the honey powder in a Mason jar or vacuum sealed bag for best longevity results. I recommend storing the honey in small containers unless you plan on using a ton of the powder at once. Each time the container is opened, it will be exposed to air and expose it to moisture.
How Do You Rehydrate Honey Powder?
- To return powdered honey to its more liquid state, combine 1 cup of powder to ¼ cup of cool water.
- Stir the ingredients together, and allow the powder to soak up the water for a few moments.
- For best results, I recommend warming the water and honey powder mixture over low heat to better dissolve the tiny particles. Exposing the powder to low heat will vastly speed up the process. The warming process shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Stir continuously to avoid the honey powder and ultimately the transforming liquid honey, from scorching or sticking to the pan.
If the honey powder is being used in a recipe that will be heated, reconstituting it is not necessary.
Where Can I Buy Honey Powder?
Do you want to stockpile powdered honey, but don’t have a dehydrator, or simply want to add it to your stockpiles quickly?
If you live in a rural area it is extremely unlikely your local grocery store stocks honey powder. However, health food and gourmet food stores often do carry powdered honey.
Shopping for honey powder online may be the simplest and perhaps, quickest, way to find some. I personally would rather just tap on a keyboard and have a package arrive in the mail in two days than drive over an hour to a city to find a health food store.
When searching online for powdered honey, it will likely be labeled as crystallized honey.
When you visit an external link on this page and then make a purchase, I may earn a commission. Read my full advertising disclosure here.
- Augason Farms Honey Powder – This three pound tub is the best value I have found. The manufacturer maintains it has a 30 year shelf life.
- Mike’s Mix Honey Powder – This two pound tub of crystallized honey is GMO free, and comes in a resealable container.
Shelf Life of Powdered Honey
When stored properly, raw honey can last for years, but crystals will form over time due to the high dextrose content, the aging process, and temperature changes.
The color of the raw honey also tends to darken over time. These physical changes do not generally mean the honey has gone rancid.
But, honey powder takes up considerably less space in your pantry, and is lighter to pack in a bug out bag.
If you are a beekeeper, dehydrating honey and powdering it could help you stockpile a valuable bartering commodity for trading both during and after a long-term disaster – yet takes up little space to store.
via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/3woMWsO
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