HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 



we do know it is very large indeed. The best 

 bakers have discovered that honey is far supe- 

 rior to sugar as a sweetening agent. The latter 

 causes the cakes and bread made with it to 

 dry up and become unpalatable in a few days ; 

 whereas honey, on the other hand, causes them 

 to remain sweet and moist for a long period. 

 Cases are reported of honey-jumbles remain- 

 ing moist for twelve years; and in France 

 nobody thinks it is anything very wonderful to 

 keep honey-bread a year or eighteen months, 

 and yet have it remain perfectly good and 

 satisfactory. If it is hard, it is simply put 

 into a damp place for a few days, when it 

 returns to its original condition. 



It is perfectly clear that, where bread and 

 cakes are made in factories, they must have 

 some "keeping" qualities; and by experi- 

 ence the managers have found honey is the 

 only acceptable agent for this purpose. At 

 Dijon, in France, from time immemorial a 

 kind of honey-bread (pain d'epice, or Leb- 

 kuchen, as the Germans call it) has been 



237 



