September. 1920 



O T. F. A X T \ G S IN B E F, C U T. T TT H F 



523 



the (loveriiineut loports, lias been a little 

 weak, yet, in any event it. will not fall pro 

 luortionately more than other eonimodities, 

 and therefore the earning power of the bee- 

 keeper will be the same. 



The Editor is one who believes to a very 

 great extent that sngar and honey are eoni- 

 petitors^ — eompetitors because there is no 

 real substitute for granulated sugar except 

 honey for cooking, canning, for soft drinks, 

 or for general table use. Glucose and its 

 allied products never were and never can be 

 competitors of honey, and the same might lie 

 said of cheap molasses. They have their 

 own Helds, it is true, but th?se fields do not 

 overlap honey, as a rule. 



Why are sugar and honey competitors of 

 each other? For the reason already men- 

 tioned, that, whenever sugar is scarce, honey 

 can take its place to a considerable extent: 

 and when sugar goes up in price, or when it 

 can be obtained only in limited quantities, 

 honey, always available, is about the only 

 substitute that can be used. Just read this 

 from the last issue of a journal devoted to 

 baking, entitled Dough, in its issue for July, 

 page 15: 



"Baker.s who find it hard to .sei-ure sugar for 

 hread-making will find honey a good substitute. 

 Honey gives the crust a rich brown color. Honey 

 bread keeps fresh for several days, and honey im- 

 parts a distinctive flavor and odor to the loaf. 



"The use of honey permits cutting down' the 

 amount of yeast used. Formulas and recipes for 

 using honey in breads, biscuits, and buns, can be 

 found in the Baker's Review for .lune. With the 

 present difference in price between honey and .sugar 

 a saving of from $1.10 to $1.50 is effected on every 

 IDOo one-pound loaves." 



Mind you, the above was not written by 

 the editor of Gleanings nor by any other 

 person interested in the honey business, but 

 l)y one who is the editor of a journal de- 

 voted to baking. What he says has been 

 voiced by local bakers. The further fact 

 that big baking concerns of the country have 

 used hundreds of carloads of honey, and were 

 using it even when sugar was low in price 

 and plentiful, shows that honey is, to a great 

 extent, indispensable in baking. 



The time was, before the war, when the 

 i>ig bakers of the country were using a sub- 

 -stitute for honey — invert sugar. This is 

 made by putting a little acid in a sugar 

 .syrup and ajiplying a slow heat. The pro- 

 cess changes the sucrose of granulated sugar 

 into invert sugar — a product that has equal 

 parts of levulose and dextrose. So far as its 

 sugar content is concerned it is the same as 

 honey, and will produce the same effect as 

 honey in making the cakes keep. The bak- 

 ers, of course, will use whichever is cheap 

 er. When sugar %vas selling at ;j% to 6 cents 

 a pound, invert sugar could Ije made for 

 about one cent more per pound. This was 

 cheaper than the ordinary honey at the time, 

 and the bakers came very near dropping hon- 

 ey. Now the situation is changed. With 

 sugar around 22 cents a i)oiin(l, with arti- 

 ficial invert sugar costing still more per 



pound, and honey ail ready for use in car- 

 lots at considerably less per pound, the 

 bakers will naturally use honey. They must 

 have invert sugar, whether it is the artificial 

 product from granulated sugar or the nat 

 ural article from honey. 



What is taking place in the baking trade 

 is also occurring to a lesser extent in the 

 soda-water and ice-cream business. When 

 sugar syrup is worth relatively more than 

 honey, then honey, the only substitute, will 

 be used in a large way. While sugar syruj" 

 and honey are more nearly on a parity, the 

 former is still higher than many honeys. 



Another consideration is the fact that the 

 Nation has gone dry. Since alcohol has been 

 barred from all drinks a tremendous boost 

 has been given to the soft-drink business. 

 The former topers, when they can 't get 

 "home brew," use soda water or other soft 

 drinks in large quantities. Many of the 

 former saloons are now soft-drink parlors, 

 and add to the list of regular soft-drink es- 

 tablishments that are today doing a bigger 

 business than ever. It is a physiological 

 fact that wiien alcohol is taken away sweets 

 largel}' take its place. 



There are ice-cream concerns now that are 

 advertising "honey ice-cream," buying the 

 honey by the carload. They are finding 

 that the public likes honey ice-cream, and 

 "honey" is a good catchword in advertis- 

 ing. One very popular brand now being ad- 

 vertised in a large way in Cleveland is called 

 ' ' Orange Blossom Honey Ice-cream. ' ' I^arge 

 billposters can be seen all over that city and 

 and vicinity extolling the merits of that par- 

 ticular article. 



Honey is also beginning to be used as a 

 "dip" on ordinary ice-cream. The minute 

 it strikes that particular delicacy it becomes 

 tliick and waxy; and a few are now discover- 

 ing that a honey dip is about the finest thing 

 that has ever been served from an ice-cream 

 counter. It follows that the ice-cream peo- 

 ple will, if they do not now, use honey in a 

 double wav — in the cream itself and on toj) 

 of it. 



Honey as yet is used in only a limited way 

 in the making of candy. Glucose and mo- 

 lasses, on the other hand, are used largely 

 in cheap candies. When honey is used it is 

 in the high-grade candies. Honey, therefore, 

 is in no sense a competitor of glucose or mo- 

 lasses except as the public may buy these 

 cheap syrups rather than honey. 



When beekeepers once learn that good 

 honey is a better winter food than sugar, in- 

 stead of encouraging and boosting the sugar 

 business by buying sugar to feed for winter, 

 they will create another outlet for their own 

 l)roduct and use honey. Pound for pound, 

 hone}' will go further than sugar in a hive. 

 Kvery pound of sugar the beekeeper buys 

 makes one more pound of honey to sell and 

 to comjiete with other honey on the market. 

 While sugar syrup is all right, and a splen- 

 did food during the coldest part of the win- 

 ter, when there is no lireeding, it is a poor 

 substitute for honey when the queen begins 



