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A honey of a holiday
Who else has a holiday honoring honey? The popular Rosh Hashana tradition of dipping apples in honey is a lovely one in more ways than one. Of course, its primary reason is to get us in a festive mood, wishing each other a happy and sweet New Year. The taste of honey that we enjoy so much on this occasion also teaches us to appreciate the goodness of honey.
In most homes, starting a holiday feast with a sweet appetizer is unique to Rosh Hashana. Many of us continue dipping apple wedges and halla in the liquid gold throughout the dinner. On numerous tables honey also contributes its incomparable flavor to halla, entrees, vegetable dishes and, of course, desserts.
This wonderful custom has an ancient basis. In biblical days there was no sugar.
Because honey is the original ingredient for making food sweet, it represented the good life. For that reason the Torah referred romantically to the Land of Israel as "the land of milk and honey".
In those days, getting honey certainly wasn't as simple as opening a jar! Naturally, the people who had to obtain the honey from the beehive didn't have the protective headgear or special clothing worn today. To prevent too many bees from attacking them, they had to use smoke to try to drive them away while they raided the bees' home and took some of their treasure. They knew they had to leave some honey in the hive to nourish the bees.
Straight from the hive, the honey wasn't in a form convenient for humans to use for cooking or baking. Extracting the honey from the honeycomb required plenty of effort.
Now we can easily find several kinds of honey on the market shelf. They taste different from each other, depending on what type of flowers the bees were getting their nectar from. Orange blossom honey does not have the same flavor as clover honey or wildflower honey. In general, lighter-colored honeys have a milder taste than darker ones. Purists feel that raw unfiltered honey has the best taste.
To retain honey's luxuriant texture, store it at room temperature. If you refrigerate it, it will solidify or crystallize. This also tends to happen as the honey sits on your shelf for a long time, especially during cold weather. But it's nothing to worry about. Just put the honey jar in a bowl of warm water until it liquefies.
With all of honey's history, symbolism and importance in the Torah, no wonder honey cake has become almost the universal Rosh Hashana sweet. It certainly can be a wonderful treat.
Because of the honey it contains, the cake has another advantage that makes it convenient to prepare. Honey attracts moisture and enables baked goods to keep longer without becoming dry. That's why you can make most honey cakes at least a week ahead. In fact, most get even better when they are made ahead.
If you like to experiment, here are some tips on substituting honey for sugar in a cake:
Have a Happy, Healthy, and Honey-Sweet New Year!
HONEY CARROTS COINS WITH RAISINS AND CINNAMON (Serves 8)
When I studied cooking in Paris, the chefs' standard side dish was sweet glazed carrots made with plenty of butter and sugar. Obviously for a kosher dinner with meat you can't use butter, but I find that the honey I like to add for Rosh Hashana gives its own unique richness to the dish. Dried fruit any kind you like and a touch of cinnamon complement the carrots and honey well.
When measuring honey, measure the oil for your recipe first or grease the measuring spoon or cup with a little oil before adding the honey. Then the honey will slide right out.
1 kg. carrots, sliced about 6 mm. thick
Combine carrots, water and salt in a large saute pan or shallow saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 min.
Add honey, sugar, raisins, oil and cinnamon. Uncover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 min. or until carrots are very tender and liquid is absorbed. Watch so mixture does not burn.
If carrots are tender enough but liquid is too thin, remove carrots with a slotted spoon.
Cook liquid uncovered over medium-high heat, stirring often, until it thickens. Do not let it brown or burn. Leave enough sauce in the pan to moisten the carrots. Return carrots to pan. Serve hot.
Honey gives this cake a pleasing texture so that not much oil is needed. Cocoa contributes a rich taste and a deep brown color to the cake. Bake this cake at least a day or two before the holiday so its flavor matures. If you wrap it tightly, the cake keeps up to two weeks at room temperature.
When baking with honey, remember how sticky honey is. Even if you're using a nonstick pan for baking a honey cake, it's a good idea to grease it. To make it easy to turn the cake out, line the pan with parchment paper or foil and grease the paper.
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 75 C (165 F). Lightly grease a 20 x 10 cm. loaf pan, line base and sides with parchment paper or foil and grease paper or foil. Sift flour with cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger.
Beat eggs lightly in mixer. Add sugar and honey and beat until mixture is very smooth and lightened in color. Gradually add oil and beat until blended. Stir in flour mixture alternately with water, each in two batches. Last stir in walnuts.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for about 50 min. or until a cake tester inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 15 min. Turn out onto rack and carefully peel off paper. Wrap tightly in foil when completely cool. Serve in thin slices. | |||
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LIGHT HONEY CAKE WITH COCOA AND SWEET SPICES(Serves about 8 to 10)