We all know bees make the best honey, however if you don’t have a beehive in your yard, there is another way to make honey, on the stove.
To make your own honey you will need white sugar, alum, water, fireweed blossoms, red clover blossoms and white clover blossoms. You may want to set aside a section of your yard to grow these plants in so you know they have not been sprayed with fertilizer or weed killer.
Once you have gathered the ingredients, put three cups of water, ten cups of white sugar and one teaspoon of alum into a large pan. Stainless steel is best. Bring this mixture to a boil. Keep it boiling for ten minutes.
While the mixture is boiling, remove the blossoms from the stems making sure not to leave any green parts on the flowers. The green stems and leaves will impart a grassy flavor to the honey.
Once the blossoms are removed, rinse them under cold running water. Shake the water off.
Remove the pan from the heat, and add the flower blossoms. Stir well, cover and steep for three hours.
Once the mixture is finished steeping, strain it through cheesecloth so all the plant material is removed. Reheat the liquid honey until it begins to boil, pour into sterilized canning jars and seal.
The jars can be sealed by processing them in a cold water bath for fifteen minutes. Be sure to check the seals once the jars have cooled.
Filed under Homemade Baking Essentials by on Jan 11th, 2010. 2 Comments. 
Stevia is known for its super sweet leaves which can be used in place of sugar. Some people do not like the “plant” taste or seeing the leaf in their drinks, desserts, etc., so there is another option, liquid stevia.
As with all herbs, harvest the stevia leaves by cutting the stems back early in the morning so the sugar content is high. This is best done as soon as the dew begins to dry.
Try to grow your stevia plant so the soil does not splash up on the leaves. This can be done by using mulch on top of the soil. The reason for this is so the oils do not wash off the leaves during cleaning. If the plant material is clean there is no need to do anything except quickly rinse the leaves under cold running water to remove any dust.
Once the leaves are picked and you make sure they are clean, shake them dry, fill a small container about half full with the leaves. A small canning jar with a plastic lid works great for this.
Cover the leaves with Everclear or Vodka. Be sure to fill the container to the top with the alcohol. All of the plant material needs to be covered with the alcohol.
Put the plastic lid on, shake it up and sit it in a cool, dark place. Shake the container once a day if possible. You can add more leaves as time goes on. Just make sure the first leaves you added are completely saturated with alcohol.
Be sure to date your bottle so you know when a month has elapsed. At this time, strain the leaves from the liquid. You may want to dump the contents through cheesecloth. Squeeze all the liquid from the leaves, place the liquid back into a glass bottle with a plastic lid and use.
If the taste is not sweet enough for you, you can add more stevia leaves to the strained liquid. I have found that once you add fresh stevia leaves three or four times, the alcohol taste and smell disappear and the product is more pleasing to the taste buds straight out of the jar.
There are many stevia conversion charts online that you can look at. Remember to start with a small amount and work up to taste. Here are some basic conversions.
2 teaspoons of sugar – use ¼ teaspoon stevia
¼ cup sugar – use ½ teaspoon stevia
1/3 cup sugar – use ¾ teaspoon stevia
½ cup sugar – use 1 ¼ teaspoons stevia
¾ cup sugar – use 1 ¾ teaspoons stevia
1 cup sugar – use 2 ½ teaspoons stevia
Filed under Herbs and Spices, Homemade Extracts by on Nov 7th, 2009. 51 Comments.
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