Sweets and those who love them!

I know I have mentioned before that I have a vicious sweet tooth. Any holiday that involves sweets is my favorite. Most recently, I celebrated my birthday...y’all not a single sweet graced my birthday😳. Life happened. I would rather snuggle at home with my husband, than get dressed fancy to go out for sweets. (We had plans, Cheesecake factory) Yep, I have hit that age. The age where comfort and ease out weighs the desire for sweetness. Lawdy hammercy. 

Honey, in all its glorious forms, I just absolutely adore it! Just a few years ago I discovered powdered honey. Yes! Honey in a crystalline form. My mind was blown and I was so excited to try this version of Mother Natures finest sweet stuff. I sprinkled it on everything for 3 solid months. From Muffins, to cereal, to morning coffee, honey was gracing everything that I had been putting sugar on or in. There is also this honey called spun honey. It has an opaque pale yellow color and it is just as thick as regular raw honey. I am not exactly sure what it is. I am guessing that the maker beats it with a whisk type of thing to mix some air into it; but let me tell you, it is delicious on morning toast. One time, I sent my husband to work with a honey and peanut butter sandwich. I won’t do that again. He came home and said his sandwich was stale, and he threw them away.🥺 I had to explain to him that honey seeps into the pores of the bread and firms them up. It was always a special treat I enjoyed in my lunch box as a child. That honey in the bread crunch! Yum. (My husband is the sweetest man alive, and he just did not understand honey bread.) 

Lets talk some sugar. No, not kissing! There has been much push back recently against sugar. I totally get it if you have diabetic issues or are dieting. However, there is nothing wrong with a healthy individual enjoying regular old sugar in moderation. Regular crystalline sugar is sourced from either sugar cane or sugar beet. This is actually a project I want to try. Making home grown sugar from sugar beets, but that is another blog in the future. I personally make my own brown sugar. All brown sugar is, not to be confused with turbinado sugar, molasses and white sugar blended to be either light in color or dark in color. Depth of color will determine flavor. Lets review sugar in the raw. The brand name of the same, is cane sugar, or juice from the cane, which has been boiled down and not processed beyond the boiled down state. This is why the crystals are bigger and round. This sugar has a higher moisture content. You can also buy this sugar in the ground form. It is processed exactly like crystalline white sugar, in a grinding mill. This sugar doesn’t taste as sweet to me like standard white sugar. Did you know that at one time sugar was extremely expensive? They made chests to lock the sugar up to prevent theft. 

My Father in Law uses liquid saccharine😳. I did not even know this is a thing. It truly, really is a thing. And, he isn’t even a diabetic. When he came here last year for my husband’s Chief Pinning, I asked him if there was anything special I needed to have, in my home, to make his stay enjoyable. He quickly responded, “Smoky Mountain Liquid Sweetener.”  I guess it is true, you learn something new every day. I remember in the past my mother liked the pink packets. Then one day in the 80’s the blue packet was introduced. And then came the yellow packet. Personally, I am not a fan of man made sweeteners. However, I do believe that they are all viable options for individuals who just can’t sugar. Sucrose, fructose, and stevia are all sweeteners derived from alternative sources. In general they come in powdered form very similar to white sugar. I have found stevia tablets. These are excellent for traveling. They are resistant to moisture in the air. As you can see, there is a sweet choice for everyone. How do you do sweet things?