HOMINY

or Granulated Hominy, or Grits, white Indian-corn kernels with the rough, fibrous part and the germ removed, broken into particles of uniform size. Itis similar to granulated cornmeal, but considerably coarser. An exception is lye hominy, which is the whole hulled grain (hulled by lye immersion). A grade of grits, somewhat lower than that handled by the grocery trade for table purposes, is used in large quantities by brewers.. Pearl homimy is a larger size hominy—it may he whole grain, hulled by machinery. It is also known as Samp, Coarse hominy, and Coarse grits. Hominy is prepared for use by boiling with water or milk. The larger sizes are eaten as a dinner vegetable, the finer product as a breakfast dish. When boiling for frying, always add some flour just before finishing as that will prevent it from breaking and splitting when fried., KAR ES aes af =ege| HONEY, the sweet liquid secreted in the nectaries of ot FS er mea} flowers, sucked up by the proboscides of working-bees, Riechae z. ine oe ee modified in the honey-saes of the bees, and further modified and condensed by evaporation in the cells of: z ‘ #| the combs into which it is disgorged as a food supply ag > at for the colony. ws Shae A colony, or hive, of fifty to seventy-five you sand ge 4 y “| bees will produce an average of about a pound of 7 4 i "4 honey daily during the main season, the quantity fluctuating from a few ounces to two or three pounds a ‘ak ae il day at the height of the flow—the une vapor a ted nectar oe nein 4} brought in bulking three times those amounts. A pound; | of honey represents the nectar gathered from two or eS: more million flowers. Dwell for a moment on a mental: | ~«=picture of the fifteen or twenty million bee colonies in = | the United States, and then grope for a figure big be = é mel) enough to tell the total number of blo oms visited and —— = fertilized every year with the pollen which the bees uni, " wittingly distribute during the busy hours of their huror a 2:. ‘ ried, ceasele toil! ee, The surplus honey available to a competent bee i‘ on P keeper in a moderately good location averages about eft fifty pounds to the hive. In favorable locations, a good: ee. season will often yield from 200 to 300 pounds and CS? Mast. Ew aes occasionally up to 600 pounds. Taking a swarm of be ifrom a tree If left to their own devices, the bees spend much of the first weeks of the main honey flow in making their combs. The apiarist avoids this waste of time by furnishing them with combs carefully saved from the preceding year. If his stock is insufficient—as in a big season —he supplies them with thin sheets of pure wax stamped to serve as ‘‘comb foundation.’’ Building on this, the bees complete the cells much more quickly than if they had to start entirely afresh, and have just that much more time for the pursuit of honey gathering. The *‘social life’? of the honey-bee is a fascinating study, and the better uncerstanding of it that apiarists have obtained in the last few decades has enabled them to correct many traditional errors and greatly improve the entire practise of beekeeping. The vear’s activities on a big ranch commence a few weeks before the probable date of the crop of flowers—whether clover or sage, ete.—which is to supply the main crop of honey. The colonies have pa ed through the winter and come into the spring, each with a queen-bee and a little army of working-bees. Working-bees are undeveloped females whose life duties under ordinary conditions are confined to waiting on the queen, looking after and feeding the young with either new or stored honey and pollen, and collecting new honey and pollen during blo om time. The queen-hee is preferably young—one developed and fertilized in the preceding late summer or fall—but she is quite often an older insect. If in the northern states, the bees have been quiescent for several montlis—sleeping much and stirring and eating little; if in warm regions, displaying most of the time intermittently, or almost continuously, a good deal of activity. It now becomes the mi ion of the apiarist to help each colony to produce the largest po ible number of new working-bees by the time that the flowers of the main crop commence to bloom. The old conieal hive is a thing of the past. In its place is an oblong hive, laid up in brood-chambers and supers, according to each season’s and each colony’s circumstances. For the breeding of the new generation of bees—upon which depend his profits and our honey supply—he provides for each colony a brood-chamber, or chambers, filled with combs, and he must see that the food supply—both of honey and pollen—is plentifully adequate for the hordes of larvae rapidly to follow the eges that the queen lays in the cells. If the natural supply of honey is scanty, he must replenish it with some of his own, or with a proper sirup substitute. If pollen is lacking, he must furnish rye or oat or other suitable meal to take its place. With both good management and good fortune he will have a fresh and rapidly increasing colony of workers in the hive ready to pour out into the fields when the flowers open. Honey now is his aim—no longer brooding—and he bars the queen from the supers that he sets above the brood-chambers to receive the honey that the workers will bring in and disgorge. Comb honey is that straight from the hives—left in the cells just as the bees stored and sealed it. Specifically, it is generally understood as the honey thus stored in little squares of wood known as ‘‘sections’’ that the apiarist sets in the supers for the bees to fill—the bees thus not only making the honey we eat, but also putting it up in packages for us! The profitable production of perfect comb honey is subject to local limitations. In some parts, the honey has a tendency to granulate too quickly to be desirable. In others, its color is too dark or may he mottled. Comb honey production is recommended only when the honey is ‘‘white’’? and abundant and of the best flavor and consistence. Extracted honey (90% of our consumption) is that extracted from the combs, generally by centrifugal proee —the rapid revolving of the combs inside mesheylinders causing the honey to exude. If it has been allowed to ripen sufficiently in the hivex, or is properly evaporated after separation, extracted honey compares favorably in flavor and quality with comb honey. Comb and the better grades of Extracted are sold for table use. Dark and inferior products are used by bakers, confectioners, biscuit-makers, and druggists. Hundreds of tons are annually engulfed in the manufacture of sweet biscuits because of honey’s peculiar quality of keeping them and similar articles fresh and moist (see also Lesxucnen). These cheaper grades can be advantageously employed in the household in many culinary ways—especially in cakes and puddings. Honey has been enjoyed as food from the remotest times, and (in moderation) it agrees well with the average digestion. Its consumption should be regulated primarily by consideration of its high sugar content—which consists of from 62% to 80% of invert-sugar (dextrose and levulose) and, generally, some sucrose, the composition varying with the food of the bees, their age, and the season. The range of sucrose (which corresponds to ‘‘ordinary’’ sugar) is from none at all to 8%. Honey was formerly adulterated to a considerable extent by the addition of commercial invert-sugar and corn-sirup, but the presence of either of these adulterants is easily ascertained on analysis, and the enforcement of federal and state food laws has practically eliminated the fraud. In olden days, before sugar had reached Europe except as a medicine, and later when it was too expensive for—or was forbidden to—children, it is pleasing to note that honey was considered good for them! The flavors of honey before blending vary as much as, or more than, those of fruits. Mountain sage is very mild; chinkapin is so strong as to be almost biting to the palate; ba wood has a pronounced mint taste; white clover is milder than ba wood and stronger than mountain sage; alfalfa resembles white clover, with usually a slight mint flavor. The wild honey of Cuba and Mexico is highly aromatic. The comparative merits of these different flavors is largely a matter of individual taste. In the East, to describe any honey as ‘‘equal to white clover’’ is to style it as equal to the very finest, yet many judges and all western consumers consider alfalfa superior to white clover. Other points for judgment are color and density. In this country, light colored, or ‘‘white,’’ honey is generally considered the best, but the rule does not hold good everywhere, for the famous Scotch ‘‘heather honey’’ is as dark as our buckwheat honey—which has the color of mola es and which (except in some parts of the state of New York) is generally rated as inferior. The greater part of our supply comes from the West—especially from the irrigated regions—and is drawn from alfalfa, sweet clover, and white clover. That of the Kast is from both the pink alsike (or ‘‘Swedish clover’’) and white clover. Southern California honey comes chiefly from sage, orange, and bean blo oms; further North it is principally of sage and alfalfa. Texas furnishes large quantities - of mesquit, guajilla (pronounced git ah-he-ia), catelaw, and horsemint. The other southern states get their supply from a great variety of flowers—those of clovers, poplar, tupelo, black gum, etc. England, and northern Europe generally, produce a honey similar to the Scotch heather, but of le er quality. Rosemary honey is very popular in southern Fiurope. Narbonne honey, from the vicinity of Narbonne, France, is similar to our white clover. The famed honey of Mt. Hymettus, Greece, is from wild thyme. Honey should always be stored where it is dry and warm—almost hot. Where salt will keep dry, honey is safe. It will not be too warm with the temperature at 100° Fahr. There is no better place for storing it than a dry, warm garret next to the roof. It can, however, without damage be kept in a cold place for a few hours before serving. This will give it a thick, soft, cool texture that is especially pleasing to many palates. A cellar is one of the worst of storage places. There are few cellars in which the air is not somewhat damp, and honey absorbs moisture very readily. Extracted honey will become thin and will often ferment. Comb honey will lose all of its beauty--the white surface darkens, and water gathers and runs on the cappings. Candied honey. If honey, particularly extracted honey, is kept for a considerable length of time—or even for a short time under conditions of alternate freezing and thawing—it is apt to change from its original liquid or semi-liquid consistence to a semi-granular condition, and next to solidity. It is then called ‘‘granulated,’’ or ‘‘oandied,’’ and the flavor is somewhat changed. Some people prefer it in this condition—using it as a natural sweetener or eating it as a confection of the same cla as maple-sugar—but it is not, as a rule, so readily saleable. It can be restored to its original condition by setting the jar or gla in a saucepan of water and gradually raising the temperature to a moderate heat, maintaining the temperature as long as nece ary. Boiling the water must be avoided—or even a temperature near hboiling—as that is liable to spoil the color of the honey and di ipate much of its delicate flavor and aroma. (to 7 HOP, the fruit of a climbing plant So te “ke found wild in America, Europe, and 4 Ee. eee, Ce Asia. It has been cultivated in France; - - Re:. ro re and Germany since at least as early as eh Nee hw i i the eighth century and is now also an a ee ane - important crop in the United States, the ecw s,: ai chief producing sections being New York i -. 1. and the Pacific Coast states. It is fale: * le - i mous for the property of its strobiles, or aS a ¥. “~. scaly multiple fruits, in retarding bac- ‘ 4 i * ‘| terial action in malt beverages, while 4 ‘ 3 oa. Seeeee| also imparting an agreeably bitter taste. y ‘328 Their e ential principle is the yellowish ~~ S| powder, lupulin, covering the ovary and. | the bract bases. This is used medic i- ’. wma) nally as a stomachic tonic, and as a sed a- 27 tive and mild hypnotic. Hop poultices y ~ have reputation as a household remedy =! — for many pains and inflammations, and es.. ja. Kemureview “> hop pillows are credited with the ability to produce sleep. In Belgium generally, and in England and Germany to a small extent, the young hop shoots are eaten like asparagus. The roots of the vine are perennial, the top only dying in the winter. The vines, which twine with the sun, from right to left, are now generally trained on drop- - P ‘ i: Drying hops, Germany wires or strings, or on wire trelliswork, the old-style poles being employed in comparatively few places. The strobiles are harvested in the latter part of August and the beginning of September. They are cured and kiln-dried and then baled, In the choice of hops, care should be taken to select those which are full of lupulin, free from mold, and bright and silky in appearance; that are the most powerfully odorous, and the most free from leaves, stems, scaly fragments, and sticks; and which, when rubbed between the hands, impart in the greatest degree a yellowish tint and glutinous feeling to the skin. It is best also to select those which are tightly packed, as they soon spoil in keeping unle so firmly pre ed together as to he, to a considerable degree, impervious to the air. e HOREHOUND. See HoarHovunn.