Food Science: Honey, a sweet success

I talked about how we were doing honey science here at the library, but I did not mention how it went because we had not done the program yet. It went really well! We had a smaller group of teens, but most of them were really invested in learning about honey and what makes it so special. I got to share with the teens why honey never goes bad, different tasting honey, what density and viscosity is, and of course honey cookies.
These things were all exciting for the teens, as some of them knew that honey never went bad but did not know why that was and some of them had honey before but never different flavors. It was great to expose them to these aspects of honey and I think the information will "stick" with them. (Especially the flavors of honey, wildflower was unanimously voted as a bad flavor. Who would have guessed!)
Honey cookies was a great way to end this science, and they noted some differences in flavor and wanted the recipe to take home and continue making these cookies! If anyone wants this recipe, the links, or the handouts I used, please feel free to email me at dstates@yorklibraries.org
Also, check out these great photos from the science provided by one of our teens!
Dawn states: I am stuck on putting honey in my tea!

One of my teens took some awesome photos, but there is one in there of me checking my notes and some other silly madness! Cracked me up!

Food Science: Sneak Peak

So I really do have the coolest job. This past Thursday I got to spend my time baking cookies with honey, making a density column, testing the viscosity of honey, and taste-testing honey. Why, might you ask? Well, because we are doing another food science, this time with honey!
But why honey?
Because the teens asked for a food science related to foods that do not go bad. After much thought,(and not wanting to resort to fast-food chain burgers) I decided on honey. Honey does not go bad and has been known to have some amazing properties like wound healing! While these sorts of things tend not to lend themselves to library-science capabilities, things like taste-testing and cookies do!
There are lots of different recipes that use honey instead of sugar, multiple flavors of honey (just check out Dutch Gold!), and plenty of ways to make a density column! Check these things out and make something awesome!
I called this a food science sneak peak because while I used the honey cookies I baked to advertise the upcoming food science with the teens, I have not actually done all of these science things with the teens. I tested them myself and it went great, but it may be another story with the teens! Dawn states: stay tuned for more on honey science!