Just Naturally Sweet: Recipes Utilizing Honey, Molasses, Sorghum, and Maple Syrup

by Patricia B. Mitchell

A brief exploration of the history of honey, molasses, sorghum, and maple syrup, with recipes and cooking tips for the use of these natural sweeteners. (These recipes contain no refined sugars.) This revised (second) edition was published 1991. 39 recipes, 14 research notes.

Patricia B. Mitchell, author of Just Naturally Sweet, says in the text,
"Honey, molasses, sorghum, and maple syrup take us back to the days before over-processed food became the norm. The natural flavors remind us of simpler times...."
Background information about those healthful products, plus tips, anecdotes and quotes are included in Just Naturally Sweet. Among its recipes are  "Honey Do Drop Biscuits," "Innocent Carob Brownies" (using honey), "Minot Why-Not Rye Bread" (made with cane or sorghum molasses), or "Maple Walnut Ice Cream." These and the many other recipes in Just Naturally Sweet offer the satisfaction of incorporating "close-to-nature" foods into your menu.

36 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Patricia Mitchell began foodwriting as a contributor to The Community Standard magazine in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the early 1970's. After she and her husband Henry returned to their hometown of Chatham, Virginia, in 1975, Patricia put her writing on the “back burner” while restoring an old home (the Sims-Mitchell House, which the Mitchells operated as a bed and breakfast for over twenty years) and starting a family (now her collaborators Sarah, David, and Jonathan). In 1986, requests from B&B guests helped motivate Patricia to compile some of her recipes into book form. In a providential turn of events, a visiting museum director asked to purchase some of the little books for resale in his museum's shop. Soon a re-order came, with suggestions for an even greater emphasis on food history.

Through the years, the resulting Inkling Series has included over a hundred titles, selling over three-quarters of a million copies at museums, historic sites, bookstores, and shops in 49 states and internationally.

Poring through diaries, letters, microfilmed records, and mountains of old books, Patricia spends endless enjoyable hours in her search for clues to Americans' eating habits and cooking techniques of years gone by.

Reviews

[Sarah Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some promising looking recipes here and tips for converting other recipes using the sweeteners in the title.