After I tried some recipes, I found that the main ratio for replacing sugar is two thirds of a cup of honey for every one cup of white sugar. That matches around 227 grams of honey instead of 200 grams of sugar. It sounds easy, but remember that honey holds around 17 percent of water by weight, which can ruin the baking if one does not reduce other liquids by a quarter of cup for every cup of honey used.

I did not expect that the calorie math will twist like this: spoon after spoon, honey has 64 calories against 49 for sugar, so around 30 percent more for the same amount.

How to Replace Sugar with Honey

Density here makes everything hard. A cup of honey weighs 340 grams, almost one and a half times more than a cup of sugar with 200 grams. In sauces and marinades the change should be aruond half a cup of honey for one of sugar, because one does not want that extra sweetness to overpower everything.

Add only a quarter teaspoon of baking soda per cup of honey to balance the bitterness of honey, its pH is around 3.9, while sugar is neutral at 7.

The details below do not come from a calculator or any converter. They are based on actual usage, looking back, discussions in forums and experiences of cooking communities across the net.

honey ranks among the most ancient sweeteners of the world and among those few foods that never spoil. In its liquid state it works for sweet and savory foods. There is also granulated honey, prepared by a process called co-crystallization, that mixes white syrup with liquid honey.

It well replaces liquid honey or sugar to balance sweetness in coffee, tea, oatflakes, yogurt and marinades.

Basically, honey is only sugar. It holds a third glucose and a third fructose, with the rest being a mix of other sugars. Table sugar, on the other hand, is sucrose.

So 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose. The body handles honey and sugar differently in the stomach, because honey is fructose plus glucose, while table sugar is sucrose. Honey has around 78 percent sugar and 17 percent water, with a bit of minerals and vitamins making up the rest.

honey has a slightly lower glycemic index than sugar. This is because it is rich in fructose, so more of its sweetness is processed in the liver. Even so, because it lacks fiber to slow the absorption, honey still quickly raises the blood sugar, just like white sugar.

The body treats it nearly like white sugar, so one should limit its daily use just as four maple syrup or agave.

Raw honey has antiviral and antibacterial properties. It carries nutrients that plain sugar simply does not have. Local unfiltered honey can even help against seasonal allergies.

But usual amounts probably do not give enough health benefits to make honey clearly better than white sugar.

honey should not be given to babies under one year or to folks with weakened immune systems. Daily intake of added sugar from honey, fruit juices, maple syrup and other sources should stay around 25 to 30 grams. For women the target is no more than six teaspoons a day, and for men no more than nine.

Using honey instead of sugar in baking needs attention. Honey is sweeter than sugar; sometimes two or three times (so one must use less). Usual advice is half to two thirds of a cup of honey for every cup of sugar.

One should also reduce the liquids in the recipe, because honey itself is wet. Add a bit of baking soda to help in recipes without sour cream or butter. When one mixes sugar with butter, air pockets form, that help the rising.

Replacing sugar with liquid honey removes those pockets and makes cakes denser. Spraying the spoon before measuring honey makes thetask simpler.

honey works well for glazes. Adding a little of it to a braised dish before reducing it gives a bright taste to meats. Even one spoon of chestnut honey in a crème brûlée can add surprisingly a lot of flavor.