Since your honey will be processed during the cooking and canning time, it's not very economical to use unpasteurized, local honey. After all, it will become pasteurized, and lose any purported benefits. Nevertheless, I'd avoid honey originating in countries whose track records for tainted foods is suspect.

Having said that, I don't know of any good canning books for honey as the primary sweetener. I have one I found from the 70's, but it's outdated and might not comply with current safety standards.

Since we're beekeeping neophytes, I'd like a good source of recipes myself.

Deborah

Work just as well as sugar? No, it gives you a very different set on jams and jellies - much softer - and a shorter shelf life for fruits and other foods due to the development of molds. It also alters the flavor. Plus it won't give you the water binding effects of sugar that is needed in some recipes nor the color preservation.

If those factors are not important to you then I know of now other reasons you couldn't use it but the amount measurements/proportions would have to be guess work on your part as there are very few tested recipes AFAIK.

NCHFP:

Corn syrup and honey may be used to replace part of the sugar in recipes, but too much will mask the fruit flavor and alter the gel structure. Use tested recipes for replacing sugar with honey and corn syrup. Do not try to reduce the amount of sugar in traditional recipes. Too little sugar prevents gelling and may allow yeasts and molds to grow.

Dave

Have you heard of Agave Nectar? Never used it/tried it, but they do use it as a sweetener without the flavor or color of honey. Here you go...

Here is a link that might be useful: agave nectar WebMD

I do use honey occasionally in my jams, using Pomonas pectin for the set. I make small batch, so I don't worry about trying for a long shelf life, though I have noticed color change. You could try something of the type, and choose to freeze instead for quality purposes.