What are the tasty and healthy alternatives to honey

 Kickstart Sugar Detox: 4 Tasty & Healthy Vegan Alternatives to Honey

Climate change, combined with chemical-intensive farming has hit the honey bee population of the world hard. As their habitat shrinks, bees struggle to adapt, but they cannot keep up with the pace of stressors like pollution and changing land-use patterns. These anthropogenic activities are wiping out entire bee colonies and putting food security at risk since bees are critical pollinators.

Add to this, our growing hunger for honey and an industry marked by a race for maximum yields. This puts honey high up on vegan lists of no-nos.

We all know that bees produce honey from flowers for human consumption. Honey extraction is harmless process

Honey is a vital source of nourishment for the hive and involves a highly laboured process: a bee visits hundreds of thousands of flowers and produces just the twelfth of a teaspoon in its lifetime. Every honey bee works with other members to keep the hive functioning and well-fed.

If you are on the lookout for  alternatives to honey, you’ll be glad to know there’s a plant-based sweeteners in the market. You can choose from brown sugar, coconut sugar, and palm jaggery if you’re avoiding refined sugar.

1. Date syrup

It’s among the most readily available natural substitutes for honey, with a long shelf life. You can add this rich, dark nectar to smoothies and desserts, or spray it over breakfast cereals.

Can’t find date syrup in your local grocery store? Make your own date paste at home by soaking a handful of pitted dates in hot water and blending them (with orange juice, for enhanced sweetness) until you have the right consistency.

2. Pomegranate molasses

Essentially, it is pomegranate juice that has been reduced to a thick syrupy consistency. What this concentrate lacks in terms of sweetness, it makes up in its intense garnet appearance. Use it in salad dressings, juices, iced teas and dips for a mildly sweet, tart, fruity punch.

3. Yacón syrup

This is the hidden plant-based sweetener you didn’t know about! It is syrup extracted from the sweet, crisp roots of the yacón plant—a species of daisy that originates in the high Andes of Peru.

Organic farming of yacón in Sikkim has now put this surprisingly nutritious plant within reach. It is also a rich source of iron and antioxidants.

Other benefits include an ability to boost gut health, regulate blood sugar levels and aid weight loss.

Health claims notwithstanding, yacón root syrup is far from cloyingly sweet and can be used just like honey

4. Fruit purees

Fruits are rich in fructose and sucrose, making them natural alternatives to processed sugar and commercial fruit juices. Fresh, frozen and dry fruit, fruit purees and homemade juices also act as replacements for honey.

Overripe bananas are my favourite natural sweeteners and make a mean dairy-free ice-cream when frozen and blended with vanilla. Try topping your breakfast porridge with fresh cut fruit and layer your desserts with pureed mango for a refreshing burst of flavour.

When baking, opt for dry or preserved fruits like raisins, dates, strawberries and apricots. Freeze fresh fruit juice into ice cubes to flavour your drinks and make them look Instagram-worthy, too.

Hope this above given information will be useful to you