These are the differences between honey, maple syrup and agave syrup
Are you a sweet tooth pur sang? Then you undoubtedly enjoy honey, maple syrup or agave syrup from time to time. Delicious in tea, for example, or drizzled over a thick stack of pancakes. But what exactly is the difference between these three? And when is it better to choose one over another?
Honey
The best known of the three is undoubtedly honey. Probably because we use it the most, too. You can bake with it, choose it as a spread and use it for a sore throat. Bees suck nectar from flowers, which they then turn into honey using saliva. Many factories heat honey before putting it into jars for sale. They do this, among other reasons, to kill bacteria. But first and foremost, it makes it possible to get crystallized honey out of the large 300 kg barrels. Filtering and pumping it in these kinds of industrial processes is also easier at a higher temperature. Liquid honey is almost always heated honey. When honey is heated, many of its healthy components, such as enzymes and pollen grains, are destroyed.
Honey from the beekeeper
Beekeepers who produce organic honey do not do this. As a result, many vitamins and minerals remain preserved in the honey. All high-quality honey crystallizes. Heating is the only way to make honey liquid again. That is why we like to buy raw honey and creamed honey. Creamed honey is made by stirring. This makes the crystals increasingly smaller until they form one whole (a cream). The only exception is acacia honey. It naturally crystallizes only after several years, which means you can buy it in liquid form. Did you know that a bizarre amount of European honey is fake and largely diluted with cheap sugar syrup? So what you are buying is just sugary junk that has nothing to do with real honey.
Maple syrup
The largest producer of this sweet treat is Canada. When I studied there for several months, I was bombarded with maple imagery. From the national flag to sweaters, the maple leaf is everywhere. Maple syrup is tapped from the trunk of the maple tree. This happens every year in spring, when the sap is extra sweet. After tapping, the sap is heated. This turns it into a thick, caramel-like syrup. The darker the caramel color, the stronger the flavor. These maple syrups are class C. If the syrup is light in color, the flavor is milder. These maple syrups belong to class A.
Agave syrup
For the production of agave syrup, you have to travel to another continent: Mexico. That is where you find the agave plant, which contains the sap used for agave syrup. The sap is extracted only from the core of the plant. Just like maple syrup, the agave sap is heated after being tapped from the agave plant. This turns it into a thicker syrup.
Which is the healthiest?
All three sweeteners contain sugars. Well, they are called sweeteners for a reason. Honey consists of approximately 20% water and 80% glucose and fructose. It also contains a number of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and enzymes. When the stuff is heated, however, quite a few of those beneficial substances disappear. That is why it is better to buy honey from a beekeeper. They do not heat the honey, so the nutrients are preserved as much as possible.
Maple syrup also contains glucose and fructose, as well as sucrose. Just as with honey, heating the syrup causes many vitamins and minerals to be lost. The same applies to agave syrup. However, if you compare agave syrup with honey and maple syrup, you will see that agave syrup contains a much higher percentage of fructose. The high fructose content gives agave syrup a low glycemic index. This means that carbohydrates are absorbed into your blood much more slowly. Do you tend to have quite a few spikes in your blood sugar level? Then agave syrup may well be the best choice of the three.
Raw honey
After such a biology lesson, the question naturally arises: what is the best choice overall? If you want to make a healthy choice, go for raw honey. Honey from the beekeeper. Because, as with so many products, the same applies here: choose an unprocessed product. The fewer additives listed on the ingredients list, the better. Avoid supermarket honey. It is not difficult once you have tasted beekeeper’s honey—you will never want to go back. And are you making wonderfully fluffy pancakes or banana bread? Then a splash of maple syrup or agave syrup is of course absolutely delicious. But it has nothing to do with being healthy—and fortunately, it does not always have to.
Also read:
- The truth about honey: this is how it really is
- This is the Rolls-Royce of honey
- Which is the better choice: cola or fruit juice?
Sources: De Hippe Vegetariër, HLN.be
