Natural sweeteners: honey and maple sugar

Sweet options

I like to use honey and maple sugar as alternatives to regular sugar, since I can get both of them from local producers.  While I don’t have a sugar shack or apiary in my backyard, there are many within an hour’s drive, not to mention at farmers’ markets.

 According to sugar industry statistics, 90 per cent of the sugar we use (the white sugar we buy in bulk) comes from cane plants in South America, Central America and Australia. We usually import it in an unrefined form, then bring it over by the shipload to process.

It sounds to me like the cane sugar producers may not be getting the bulk of the profits, and there is research showing how cane harvesters are plagued by respiratory ailments from the harvesting practice of burning the cane.

Canadians used to get a lot of our sweet stuff from sugar beets, as told in this interesting report from Statistics Canada, but the crop is only grown in Alberta now (aside from a bit of Ontario production that goes directly to the U.S. market).

Luckily, we have fabulous local, sustainable alternatives to cane sugar. I love stirring these organic maple flakes from Equinox (a Quebec-based company) into my tea, tossing them onto a dessert and using them to make a glaze on salmon or pork.  I’ve also used a more powdery maple sugar from Gibbons Family Farm in Eastern Ontario. 

A friend of mine dabbled in the apiary business a couple of years ago, and I’ve been savouring my dwindling stash of honey from the business. But I know when I run out, there are lots of other local producers, creating honeys from organic flowers, each crop with its own special flavour, such as lavender honey. 

Beyond the nice flavours they bring, both honey and maple syrup offer some health benefits.

Celebrate honey with this recipe for Honey Pear and Hazelnut Tart from our Homemakers Test Kitchen, or try our food editor Andrew Chase’s Maple Custard Ice Cream. Delicious!

Have you used honey or maple syrup as a sweetener?