Sustainability Profile: Liquid Sweeteners
Honey banana bread that I love so very very much
Whether you use it in your banana bread, drizzle it over your pan cakies or put it in your smoothies, we all love a little sweetness. In this post, I break down the sustainability of your favorite liquid sweeteners: honey, agave nectar and maple syrup.
Honey
This sweet product of our bee friends is also pretty sustainable. The major environmental concern surrounding honey is hive mismanagement, but since it’s pretty easy to find local honey in the U.S., you can simply ask the seller how they care for their bees.
Red flags for hive mistreatment include harvesting honey during the fall (just before bees need it to eat in the winter), purposely killing off hives during the winter and being located near farms that use neonicotinoids or other bad, bad pesticides.
Other than that, honey production is in the clear for sustainability because bees actually do a butt ton to help crops grow, which is super important to us humans. I like to buy local honey because that means it didn’t waste energy traveling too far and I can talk to the seller about their bees, but other people like to buy organic versions from the grocery store.
It’s almost impossible for local varieties of honey to be labeled “organic” because beekeepers have no control over where their bees travel. Even if a conventional farm is 4-8 miles away, the bees could be coming in contact with pesticides from that farm.
Depending on your location and perspective, you might prefer either local or organic honey. Don't waste too much time trying to find something local and organic because it might not exist in your area.
Honey is sugar so it’s de facto not the best for your health, but it does have some vitamins and minerals that give it the edge over sweeteners like granulated cane sugar.
Like syrup, local honey can get a little pricey, but it's a good option if you're trying to be sustainable while getting a bit of sweetness.
Bottom line: Go local or organic all day. Ask how they treat their bees.
Agave Nectar
I’ve never been a big agave fan. The taste just doesn’t do it for me. However, I know it’s popular in some circles, so here we go!
Agave comes from the agave plant. To get the agave nectar out of the agave plant, producers need to crush the plant, collect its juices and then boil those juices to concentrate them.
In the crushing process, the agave plant has to die. This isn’t supes sustainable because the plant is killed before it blooms, taking food away from the endangered Mexican long nose and lesser long nose bats that rely on eating nectar from those blooms.
I also found some sources that said poor working conditions are associated with agave farms in Mexico. I wasn’t able to find any A+ sources to back this up, so it may or may not be representative of all agave operations.
If you’re in the northern U.S., the case against agave is even worse since most of it is grown in Mexico. This means it will have to travel pretty far to get to you, releasing GHGs the whole way.
It’s pretty budget friendly and has mixed health reviews, but for the sustainability concerns, it’s probably not worth it anyway.
Bottom line: It’s cheap, but not worth the bat damage.
Maple Syrup
Let’s be real, who doesn’t love maple syrup? It's pancakes' best buddy and for the most part is pretty sustainable. The main environmental concerns associated with syrup production are its hefty uses of energy and plastic.
To create maple syrup, producers heat sap from maple trees to 119 F. This heating process is v energy intensive and often powered by fossil fuels. Some smaller syrup producers burn wood to heat syrup, which is a more sustainable option but still releases CO2, a notable GHG.
To transport the sap from the trees to processing stations, many producers use a system of plastic tubing. Although some of this plastic is recyclable, not all of it is. Again, plastic is mondo bad for everyone and everything involved, so this is a bit of a bummer.
Despite this, if you’re syrup is local, the saved GHGs from transportation could outweigh the energy and plastic use. If you want more info on syrup making and sustainability, La Terre Noire wrote an excellent article about her adventures in syrup making.
Like any sugar, maple syrup is not supes healthy, but it does have a surprising amount of minerals and nutrients. This makes it a better option than some other more refined sugars.
If you buy a local variety it will be p pricey, but it'll definitely be worth it for a special treat.