Vegans aim to minimise animal exploitation and cruelty. They refrain from eating animal products such as eggs, dairy products, meat, and foods. However, honey is somehow controversial among vegans. Some add it to their diet, while others avoid eating the product. They tend to replace honey with plant-based sweeteners. 

Unlike our buzzing friends, humans can survive without honey. There are many vegan alternatives to satisfy those with a sweet tooth. 

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What is Honey?

Honey is a sweet thick golden liquid made by bees from flowers‘ nectar. Honey bees collect nectar from different flower plants, store it in the nectar stomach and ferry it back to the hives, where they transform it to honey using their digestive enzymes. The finished product is stored in the honeycombs and capped with wax for later use. 

Why do bees make honey?

Honey is the sole source of carbohydrates in a honey bee colony. Bees keep their reserve for the cold winter season when they can’t forage due to the freezing temperatures. It has high sugar content, making it a vital energy source. They also use the reserves in rainy seasons or when food resources are scarce. 

Why do vegans not eat honey?

Honey is Bees Food

Bees make honey for themselves: it is their food. The substitute foods that beekeepers give them in the form of sugar syrup and pollen patties make their colonies weak and more susceptible to diseases and sicknesses because they lack vital nutrients.

Honey Production is Exhausting

The process of making honey is highly exhausting for these fantastic insects. To make one teaspoon, it takes 12 bees in their entire life. Surprisingly, we devour this in a second! Vegans avoid this for moral reasons. 

Bees are Manipulated for Their Product

Some queens are artificially inseminated using drones semen for beekeepers’ benefit. Their wings are also clipped to remain in the hive and prevent swarming.

Bees’ Labour is Exploited and Their Energy is Harvested

Since there are few bees populations to pollinate large plantations, bees are loaded in trucks and taken to the fields. This process takes place when the plants are in their most fertile window. 

Forcing bees to gather pollen and nectar from these vast lands of single crops deprives them of a diverse and nourishing diet provided by other habitats. While in transit, the bees cannot forage or defecate. Again mingling of bees from different parts of the nation on the same farms spreads diseases which can lead to colony collapse disorder. Vegans stand against these unethical practices by avoiding bee products, honey, bee pollen, honeycomb, or propolis. 

Bees are Prone to Injury and Death

In modern beekeeping, bees are constantly injured or killed. This is due to parasites and disease, poor insulation, pesticides, and food shortage. Some people even wipe out an entire bee colony before winter since it is uneconomical to feed them in the cold season. Some methods used include dosing the hive with gasoline and setting it on fire, fumigation, and drowning them with soapy water. Pesticides on crops are a leading cause of bee population decline worldwide.

Honey is not Very Beneficial to Our Health.

According to vegans, honey is not particularly healthy. It is stacked with calories, fructose and glucose. It can raise blood sugars, cause weight gain, and cause dental problems in consuming excessively. They consider it a pleasure other than a portion of healthy food. 

There are Numerous Plant-based Alternatives.

There are many substitutes that one can take in place of honey and are consistent with vegans. These include date syrup, sugar beet syrup, maple syrup, and dandelion syrup. Therefore we can give up on our dependence on honey. 

Harvesting Process is Destructive

Harvesting, especially from commercial hives, leaves some bees injured or crushed. Some beekeepers take all the honey to make profit and replace it with inferior sugar syrups. 

Adulteration of Honey in the Market

There is rampant adulteration and mislabeling in the honey business, and you may not be consuming what you think you are consuming. 

Bees Are Important in Biodiversity

Bees play a significant role in pollination. However, the population are slowly diminishing on the face of the earth. Saving them will mean protecting the ecosystems. 

Bees are living beings and not commodities.

Nowadays, you can buy a whole colony online. Bees are treated as commodities showing the extent people have gone and the need to take a different path. Respect should be accorded to every animal despite its size. 

Mass Breeding

Mass breeding affects populations of other competing nectar foraging insects, including native bees such as bumblebees and mason bees. 

Vegans Substitutes for honey

Brown Rice Syrup

It is derived from brown rice by subjecting it to enzymes that break the starches into a thick, coloured syrup.

Barley Malt Syrup

A sweet syrup, golden in colour that is made from sprouted barley.

Maple syrup

It is made from the sap of the maple tree. It contains several vitamins, minerals and numerous protective antioxidants.

Date syrup

A sweetener is made by extracting the liquid portion of cooked dates. 

Be Free Honea

This is a branded sweetener made from molasses, apples, and fresh lemon juice. It looks fresh and feels like honey. Some vegan honea brands contain prebiotics that are beneficial to gut health. 

Black Strap Molasses

A thick dark brown liquid derived from boiling sugar cane juice three times. It is rich in iron and calcium. 

Coconut Nectar

This nectar is derived from the sap of coconut trees. It is minimally processed and considered purer than syrups made from coconut sugar.  

More articles you may like to read –
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Can you eat honey straight from the hive?
Does honey expire? Can honey be ok after 12 months?

FAQS

Is it okay for vegans to eat honey?

Honey is a by-product of bees( animals) and as such, does not meet the definition of a vegan. 

Can vegans eat wild honey?

Vegans try as much as possible to do away with any form of animal exploitation, including that of bees.

Do Vegans eat Marple syrup?

Yes, it is one of the vegan substitutes for honey. 

Are almonds vegan?

Almond is a vegan-friendly food because it is plant-based.