Hi, has anyone substituted honey for agave nectar in any of Elana's recipes and had no problems with an equal measure substitute?
I follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, so cannot digest any sweetener but honey.
Thanks for your advice!
Gluten Free Forums - Elana's Pantry » general
Substitute honey for agave nectar?
(21 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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I haven't tried to substitute but it is equal amounts of honey for agave.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Honey is a little sweeter than Agave, so it would be okay to put a little less. You might increase the oil or water slightly when doing so to ensure enough moisture. Our family is about to start the SCD diet. I am going out to buy the book in a few minutes. barnes and noble is holding it for me.
Lisa
Posted 2 years ago # -
just curious... what's SCD diet? excuse my ignorance
Posted 2 years ago # -
SCD is easily googled, but here's a brief description. It is a diet beyond Gluten Free, designed to heal the intestines. It involves no starch of any kind, not even arrowroot. It involves just using Honey as a sweetner, nothing else (unless you want to use sacharine). It is good for people with Celiac, crohn's, IBS, Chronic fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Ulcerative Colitis, and Autism. Check out http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info for more information. The testimonials there are incredible.
Posted 2 years ago # -
You would be even better off using yacon syrup. Yacon's FOS cannot be utilized by our body but get used by our good bacteria instead. Tastes great. I have most of my patients use yacon or stevia, especially diabetics, since all the fructose in agave promotes insulin resistance.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The Specific Charbohydrate Diet only allows honey. Yacon is not allowed because the idea is to starve the bad bacteria and yeast in the gut to repair leaky gut syndrome and reduce inflammation and IBD. The diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and meat. Honey is used in baked goods that are consumed as occassional treats.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Good luck with this diet. It's worth a shot. For me, I simply cannot digest fruit or honey. Period. It's the one thing I keep trying to introduce back into my diet--even after having given up all grains--and always fail at it. I think I have what is called Fructose Malabsoprtion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose_malabsorption
Something to look into if you find the fruit/honey route is not working for you.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Looking to substitute agave as well.... not liking the research on agave with it being so high infructose content, even though it doesn't affect blood suger levels it has shown to be toxic in the liver... also heated to high temperatures.
Also a variety of studies suggesting FOS to be detrimental to people suffering from chronic candida (myself). My Naturopth has urged me to stay away from both.... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.Posted 2 years ago # -
Yacon - basically a form of fructose that the body cannot absorb. is that good/bad (?)
Honey - 30% fructose
Agave - 50-80 % fructose
Maple syrup - sucrose (50% fructose)
all other fruit - various fructose combinationsNo matter what trendy ingredient some people have managed to pick up from S. America/Asia and sell to rich Americans at Whole Foods for $10, it's all variations sucrose, glucose and fructose in the end to your body.
If it's not fructose then who knows if it's hurting your body not...
And if you are so paranoid about fructose and your liver, then stop eating sweets and ANY carbs including carrots just in case (only eat animal meat/fat)!
Only GI, and various nutrients in the raw sugar differ between the sweeteners (I have found).
Starting to think the anti-agave nonsense is just the HFCS lobby's P.R. department writing a smear campaign. or the honey group. Or the yacon entrepreneurs...
Stevia: It's an herb (drug) which is tricking your body into thinking what you are eating is sweet. Just because it's an "herb" doesn't mean its safe or non-toxic. It feels like herbal Splenda to me.
So really, it's up to personal preference and how you want to keep your blood sugar and balance the damage to your body.
For me, I am preferring sweeteners which primitive people have been eating for thousands of years -- and that's honey and palm sugar. Palm sugar costs $1-3 for the same about of $5 of agave or $6 maple syrup... and I can melt it down and it has a nice earthy taste and it's RAW from a coconut tree.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi ntimms, we follow the S.C.D diet, I've found substituting honey for Agave easy it's the same sweetness so keep the amounts the same, I haven't added any more liquid to recipes when using honey and every thing I've made has worked out great. Honey is sweeter than cane sugar so if you are substituting honey for sugar in a recipe 1kg of sugar = 750gms of honey. We have been following S.C.D for about 5 years, my partner has U.C. Recently we stopped following S.C.D and Matt ate some gluten free products from the supermarket, unfortunately this caused a flare up so we are back on S.C.D it's surprising how quickly this helped his system.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Jaylu,
It is so great to hear from someone on the SCD for over 5 years. We have now been on it for three weeks and we are using honey the same as agave, like you said, with no added liquids. The recipes work out fine. My husband has CD and is already free of symptoms. It was a mild case. My daughter is GI and we were told that she can't tolerate any grains, so the diet is great for both.
I love Elana's tasty recipes. We are eating healthier and more variety than ever!
Lisa
Posted 2 years ago # -
my husband is on the scd diet and i have been substituting honey for agave as well, works great! generally i go by consistency when substituting things, and agave and honey are pretty much the same consistency!!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hello, I've used honey in the pear crisp recipe rather than agave. Same proportions. It tasted better than the agave/ I like agave in the breads, cakes etc but the flavor of honey was better with the fresh fruit.
I've heard people talk about the health bennies of yacon syrup but does anyone know of reasonable sources price-wise? At the cost I've seen online it might cost me fifteen bucks to make an 8x8 pan of pear crisp (at that cost I'd just bag the whole thing and eat fresh pears instead :-)
Posted 2 years ago # -
The Paleo Diet would say to just eat the fresh pears. We have used some of these almond flour recipes to transition, and will continue to use them for treats and special occasions, but we are going more towards raw fruits and veggies with our meat.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I generally do a 1:1 substitution with either a naturally runny honey (like acacia honey) or I create runny honey by warming 'standard' (e.g. clover) honey before measuring. I am allergic to agave, so I can't compare my results using honey to the original recipe, but I have found everything to be quite tasty.
One note - the paler and more transparent the honey, the more neutral the flavor. If you are seeking a sweetener that doesn't impart flavor, avoid heavy, dark colored honeys. If you are looking to flavor the product with a honey taste, use the darker honeys. I don't know how flavorful agave is, but I tend toward the milder honeys for light colored baked goods, and darker honeys for darker, more heavily spiced baked goods.
Posted 2 years ago # -
A lot of people are posting positive stuff about using honey as a sub, but nobody has specified yet whether it's raw or not. Can anybody offer some insight on whether the honey should be raw - and how much more difficult/easy it would be depending on which honey you use?
Posted 1 year ago # -
In case anyone is interested in this article from Huffington Post today about Agave.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/agave-this-sweetener-is-f_b_537936.htmlPosted 1 year ago # -
It doesn't matter if the honey is raw or not. If I can find raw honey, I use it in recipes that are not heated, like Elana's Strawberry Vanilla Ice Cream. I don't usually spend the extra money for raw honey that I am going to heat/cook. i hope that helps.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I have been using vegetable glycerine, the same product used in lotions and hair products as a sweetener since it was introduced to me during a medical seminar I was attending. The medical doctors were nutritional "experts" and said the glycemic index was low and that it was suitable for diabetics. After 7 years, I have never found anyone who had a food sensitivity to this and I now use this and recommend it to my patients. I have found that agave nectar often tests as a food allergy. The fact that it is mostly fructose and contains saponins is enough for me to stay away from it. I use the glycerine in all recipes.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I used the glycerine in my LC days. It gave me horrible gut pain and "D", but I have a corn allergy and if I remember correctly it is made from corn, so not surprising.
Posted 1 year ago #
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