Keto honey substitute with powerful ingredients

Keto honey substitute? You most probably think this is a joke! Well, it almost sounds like a joke. However, we are as serious as we can be when we say that honey has been almost the only sweetener known to Europeans in antiquity. Native South Americans had stevia and Aztec sweet herb, Tibetans had Monk fruit, but we the Europeans used mostly honey before the sugar revolution. I guess it’s a tricky task. As we know, on Keto, as well as on any other kind of low-carb diet, sugar is a big no-no! In particular, fructose is unwanted. You can read more about the reasons why fructose is not so good for us in this article.

Our Keto honey will not serve only as a substitute, It’ll be a true homage to honey! We have to say, if you are metabolically healthy or you healded yourself with Keto, there’s no reason to avoid the occasional taste of real honey. However, if you are a Ketonian still striving to fix your metabolic health, this Keto honey substitute will also serve as a booster! But before we give you the recipe, let’s see the brief history of honey…

I think one of the biggest mistakes in nutrition is to have dogmatic views of food. At the end of the day, I set out to find the optimal human diet, not to dogmatically preach the carnivore diet. I do believe that animal foods are the keystone of human nutrition, and should be the center of any healthy diet, but I also believe that carbs can have a beneficial role in human biology and I’ve seen firsthand how hunter gatherers prize certain non-carnivore foods like honey when they are available. 

Dr Paul Saladino

Our love for the honey throughout history

Originally, honey was rarely available and used only on special occasions. For centuries, honey history is part of myths and legends where it is mentioned as a gift from the sky. The nectar, the ambrosia, food of the Gods are just some of the words used throughout the ancient world to describe honey. Well, it was believed that honey has magical healing powers. There are so many records about honey. Some say that it’s been present on Earth for 40 million years! Homo sapiens evolved approximately 50,000 years ago while the bees were making honey perhaps 40 million years before that.

Medicinal purposes in many civilisations

People from Africa, from where the honey history began, then from Egypt, Greece, Spain, Israel and India, had been passionate honeycomb collectors. Despite the fear of bee stings, humans developed the whole science about beekeeping. For some unknown reason, the practice of beekeeping ceased during the time of the Roman Empire. Greeks understood that honey is not only important as food but as a remedy for healing. Ancient Greek recipe books are full of desserts and honey cakes. Cheeses were mixed with honey to make them more delicious.

The father of modern medicine, well known ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, wrote about the healing properties of honey. He also believed that honey was good for the skin (which is the best way to use honey if you switch to Keto), and was not wrong because honey can actually cure skin infections. However, our Keto honey substitute recipe will borrow those healing properties and simply exclude the fructose content.

While on a Ketogenic diet, we exclude all forms of sugar and this includes honey consumption! Yet, a variety of original Greek recipes calls for it and you might have noticed the word “Meli” meaning honey in many Greek desserts or even main dishes. The question arises:

How can we make Keto honey?

Well, not actually. But we can create a substitute that will taste similar and have some of those health benefits. You can use it as a syrup for your Keto pancakes, waffles, biscuits, smoothies and salads. It’s worth trying because our goal is to make Keto lifestyle enjoyable, fun and healthy. Without missing anything from our traditional cuisine and gastro-habits.

For this recipe, I decided to use another extremely healthy bee product which has only 2g of carbs per tablespoon. Well, I am talking about bee pollen, considered as the ultimate health-boosting supplement by many specialists. It tastes very similar to honey, but some people are allergic to it. You can exclude it in that case and use some natural honey aroma. It’s proclaimed to be boosting immunity by conventional and alternative medicine specialists. Furthermore, we will be adding some propolis drops which rarely cause any allergies. In fact, together with royal jelly, propolis is used to treat many allergies and intolerances.

Keto honey substitute – yes you will love it!

Keto honey substitute

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Roberta Kapsalis Course: Keto honeyDifficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 500 ml (17,6 fl oz) mineral water

• 1 medium-sized organic lemon

• 2 tbsp grass-fed beef gelatine (additional 100 ml water for soaking)

• 1 tsp cinnamon (or 2 cinnamon sticks)

• 1 tsp  whole cloves

• 20-30 drops monk fruit extract sweetener

• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

• 2 tbsp bee pollen (alternatively use natural honey aroma)

• 12 drops propolis

Directions

• Place the mineral water with monk fruit and spices in a deep pot. Wash and slice the lemon and add it to the water
  Bring the mixture to a boiling point and then reduce the heat. Let it simmer for 7 minutes
  Remove the lemon slices and cloves.
• Mix the gelatine with water and add it to the mixture. Keep stirring for another 7 minutes or until gets thicker
  Remove from the heat. Let it cool down. Occasionally stir with a whisk. Using a ladle take out a small amount of the mixture and pour it into a smaller bowl. Add the organic bee pollen and propolis drops. Mix well.
• Using a metallic strainer, strain the mixture into a glass mason jar. Let it cool down totally and place it in the refrigerator
  The Keto honey substitute will solidify in the refrigerator, but before using it, take some amount out of the jar and leave it at room temperature for 10 minutes. it will return to syrup or honey consistency.

Notes

• Keto honey substitute can be used anywhere where honey goes, you can adjust the sweetness by adding more monk fruit if required
• It’s ideal to use monk fruit extract because it has a similar flavour to real honey.

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