Because honey is off-limits and conventional white refined sugar (and brown sugar, too!) contains bone char (also called broken up animal bones) to get its brilliant white color, vegans often prefer maple syrup to flavor cookies and stir-fries. The only issue? It's possible that the greener option isn't the animal-byproduct-free decent choice you imagined. Here's more about maple syrup and its standing among vegans.
Maple Syrup's Advantages:
Maple syrup is produced using maple tree sap that has been cooked to extract the glucose and decrease the moisture content. Caramelization of all those sugars gives maple syrup its distinctive color and taste.
While pure maple syrup is regarded better than added sugars, like with any sweetener, it must be used in limit and used to eliminate sugar rather than as a supplement to your meals. As a result, maple syrup provides the following advantages:
- Rich in riboflavin, a B vitamin that helps the body's metabolic functions;
- Has a somewhat smaller glycemic index than refined sugar, suggesting that it may increase blood sugar more slowly;
- Is an excellent provider of minerals and vitamins;
- Includes antioxidants with anti-cancer and anti-diabetic properties that may aid the body's battle with cancer and diabetes;
- Manganese is plentiful in this food, which helps with brain function.
- Zinc-rich, therefore aids in immune function development (4); and
- Potassium is a mineral that helps to lower blood pressure and the risk of stroke.
Is Maple Syrup a Vegan Product?
One issue arises from the manufacturing process. After the sap has been gathered, it is brought to the sugarhouse and boiled down; this procedure dries the moisture and caramelizes the sugar, producing a beautiful thick mixture.
However, since it produces a bit of froth in the syrup, several companies add a non-vegan substance to minimize the foam.
Animal fat is utilized in the manufacture of maple syrup to remove the froth from the item once it has been cooked, to put it simply. Moreover, animal fat isn't even mentioned in the list of ingredients on product package, so people may go their whole lives munching pancakes without noticing they're consuming lard.
How Come Maple Syrup Isn't Vegan?
A further explanation why maple syrup isn't vegan is that it includes additional honey or milk-derived "butter taste." Some with the word "butter" in their title still are vegan-friendly, but some aren't, thus if the item you're interested in isn't mentioned but says "butter," it's best to pass it up and purchase something else. If it reads "honey," you should probably avoid it since it almost usually means genuine honey.
How can you know if the maple syrup you're using is vegan? Read the labels for the most part. You may always do some research if your syrup isn't marked as verified natural, kosher, or vegan. Send an email to the maple syrup business in question or message their Facebook to check out if they utilize animal byproducts at any step of the manufacturing cycle.