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Substitute for Honey

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sam010185
sam010185 Posts: 46 Forumite
in Old style MoneySaving
Hi everyone,

I have a recipe for Banana cakes which I would like to make for my 8 month old son however the recipe uses honey instead of sugar. As my son is so young I cannot give him honey yet (can't remember why but there is a good reason!) so is there anything that I can use instead of honey? I'm guessing that the recipe uses the honey for sweetness as there is no sugar in them so I'd rather not use sugar either as it would defeat the opbject of them being healthy cakes! Do you think they would work without honey or sugar bearing in mind my son would eat anything you put in front of him!!

Thanks in advance

Sam x
«13

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  • adouglasmhor
    adouglasmhor Posts: 15,554 Forumite
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    Concentrated apple and pear juice spread from a health food shop, little bit dear but used by a lot of people as a sweetener. Still sugars but so is honey but they are not highly proccessed like say syrup.

    http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/712122_Suma_Pear_and_Apple_Fruit_Spread__300g.html
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  • purpleivy
    purpleivy Posts: 3,573 Forumite
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    agave nectar from Holland and Barrett?
    [SIZE=-1]"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad"[/SIZE]
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  • adouglasmhor
    adouglasmhor Posts: 15,554 Forumite
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    ~Oh and maltodextrin from a chinese supermarket.
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  • pigpen
    pigpen Posts: 41,017 Forumite
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    I'd use the honey..

    but if you don't want to I'd probably just use ordinary sugar or brown sugar.. ours bodies need sugar so we can have energy and grow properly so the amount he would get in a small slice isn't going to be detrimental to his health.. far from it.. a diet without enough sugar is more dangerous! As sugar is a natural product anyway our bodies can break it down much more eaily than a substitute.

    Sugar is not evil, it is vital.. it is the over consumption of food in general which is detrimental to health.
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  • adouglasmhor
    adouglasmhor Posts: 15,554 Forumite
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    pigpen wrote: »
    I'd use the honey..

    but if you don't want to I'd probably just use ordinary sugar or brown sugar.. ours bodies need sugar so we can have energy and grow properly so the amount he would get in a small slice isn't going to be detrimental to his health.. far from it.. a diet without enough sugar is more dangerous! As sugar is a natural product anyway our bodies can break it down much more eaily than a substitute.

    Sugar is not evil, it is vital.. it is the over consumption of food in general which is detrimental to health.

    All the substitutes above are natural sugars not proccessed ones! So easier for our body to cope with not digest, honey is not reccomended for very little ones becuause of contamination worries.
    The truth may be out there, but the lies are inside your head. Terry Pratchett


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  • sarahsarah
    sarahsarah Posts: 332 Forumite
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    adouglasmhor wrote: »
    honey is not reccomended for very little ones becuause of contamination worries.

    The reason that under 1s can't have honey is because it can casue infant botulism, which can be fatal apparently...
    pigpen wrote: »
    but if you don't want to I'd probably just use ordinary sugar or brown sugar.. ours bodies need sugar so we can have energy and grow properly so the amount he would get in a small slice isn't going to be detrimental to his health.. far from it.. a diet without enough sugar is more dangerous! As sugar is a natural product anyway our bodies can break it down much more eaily than a substitute.

    Sugar is not evil, it is vital.. it is the over consumption of food in general which is detrimental to health.

    This is a bugbear of mine! Really hard to find squash etc for my little one that isn't "sugar free"! When I see "sugar free" I read it as "full of artifical sweeteners" which are yuk in my opinion!
  • sarahsarah
    sarahsarah Posts: 332 Forumite
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    sam010185 wrote: »
    Hi everyone,

    I have a recipe for Banana cakes which I would like to make for my 8 month old son however the recipe uses honey instead of sugar. As my son is so young I cannot give him honey yet (can't remember why but there is a good reason!) so is there anything that I can use instead of honey? I'm guessing that the recipe uses the honey for sweetness as there is no sugar in them so I'd rather not use sugar either as it would defeat the opbject of them being healthy cakes! Do you think they would work without honey or sugar bearing in mind my son would eat anything you put in front of him!!

    Thanks in advance

    Sam x

    How much honey is in the original recipe anyway? I'm guessing not really very much as the bananas should be fairly sweet anyway? How about just adding a bit of sugar instead of the honey and seeing what the taste is, maybe make half quantity of the recipe just to do a test run?
  • floyd
    floyd Posts: 2,722 Forumite
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    I would recommend Agave nectar, you can get it in Sainsbury and I use it in vegan muffin recipes. Its great and you can't tell any difference in a baked product
  • Boodle
    Boodle Posts: 1,050 Forumite
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    sarahsarah wrote: »
    How much honey is in the original recipe anyway? I'm guessing not really very much as the bananas should be fairly sweet anyway? How about just adding a bit of sugar instead of the honey and seeing what the taste is, maybe make half quantity of the recipe just to do a test run?

    I was going to suggest the same. You could perhaps add some dried fruit too if you really wanted to boost the sweetness, or even some pureed apple. If the recipe contains milk you could replace some of it with orange or apple juice - I have done this a few times in baking for my daughter.
    Love and compassion to all x
  • red
    red Posts: 666 Forumite
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    have you thought of adding beetroot or carrot (grated or the pulp left from juicing) they are both very sweet but help to keep baking cakes moist!
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