Thursday, July 26, 2012

Bee-Free Honee!!!!!!!!!!

I'm one of those vegans who doesn't intentionally eat honey but doesn't stress when I'm served a bread that contains honey at a restaurant or friend's house. I love bees, and I know factory bee farming can be cruel. According to my cookbook hero (and the editor of Cookin' Crunk, y'all) Jo Stepaniak, "Even the most careful keeper cannot help but squash or otherwise kill many of the bees in the process. During unproductive months, some beekeepers may starve their bees to death or burn the hive to avoid complex maintenance."

Yea, not cool. But for some reason, I still don't stress about accidentally eating honey like I would stress if I accidentally ate cheese or, heaven forbid, meat. Nevertheless, I don't buy the shit. I use agave instead, and I think it tastes even better than honey. But a few weeks ago, a nice lady named Katie (that rhymes!) sent me a sample of her Bee-Free Honee:


It's made from Washington apples, sugar, and lemon juice. That's it. And holy wow, y'all. Holy effing wow. This stuff is ten times better than I remember honey tasting, and it's that many times better than agave. It has the thickness of honey, which agave lacks, with a special tart sweetness that could only come from apples and lemon juice. I wanted to try using it in ways that let its natural yumminess shine, so I first enjoyed some on a Whole Grain Bagel with Almond Butter and Bee-Free Honee:


Then I whipped up an easy-as-pie Honey Mustard Salad Dressing using Dijon mustard, a tad bit of water, and Bee-Free Honee:


And this morning, I drizzled some Cooked Barley Flakes with Bee-Free Honee, Walnuts, and Cinnamon:


Honestly, I could just eat this stuff with a spoon, and I kinda already have. There are very few products that I review on this blog that I cannot live without, but this is one of them. And thankfully, it's not too pricey. You can buy a four-pack (that's 12-ounce bottles) for $19 on Amazon or a single bottle for $4.45 on Pangea. Yea!

16 comments:

VeganLinda said...

I was never a big honey fan in my pregan days, but this stuff looks really good.

panda with cookie said...

I have a bottle in my cabinet. I never cared for honey but I love this stuff.

Anonymous said...

looks like a great product! and that bagel is making my mouth water! yum!

FoodandLoathing said...

Wow! I love the idea of this product because I struggle with the question of whether agave is more or less sustainable than honey. I'm going to look for this right away.

Allysia said...

I think we have a similar attitude about vegan things. There's a lot to be said for making veganism appear easy and awesome, instead of this super complex thing that makes people say, "well I could never do that". Obviously it's not complex to avoid honey, but sometimes you're in a situation where you have to eat anonymous bread (or whatever else) and you really don't know what's in it. Best not to stress!

And this honey looks awesome, I hope my city starts stocking it! Or I could just amazon it!

xvavaveganx said...

!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think this review is about to change a lot of lives ;) I was never a huge honey user but I did enjoy it on occasion and I do miss the thickness of it in homemade granola and things like that. One thing that I really missed is honey cake!! On the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) we eat apples and honey and honey cake to symbolize a sweet new year and honey cake was one of my favorite treats in my pre vegan days! I can't wait to get this stuff and try and veganize a honey cake! So excited thanks for the review!

Alissa said...

seems to be on hold on Amazon...:( would totally try this!!

sarah@thesweetlife said...

Thanks for the honee review! I love your blog because you introduce me to so many things out there.
For that reason I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog award.
You can check it out @thesweetlife

thanks for your helpful blog and congrats on the coobook!

tender b. said...

Those potatoes look great! I love that there is now a vegan alternative to honey that mimics it instead of needing a completely different product.

Mike and Amie said...

Hi Bianca,
My name is Amie and I found you through my friend at Oh SHe Glows! I am a San DIego CA girl and my parents just recently moved to Mississippi (Birmingham Alabama Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). They are in Starkville. Any chance you teach a class so I can send them your way to learn how to eat clean in the South!? I'm trying to make sure they live long and strong! Keep us the clean living!
Amie
760-212-0054

Danai @ Living, Learning, Eating said...

Vegan honey is such a cool idea! The almond butter & honey bagel looks awesome - finally there's someone who likes nut butter & honey like I do. SUCH a winning combo :)

Congrats on the cookbook! Are you self-publishing? I self-published a middle grade novel, but I don't know how to promote it - do you have any tips?

xx,
LLE
http://living-learning-eating.blogspot.com

Barb@ThatWasVegan said...

How funny, I just recently tried this and loved it, of course. The picture of your honee mustard dressing/salad is making me hungry :)

Babette said...

Great! I didn't know about that Bee-Free honey. I also use agave when a recipe calls for honey, but I'd really like to try that new product.

Like you, I don't stress about it if the bread at the restaurant or at other people's house contains honey, although I'd never buy that.

Anonymous said...

"I struggle with the question of whether agave is more or less sustainable than honey."

What is there to struggle with when given honey is the stolen food of bees that they work so hard for and die trying to protect?

HONEY

Why don't vegans consume/use honey and beeswax products?

Bees are insects, and insects are among the most diverse group of animals on Earth. If you want to get an idea of how cruel honey (including manuka honey or any other type of bee honey) is:


"Bees will defend their honey with their lives if the hive is threatened and die after using their sting. When the honey is stolen by humans, the bees are fed a replacement sugar like corn syrup or sugar syrup which is devoid of the nutrients bees need and therefore the bees suffer from diseases and parasites as their health weakens. To save money on having to feed the bees the syrup when they are not producing honey over winter, farmers often burn the hives and start a new colony in the next spring. Queen bees normally live for 7 years but are routinely killed each year and replaced with a new queen to prevent swarming, when the older queen takes her colony to escape into the wild. Queen bees are raped by artificial insemination, and the male bees crushed to obtain the semen. Queen bees as well as other bees are transported in cardboard boxes through the post and many die in transit. Bees in farmed hives regularly suffer the travel of hundreds of miles stacked on trucks to different locations. " ― Dr. Will Tuttle, The World Peace Diet www.amazon.com/World-Peace-Diet-Spiritual-Harmony/dp/1590560833


To learn more: www.vegansociety.com/uploadedFiles/User_Hubpages/Education/Education_Resources/Honey.pdf

Anonymous said...

"I struggle with the question of whether agave is more or less sustainable than honey."

What is there to struggle with when given honey is the stolen food of bees that they work so hard for and die trying to protect?

HONEY

Why don't vegans consume/use honey and beeswax products?

Bees are insects, and insects are among the most diverse group of animals on Earth. If you want to get an idea of how cruel honey (including manuka honey or any other type of bee honey) is:


"Bees will defend their honey with their lives if the hive is threatened and die after using their sting. When the honey is stolen by humans, the bees are fed a replacement sugar like corn syrup or sugar syrup which is devoid of the nutrients bees need and therefore the bees suffer from diseases and parasites as their health weakens. To save money on having to feed the bees the syrup when they are not producing honey over winter, farmers often burn the hives and start a new colony in the next spring. Queen bees normally live for 7 years but are routinely killed each year and replaced with a new queen to prevent swarming, when the older queen takes her colony to escape into the wild. Queen bees are raped by artificial insemination, and the male bees crushed to obtain the semen. Queen bees as well as other bees are transported in cardboard boxes through the post and many die in transit. Bees in farmed hives regularly suffer the travel of hundreds of miles stacked on trucks to different locations. " ― Dr. Will Tuttle, The World Peace Diet www.amazon.com/World-Peace-Diet-Spiritual-Harmony/dp/1590560833


To learn more: www.vegansociety.com/uploadedFiles/User_Hubpages/Education/Education_Resources/Honey.pdf

Anonymous said...

"I struggle with the question of whether agave is more or less sustainable than honey."

What is there to struggle with given the fact that honey is the stolen food of bees that they work so hard for and die trying to protect?

HONEY

Why don't vegans consume/use honey and beeswax products?

Bees are insects, and insects are among the most diverse group of animals on Earth. If you want to get an idea of how cruel honey (including manuka honey or any other type of bee honey) is:


"Bees will defend their honey with their lives if the hive is threatened and die after using their sting. When the honey is stolen by humans, the bees are fed a replacement sugar like corn syrup or sugar syrup which is devoid of the nutrients bees need and therefore the bees suffer from diseases and parasites as their health weakens. To save money on having to feed the bees the syrup when they are not producing honey over winter, farmers often burn the hives and start a new colony in the next spring. Queen bees normally live for 7 years but are routinely killed each year and replaced with a new queen to prevent swarming, when the older queen takes her colony to escape into the wild. Queen bees are raped by artificial insemination, and the male bees crushed to obtain the semen. Queen bees as well as other bees are transported in cardboard boxes through the post and many die in transit. Bees in farmed hives regularly suffer the travel of hundreds of miles stacked on trucks to different locations. " ― Dr. Will Tuttle, The World Peace Diet www.amazon.com/World-Peace-Diet-Spiritual-Harmony/dp/1590560833


To learn more: www.vegansociety.com/uploadedFiles/User_Hubpages/Education/Education_Resources/Honey.pdf