Honey has been a go-to natural sweetener for centuries, but it isn’t vegan, and it carries an allergen profile that rules it out for some diets. Brown rice syrup – sold as Orycoze – has emerged as an alternative with a similar taste, color, and texture to honey, minus those two drawbacks. Here’s how the two actually compare.
How Brown Rice Syrup Is Made
Orycoze is produced by boiling brown rice and exposing it to natural enzymes, which break the rice’s starches down into sugars. The result is a brown, honey-like syrup with a nutty, earthy flavor that many customers describe as tasting like a cross between honey and butterscotch – which is why it’s sometimes called “vegan honey.”
What Honey Brings to the Table
Honey contains a mix of glucose and fructose along with trace vitamins (including niacin, riboflavin, and thiamine), amino acids, and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, magnesium, and manganese. It’s long been valued as a natural substitute for refined sugar.
Its main limitations: honey isn’t vegan, and it contains pollen and glandular proteins from bees, which can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive individuals.
Where Brown Rice Syrup Has the Edge
- Vegan: Brown rice syrup contains no animal-derived ingredients, making it a direct substitute for honey in vegan formulations.
- Non-allergenic: Being plant-based, it doesn’t carry honey’s pollen/protein allergen risk.
- Fructose-free: Brown rice syrup’s sugar content is glucose rather than fructose, unlike honey and refined sugar.
- Digestible: Produced organically without artificial additives, it’s generally easy on the stomach.
- Functional in food production: Beyond sweetening, it acts as a binding agent, which is why it’s widely used in snack bars and confectionery – it can hold ingredients together without baking.
Substituting Brown Rice Syrup in Your Recipes
Brown rice syrup is liquid, where sugar is a dry powder, so a direct 1:1 swap needs a couple of adjustments:
- For every 1 cup of sugar called for, use about 1â…“ cups of brown rice syrup (it’s milder in sweetness than refined sugar).
- For every 1 cup of brown rice syrup added, reduce the other liquids in the recipe by about ¼ cup, and add roughly ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to balance the change in consistency.
Brown Rice Syrup vs. Honey at a Glance
| Attribute | Brown Rice Syrup (Orycoze) | Honey |
|---|---|---|
| Vegan | Yes | No |
| Sugar type | Glucose | Glucose + fructose |
| Allergen risk | Low (plant-based) | Pollen/protein allergens possible |
| Flavor | Nutty, earthy, honey-like | Floral, sweet |
| Functional use | Sweetener + binding agent | Sweetener |
The Verdict
Honey remains a nutrient-rich, well-established natural sweetener. But for vegan diets, allergen-sensitive formulations, or applications that need a plant-based binding agent, brown rice syrup is a close-tasting, functionally versatile substitute – one reason customers have taken to calling it “vegan honey.”
