Brown Rice Syrup is a sweetener that has seen a surge in popularity in the last few years, particularly in this last year. There are a few factors to this. One major one is the push for more natural sweeteners, which sweetener manufacturers are always excited to hear, as it lets them experiment with a new product. But what if you don’t have any?
Brown rice syrup substitutes include maple syrup, high fructose corn syrup, honey, and more. Brown Rice Syrup is a liquid sweetener that is used to add a sweet flavor to otherwise bitter drinks such as tea and coffee. That means it can be substituted with basically any other sweetening syrup.
But just saying “substitute it with any other syrup” is inexact, unhelpful, and honestly a little inaccurate. If you try to mix in maple syrup with your coffee, for instance, it will not have the same texture as Brown Rice Syrup.
So, here are some alternatives, as well as how to prepare them.
1. Maple Syrup
Starting with the previously mentioned maple syrup, this is an extremely thick syrup that runs the risk of gumming up your coffee or tea if you add it in raw. However, there is a trick to the thinning and thickening of any chemicals that you can use to make maple syrup an excellent Brown Rice Syrup substitute.
If two liquids are of extremely different density, then they will not be able to mix. If they are of approximately the same density, however, then they will be able to mix. What you need is a “stepping stone”, like cream. Cream is thicker than coffee, but less thick than maple syrup.
Maple syrup will not mix well with coffee, but it will mix with cream. And then, the cream is similar enough to the coffee to mix with the coffee, thereby carrying the maple syrup along with it.
2. Honey
Honey is many people’s first instinct when it comes to replacing basically any sweetener. And for good reason, as honey is delicious in even the most natural, unrefined state (indeed, most honey in completely unrefined which, if you know anything about food science, is absolutely baffling).
The really incredible thing is that not only is honey everyone’s first instinct, but it also generally works every time as well. The only catch is that it is much sweeter than Brown Rice Syrup, and as such you only need about half the total amount of honey as compared to your Brown Rice Syrup measurements.
3. Date Syrup
Date syrup is certainly an unusual one. Many people are totally unaware of its existence, in fact. However, it has been a godsend to a great many people who have lacked for sweeteners during the mad rush of the pandemic. You need only look to your local middle eastern supermarket for the syrup.
Not only is date syrup of similar consistency and sweetness as Brown Rice Syrup, but it is also pretty healthy. Many unprocessed syrups have health benefits (just look at honey), so this is hardly a surprise. The differences between date syrup and Brown Rice Syrup should be considered differences in kind, not quality.
Date syrup is rich in vitamins A, K, and B6 (which is a mood boosting vitamin if that sort of thing is important to you). It also contains magnesium, which helps balance one’s serotonin levels.
4. Corn Syrup
Since it has seemed to have infected so much of the American diet, it is easy to see corn syrup as the natural antagonist of the food world. It is not without its benefits however, and one of them is that its sweet flavor is strong enough to show through in practically any environment.
What does this mean? Well, it means that even if you add very little, you will still get corn syrup’s flavor. It also means that even if your coffee or tea have other overpowering flavors to them (such as some coffee beans and tea bags) you will still be able to discern the corn syrup’s effect on them.
This makes it easy to see why corn syrup is so widespread. Being so noticeable means that it can be put in anything. Working in such small amounts means it is incredibly efficient. Just be careful how much you use, as the trade off of its efficiency is that it is easily the least healthy off all the substitutes.
Which Substitute Is The Most Healthy?
It is clearly not corn syrup, as just mentioned. Date syrup is a strong contender, but the prize for most healthy Brown Rice Syrup Substitute has to go to honey. Any other syrup can bring as many vitamins to the table as it wants. Honey is a naturally occurring antibiotic.
Some people are skeptical of this on first hearing it. It sounds like the talk of an essential oil salesperson: Take this honey, it will cure your infection and balance your humors. If you want confirmation of honey’s benefits for your immune system, look no further than the warnings on every bottle and packet of honey.
Every bottle or packet of natural, unrefined honey (the healthiest kind) will carry with it a warning indicating that it is not to be eaten by children under two years old. This is not for nothing: Honey is so powerful at fighting infections and diseases that it can act in place of a sufficiently weak immune system.
Doing so can compromise a developing immune system however, such as that of a child. Basically, honey is so healthy that an unhealthy body can become dependent on it. Do not worry, however. This is not nearly as much of a risk for a grown adult, so you can consume honey at your leisure.
