Raw honey is the closer in Asher's Nuts. A small amount softens the bitterness of the 70% dark chocolate and adds a floral finish. It's still a sugar, and the FDA counts honey as added sugar. Since we use only a little, one 2-tablespoon serving has about 3 g of total sugars, about 2 g of them added.
Why use raw honey instead of refined sugar?
For flavor. Honey is more than sweet. Table sugar is pure sweetness and nothing else. Raw honey brings floral, lightly caramel notes that work well with toasted walnuts, mellow macadamias and dark cocoa. Because it has more character than sugar, a smaller amount does more work. That's why it sits fourth on the ingredient list, behind the two nuts and the chocolate.
Is honey healthier than sugar?
We won't tell you it is. Honey is a sugar, and we'd rather be straight about that. The FDA's guidance on the Nutrition Facts label says added sugars include sugars from syrups and honey. The Daily Value for added sugars is 50 g per day. Your body handles honey's sugars the same way it handles other sugars, so we don't pretend the label is lying. What we can control is how much goes in, and the answer is not much.
How much sugar is in Asher's Nuts?
About 3 g of total sugars per 2-tablespoon (32 g) serving, with about 2 g added. Those added sugars come from two places: the raw honey and the organic cane sugar inside the 70% dark chocolate. For comparison, Nutella's US label lists 21 g of sugar per 2 tablespoons (37 g). Scale that to the same 32 g and it's roughly 18 g, which means Asher's Nuts has about 80% less. The full breakdown is in low-sugar chocolate spread and our Nutella alternative guide.
If there's so little honey, why does it taste sweet?
Because the rest of the team helps out. Sweetness is partly about what you taste and partly about what you don't. Sea salt takes the edge off bitterness, which makes the sweetness that's there stand out. Madagascar vanilla and Ceylon cinnamon smell sweet, and smell does a lot of the work in how we taste. Desiccated coconut adds a soft, natural sweetness of its own. The honey doesn't have to carry the whole game, it just has to close it out.
What does the honey actually do to the flavor?
It rounds off the finish. Seventy percent dark chocolate is bitter on purpose, and walnuts add more of that edge. Without a sweet counterweight, the spread would taste like baking chocolate. The honey softens that last bitter note so the cocoa tastes rich instead of harsh. It also adds a faint floral note that you'll notice more when you eat the spread off a spoon than on toast.
Is Asher's Nuts vegan?
No. Honey comes from bees, so Dark Cocoa + Sea Salt isn't vegan. The 70% dark chocolate we use contains no dairy, and there's no milk anywhere in the recipe. The facility has no dairy, peanuts, soy or gluten. If you avoid honey, this jar isn't for you, and we'd rather tell you upfront.
Quick facts
- Position: fourth ingredient by weight
- Job on the team: closer, rounding off the cocoa's bitterness with a floral finish
- Counts as added sugar on the Nutrition Facts label (FDA)
- About 3 g total sugars and 2 g added sugars per 2 tbsp
- About 80% less sugar than Nutella at the same 32 g weight
FAQ
Why "raw" honey?
Raw honey hasn't been heavily filtered or heated, so it keeps more of its floral character. We chose it for flavor. We don't claim it makes the spread a health food.
Is the honey the only sweetener?
No. The 70% dark chocolate contains organic cane sugar. Together, they add up to about 2 g of added sugar per serving.
Can kids eat it?
Honey shouldn't be given to babies under 1 year old. For older kids, it's a nut butter that contains tree nuts, so check for allergies first.
Does it taste like honey?
Not really. It tastes like dark chocolate and nuts. The honey sits in the background and smooths out the finish.