So what the heck happened with the agave craze?

it turns out the agave nectar being marketed is not as healthy or pure as we had been led to believe: “agave”: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/03/30/beware-of-the-agave-nectar-health-food.aspx

@zenvelo Aw, it won’t let me read the article without signing up…

Here’s a site that you don’t have to pay to read. Interesting stuff. http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2010/01/25/the-great-agave-nectar-debate/

@snowberry Wow, that does clear up a lot of things. But then I’m still curious – if this news came out 12ish months ago, how come it swept the nation 6 months ago instead of simply falling out of favor with vegans?

@papayalilly I dunno. The nutrition and health food industries, just like any other industry have fads that come and go. Maybe sometimes it takes time for the information to trickle down. Sometimes also a ruling from the FDA will shut things down rather quickly.

@papayalily I don’t know where you live, agave was a rage locally here in the Berkeley Oakland area a few years ago, but the negatives seemed to percolate here about a year ago. My girlfriend helps out at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, and told me about it.

@zenvelo Denver. I know the Bay Area tends to start half the crazes, but we get them fairly quickly because of Boulder.

I wouldn’t trust much from the Weston A. Price Foundation. Personally, I use agave here and there as a honey substitute because I take issue with honey production. There are other substitutes around (like brown rice syrup, maple, and molasses), but agave nectar has a great honey-like flavor, so it’s nice on tost or in beverages. It also dissolves really quickly in liquids—warm or cold—which is convenient. I use it so sparingly, the health issues are practically irrelevant.