Acceptability of Apple-Lemon Honey as an

Ingredient for Vegan Products

EL Sasa, MTA delos Reyes, AJ Moralejo, GN Martins,

J Flores, NEZ del Rosario, R Solomon

I. Introduction

A. Background of the Study

Honey is produced by bees, by gathering nectar from flowers, partially digesting it,

and then regurgitating it once back in the hives. Worker bees then seal it into beeswax

honeycomb, much of it for the purpose of storing food to enable the hive to survive

through the winter. According to experts, honey from bees is not applicable in the vegan

society for it is an animal product and vegan people does not eat or use any products that

are not animal-friendly or cruelty free. So this study will be a question for all us if vegan

honey can be use as an alternative to vegan products.

According to Aine Carlin a vegan, honey invites the most eye rolls. But personally

she don't consume eating honey and haven't done it for years yet self-proclaimed vegans

have no issue in purchasing local, raw honey because this is a hugely contentious issue

that evokes strong emotions.

Veganism is a rapidly growing movement- from just a few million in the early 90’s

to around 550–950 million. Most vegan-friendly countries in Asia are India, Bali,

Thailand, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Nepal, China, and Philippines.

This study is to emphasize and give a better understanding of the work of

Bendana et al 2018 where they made vegan honey with the combination of apple and

lemon to be accepted in the product application for vegan society. So this study is to

prove that vegan honey is good as an alternative for honey from bees that it can be used

for the vegan products such as nutribar, energy bites, and salad dressing.
 Honey Nutribar is an all vegan product where the honey will be used to combine

all the nutrients. Aside from being tasty, Honey Nutribar provides energy that can last for

hours in our body. It is an easy way of storing tons of energy inside our body with less

calorie intake. It contains carbohydrates, fiber, and protein where most of this vitamins

are found in meat.

Peanut Butter Energy Bites is also a none vegan product which is almost the same

with the Honey Nutribar but the difference is the said energy bites is bounded by honey

and peanut butter. Instead of the common bar shape used for energy-giving products this

is round and bite size to be easier to consume. Aside from it being energy-giving, peanuts

have different benefits such as it has low-unsaturated fat that reduces the risk of heart

diseases.

Honey Balsamic Vignairette is widely used as a salad dressing. This dressing has

many health benefits such as lowering cholesterol and an organic aid for weight loss.

Aside from that it is also good for the body’s blood circulation for the Balsamic Vinegar

is from grapes and grapes is known to be a fruit that can refrain platelets from blocking

blood vessels. Which in other words mean that it can help in the body’s blood circulation.

B. Statement of the Problem and Objectives

The number of vegans in the world is increasing rapidly. Not only are the vegans

increasing, but so does the demand for vegan and vegetarian food. With vegan honey,
 vegans will be able to consume honey while being able to stick to their beliefs and ideals.

The goal is to see vegan honey's acceptability as a product such as being something that

even non-vegans can consume. Since honey is something that bees produce, vegans don't

accept this into their diet. Vegan honey is aimed all people, but is leaning more towards

vegans. It is using ingredients that imitate the taste and effects of honey as best as it can.

It will be accepted because it doesn’t provoke the diets of the vegans and is not having a

negative effect on anything. It should be accepted because it’s giving people more

options and widening the diet of the vegans.

C. Significance of the Study

The significance of this study is to provide the students, parents, teachers or other people

a clear vision about how they will accept or use the product, a vegan honey. This study

expects that the vegans will get benefits to this product by making the vegan honey as a

mainstream product by preferring to use the vegan honey rather than the local honey not

only for vegan people but also to the non-vegan. Since the vegan trend is increasing

through the years, this study is to also determine if the vegan honey in Honey Nutribar,

the Peanut Butter Energy Bites, and the Balsamic Vinaigrette will be accepted by people

by the people

D. Hypothesis

The hypothesis of this study states that the Honey Nutribar, Peanut Butter Energy

Bites, and Balsamic Vinaigrette produced with vegan honey will be accepted by the

people with regards to its general appearance, taste, smell and odor.
E. Conceptual or Theoretical Framework

The study's inputs

are:

Honey Nutribar
2/3 honey
Process:
3/4 cups of peanut
butter
2 cups of pinipig Nutribar
2cups of oats 1. Combine all the dry
ingredients.
1 cup of dried fruits
2. Add the wet
ingredients.
Peanut Butter 3. Refrigerate the mixture
Energy Bites until it can be formed.
1 1/4 c. oats 4. Form into bars. The study's
1/2 c. peanut butter Peanut Butter Energy output is that
1/4 c. honey Bites all the vegan
1/4 c. salted 1.Combine all ingredients products with
almonds chopped in a medium mixing the apple-
bowl. lemon honey
1 Tbsp. flax seed will be
2.Roll into balls; accepted by
refrigerate to set. the people
Balsamic Vinegar
3.Store at room
1/4 cup light olive temperature or
oil refrigerated.
2 tbsp balsamic Balsamic Vignairette
vinegar
1.Combine all ingredients
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp honey in a small jar.
1/2 tsp kosher salt 2.Close tightly with lid
1/2 tsp freshly and shake well to
ground black pepper combine.
3.Store at room
temperature

To test the honey's

acceptability, There will
be 10 persons who will
taste and rank each
product.
F. Definition of Terms

Based on Merriam-Webster Webster, vegan is a strict modification of vegetarian

who ultimately do not eat meat in any of their food whether it is processed or not. It

differs from vegetarian in a way that vegetarians still eat products that are derived from

animals and vegans do not.

According to chowhound.com balsamic is a vinegar derived from grapes. Even

though it has a deep reddish-brown color it is from must or white grapes which are

commonly known in Italy.

G. Scope and Limitations

This study only tackles about the acceptability of the product among the Honey

Nutribar, Peanut Butter Energy Bites, and Balsamic Vignairette will be accepted by the

general population. The study does not test which is healthier for a person. It is only

based on the preference of the people who will evaluate.

II. Review of Related Literature

This chapter includes conclusions, methodologies and finished thesis. These that are

included in this chapter are to help support this study in helping it prove that vegan honey

can be a substitute for products.

Related Literatures

According to Bendana et al 2018, there is a way to have a vegan substitute for

honey. To clarify that honey is a product derived from bees is obviously not a product for

vegans. The study of Bendana et al 2018 is vegan honey from apple and lemon. The

study aimed to have a vegan alternative for honey. They combined apple juice, cane

sugar and lemon juice to get the honey-like texture and taste. To furthermore support the

effectivity of vegan honey, this study is to prove where the honey will be most effectively

applicable for use in vegan products. It is to give more justification that since it is a vegan

honey it would be use in food where the target people or the vegans will benefit from.

Since Tiongson et al. 2018 concluded that the apple-lemon honey is a substitute for real

honey, this study was able to derived three products where honey is incorporated and is

all vegan.

History of Veganism

According to the Vegan Society, veganism started way back in 500 BCE as

Pythagoras promoted the humanitarianism to all well-being. The rise of the vegetarian

diet followed in 1806, as Dr. William Lambe and Percy Bysshe Shelley objected dairy

products and eggs. In November of 1904, Donald Watson with other five non-dairy
vegetarians founded the start of modern veganism. It was in late 1949 when Lesley J

Cross revised the meaning of vegan that is derived by Watson to “to seek an end to the

use of animals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection, and by all other

uses involving exploitation of animal life by man”.

Consumption Behavior of Adolescents who eat vegetables.

According from Josefina Taguinod Gonzales of the Food and Nutrition Research

Institute of DOST, adolescents consumes less vegetables than fruits. She made a research

about the Consumption Behavior of Adolescents in terms of vegetables and fruit. Though

this study about vegan honey’s acceptability does not focus on any age group, it will most

probably happen that most of the people who will participate in this study are in that age

group because the people who will participate will be the people in Christian School

International. Gonzales study supports this study’s hypothesis that the salad dressing will

be most probably the least accepted among the three products. This study will further be

explaining why adolescents’ consumption behavior is more on fruits by seeing that the

Peanut Butter Energy Bites will be more liked than the salad, nuts being a fruit and

Balsamic Vinegar being incorporated with fresh vegetables.

Honey Nutribar

The first product is nutribar, the agency, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute of

the Department of Science and Technology invented a Honey Nutribar on 2017. The

research stated nutribars with honey, pounded glutinous rice, and dried fruits, contains
carbohydrates, fiber and protein which are very good for vegans. Since proteins are most

commonly found in meats but with this nutribar, they would be able to have a source of

the said vitamin without any ingredient coming from animals. To furthermore add

knowledge to the study made by DOST, since we have limited machinery which doesn’t

include an irradiation facility. The study is to make an alternative which does not include

any irradiation process making it less preserved than its stated 9 month shelf life. But

excluding that processes doesn’t mean this is study won’t be effective as a Nutribar. It

still has the same consistency but only different shelf life.

Peanut as a substitute for meat

This study’s second product with honey is the Peanut Butter Energy Bites. Having

peanut butter as the most dominant ingredient of the product, this leads to a conclusion

that it has the same benefits as to which a peanut alone. Based from Peanut Butter

Institute on 2002, peanuts has a good percent of unsaturated fat compared to its low

saturated fat, which leads to a further conclusion that peanuts reduces the risk of Type 2

diabetes. The study also suggests that peanuts can be used as an alternative product for

meat and grain products for it has a lower calorie intake. Which makes this product good

for this study about vegan honey’s product acceptability for it will add health benefits

that is good for non-meat eaters. This study about vegan honey’s product acceptability is

beneficial for it is about peanuts because it will give a product that is all vegan with good

percentage of peanut in it.

Health benefits of being a vegetarian.

Although vegan and vegetarian are different from each other, vegan is still a

variety of vegetarian so it still has the same benefits. Vegetarians are said to have a
longer life span according to the Harvard Health Publishing in 2018. Their eating habits

also reduced their risk to chronic illnesses. Their consummation of less saturated fat and

cholesterol and more vitamins C and E, dietary fiber, folic acid, potassium, magnesium,

and phytochemicals (plant chemicals) lead them to have lower cholesterol, lower blood

pressure and lower BMI, which lead them to have an increase in the longevity life span

and the lower risk of chronic illness. Studies shows that non-vegetarians have a higher

tendency to have cancer for it is said that eating lots of fruits and vegetables have a lower

tendency of cancer. Plant-base diets can reduce also reduce risks for Type 2 Diabetes, it

is where the body does not work with insulin appropriately. This study gives this study

more support as it provide the three products more benefits to be accepted in the

community.
III. Materials and Methodologies.

Date and Place of Study

This study is conducted at Christian School International, No. 9 Kanluran Road,

College, Los Banos, Laguna 4031 Philippines from January 2019 to March 2019.

Preparation of Vegan Honey

In making the Vegan Honey, it consists of 1000ml of Apple Juice, 4 ½ cups of

refined sugar, and 1 ½ of lemon juice. All the ingredients combined into a pot in high

heat. Once it simmered, the heat is turned to medium. The honey is stirred for 45 minutes

and is refrigerated for a week to achieve the raw honey texture.

Preparation of Honey Nutribar

The ingredients used to make the honey nutribar are 2/3 of the vegan honey,

3/4 cups of peanut butter. 2cups of pinipig, 2 cups of oats, and 1 cup of dried mango

which is optional. In making the nutribar, all the dry ingredients are combined. The wet

ingredients then followed and it was combined until all the ingredients are distributed

thoroughly. The mixture was refrigerated for 24 hours then it was molded.

Preparation of Peanut Butter Energy Bites

Peanut Butter Energy bites is made up of 1 1/4 cups of oats, 1/2 cup of peanut

butter, 1/4 cup of honey, 1/4 cup of salted almonds chopped. All the ingredients are to be

combined in a mixing bowl. Second, is that it was rolled into balls with at least a minimal

discrepancy of size. Once it’s done it was placed in the refrigerator to set.

Prepation of Balsamic Vignairette

 In making the salad dressing. It need a fourth of a cup of light olive oil, 3tbsp

balsamic vinegar, 2 ½ tablespoon of honey, half a teaspoon of salt, and half teaspoon of

freshly ground black pepper. In a small jar, all the ingredients were combined and the

container was shaken thoroughly until the ingredients were well-mixed. It was used to

dress the lettuce and tomatoes

Sensory Evaluation

Evaluation on the sensory attributes (general appearance, odor, taste,

texture) of Honey Nutribar, Peanut Butter Energy Bites, and Balsamic Vinaigrette were

done to determine if the Apple-Lemon Honey is applicable for vegan products. For the

Honey Nutribar thirty student athletes were asked to evaluate, for Balsamic Vinaigrette

parents and teachers are the ones that evaluated and for the Energy Bites random people

are asked to test the products.

Application of Apple-Lemon Honey as an Ingredient for Vegan

Products.
7- Very Much Liked Balsamic Vignarette
6- Moderately Liked Honey Nutribar
5- Slightly Liked Energy Bites
4- neither Liked or disliked
3- Slightly disliked General Appearance
2- Moderately disliked Odor
1- 1-Very Much disliked Taste
Texture
Table 1: Sensory Evaluation sheet.

IV. Results and Discussion

A. Balsamic Vignairette
 Figure 1 – Results of Balsamic Vignairette based on General Appearance

Balsamic Vignairette-General
Appearance
7%
3% Very much Liked
Moderately Liked
10%
Slightly Liked
40%
10% Neither disliked nor Liked
Slightly disliked
30% Moderately disliked
Very much disliked

In the figure here, the dominating percentage is very much liked and hit at 40%, almost
getting at half of all the samples. Moderately liked is right after the very much liked, at
30% and after that, slightly liked and neither disliked nor liked is next tying at 10%.
Moderately disliked is at 7%, followed by very much disliked at 3%.

Balsamic Vignairette-Smell

3% 7% Very much Liked

10% 20% Moderately Liked

Slightly Liked
Neither disliked nor Liked
17%
23% Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
20%
Very much disliked
 Figure 2 – Results of Balsamic Vignairette based on Smell
Figure 2 showed majority of the people moderately liked the product which hit at 23%.
The very much liked and slightly liked options were tied at 20%. While the lowest
percentage, at 3% is moderately disliked by the people.

Balsamic Vignairette-Taste
3%

7% Very much Liked

6% Moderately Liked
Slightly Liked
40%
17% Neither disliked nor Liked
Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
27%
Very much disliked

Figure 3 – Results of Balsamic Vignairatte based on Taste

In the chart above, hitting the percentage of 40 are the random results who very much
liked the product. Followed by this is moderately liked at 27% then by slightly liked at
17%. Neither disliked nor liked is next at 6% then increasing at 7% in slightly disliked.
The lowest result is moderately disliked at 3%.
 Balsamic Vignairette-Texture

10% Very much Liked

7% Moderately Liked
33% Slightly Liked
13% Neither disliked nor Liked
Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
37%
Very much disliked

Figure 4 – Results of Balsamic Vignairette based on Texture.

Referring to the figure above, the adults moderately liked the text of the product which
hit at 69%. Followed by very much liked with a percentage of 33% then slightly liked at
13%. While moderately disliked is rated at 10% and 7% for the neither disliked nor liked.

B. Peanut Butter Energy Bites

Peanut Butter Energy Bites-General

Appearance

3% Very much Liked

13% Moderately Liked
Slightly Liked
Neither disliked nor Liked
27% 57%
Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
Very much disliked

Figure 5 – Results of Peanut Butter Energy Bites based on General Appearance

In the figure above, the highest percentage is very much liked at 57%. Next is moderately
liked at 27% and then by slightly liked at 13%. The lowest rating it got is slightly liked at
3%. Nobody rated the appearance moderately disliked and very much disliked.

Peanut Butter Energy Bites-Smell

3%
Very much Liked
17% Moderately Liked
Slightly Liked
Neither disliked nor Liked
53%
27% Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
Very much disliked

Figure 6 – Results of Peanut Butter Energy Bites based on Smell

In the chart above, the smell of the product had the high percentage at 53%. Next is
moderately liked at 27%. Followed by slightly liked at 17% then neither disliked nor
liked which hits at 3%.
 Peanut Butter Energy Bites-Texture

3%
Very much Liked
Moderately Liked
20%
Slightly Liked
Neither disliked nor Liked
57%
20% Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
Very much disliked

Figure 7 – Results of Peanut Butter Energy Bites based on Texture

As the result shown in the figure above, 57% of the student athletes very much liked the
texture of the product. The student athletes gave a percentage of 20% on both moderately
liked and slightly liked

Peanut Butter Energy Bites-Taste

Very much Liked

7%
Moderately Liked
Slightly Liked
30%
Neither disliked nor Liked
63% Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
Very much disliked

Figure 8 – Results Peanut Butter Energy Bites based on Taste

Base on the figure, student athletes very much liked the taste of the product which hits
the percentage of 63% and 30% of the student athletes moderately likes the taste of the
product. Even though having a high percentage of the student athletes who very much
liked the product still there is a low percentage who slightly liked the taste of the product,
hitting the percentage of 7.

Honey Nutribar-General Appearance

3%
Very much Liked

14% Moderately Liked

Slightly Liked

17% Neither disliked nor Liked

66% Slightly disliked

Moderately disliked
Very much disliked

Figure 9 – Results of Honey Nutribar based on General Appearance

In this figure, 66% of the people very much liked the product and 17% moderately liked
the product. Following from the 17% is the percentage of the people who slightly liked
the product which hits 14% and the remaining percentage is 3 %.
 Honey Nutribar-Smell

Very much Liked

7%
Moderately Liked
Slightly Liked
30%
Neither disliked nor Liked
63% Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
Very much disliked

Figure 10 – Results of Honey Nutribar based on Smell

As shown on the figure above, 63% of the people very much liked the product and 30%
moderately liked the product yet 7% still slightly liked the product.

Honey Nutribar-Texture
3%
3% Very much Liked

10% Moderately Liked

Slightly Liked
Neither disliked nor Liked
20%
64% Slightly disliked
Moderately disliked
Very much disliked

Figure 11 – Results of Honey Nutribar based on Texture

Referring to the figure above, hitting the percentage of 64 are the random people who
very much liked the texture of the product. And the 20% are the people who moderately
liked the product and 10% slightly liked the product which is half of the moderately
product. The neither disliked nor liked and slightly disliked hits the percentage of 3.
 Honey Nutribar-Taste

3% Very much Liked

14% Moderately Liked

Slightly Liked
Neither disliked nor Liked
Slightly disliked

83% Moderately disliked

Very much disliked

Figure 12 – Results of Honey Nutribar based on Taste

Figure shows the result of the Honey Nutribar’s taste test. Majority of the people very
much liked the product which hits 83% as shown on the pie chart. The 14% refers to the
people who mostly liked the product and the remaining 3% slightly liked the Honey
Nutribar.

V. Conclusion and Recommendation

Conclusion:
Honey is made by bees by gathering nectar from flowers, partially digesting it, then
regurgitating it once back into the hives. The product is aimed for vegans and since honey
is an animal product, from bees, it won’t be accepted by vegans. The goal of vegan honey
is to make honey out of lemon, apple, and sugar and have it have the same benefits and
taste as honey. Out of the three products, most of the parameter in the balsamic
vinaigrette was rated badly, 7% for the general appearance, 7% for the smell, 7% for the
taste, and 10% for the texture and because the vinegar’s noticeability in the smell and
taste was too strong. The peanut butter energy bites general appearance and texture hit at
3% because of the rough texture of the other ingredients like peanuts inserted. And for
the Honey nutribar, the texture’s score was 3%.
Recommendation:
The product Balsamic Vinaigrette was rated low on the smell portion because of the
unpleasant odor it had because of the vinegar content. It is recommended to lower the use
of vinegar to lessen the smell. For the other two products, it is recommended to lessen the
pinipig content because a few of the results say the texture was too rough and course. The
energy bites are also recommended to be molded slightly larger and broader to lessen the
unsightly appearance.

References:

https://www.vegan.com/honey/, Vegan Honey

DOST (PNRI) 2017, Honey Nutribar

http://www.peanut-institute.org/news-and-

information/downloads/20021126_peanutbutter_cuts_diabetes.pdf,, Peanut Benefits

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321906.php, Balsamic Vinegar Benefits

https://veganswithappetites.com/most-vegan-friendly-countries-asia/

https://www.quora.com/How-many-vegans-are-there-in-the-world-and-is-the-number-

growing