Story 2 - 6/15/2018
The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce held its weekly Farmers’ Market Thursday, with vendors setting up displays to sell their wares on Park Street. A common trait among some of the vendors was that their common products, from sweets like cookies, cheesecakes and chocolates, to hygiene products like soap, featured what are believed to be generally healthier substitutes to common ingredients.
Megan Brown is a chocolatier whose company, Devorah Chocolate, substitutes cane sugar for coconut sugar.
“It’s a good alternative for people who have to lower their sugar intake,” Brown said.
Brown’s chocolate is also vegan friendly. “There’s no dairy,” she said. “It’s just cacao and coconut sugar in the chocolate bars.”
Genevive Sanders of The Hive Bakery also uses a sugar substitute.
“In anything that requires sugar, I usually substitute honey,” Sanders said. “Even in some stuff that doesn’t necessarily need to be sweet, like bagels, I use honey.”
There is research to suggest that honey is a healthier alternative to cane sugar. According to an article in “Medical News Today” by Jayne Leonard and reviewed by Natalie Butler, RD, LD, honey has a lower glycemic index than cane sugar, and features the minerals magnesium and potassium.
Sanders, however, does not claim her product to be a healthier alternative.
“I’m not a doctor and I certainly wouldn’t label anything I make as health food,” she said. “These are just a special kind of treat.”
Sanders was not the only vendor at the Farmer’s Market specializing in honey-based products. Robert Cool of Bee Kind Family Farm sells raw honey, some bottles infused with additives like cinnamon and lavender.
“We infuse them with these ingredients so we have some variety, some different tastes,” Cool said.
Cool’s other products included beeswax-based products like candles and soap.
“Beeswax has properties that hydrate chapped skin,” Cool said. Beeswax also contains antibacterial and antifungal properties that have proven effective in treating skin conditions such as dermatitis, psoriasis, and eczema.
The Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market will continue weekly, on Thursdays from 4 - 6 p.m. through October 11.