Four things to know about natural sweeteners
Beyond the leaf
Global food and beverage launches tracking a natural sweetener increased by 7% between 2020 and 2024, according to Innova Market Insights. More than half of the launches contained stevia, a non-caloric extract from the leaves of a shrub native to Paraguay and Brazil.
While smaller slices of the pie, other natural sweeteners are gaining share. These include manuka honey—produced by bees in New Zealand and Australia—and agave nectar or syrup, derived from the blue agave plant native to Mexico. “As consumers seek sugar alternatives, natural sweeteners beyond stevia are gaining popularity—not just for their sweetness, but also their functional benefits,” says Lu Ann Williams, global senior vice-president, research and co-founder at Innova.
READ: Four things to know about honey
NanaPops, a vegan ice cream bar brand, uses organic bananas as the base for all its flavours, from mango to pistachio and strawberry, because of the fruit’s naturally high sugar content. To ensure a consistent sweetness, however, organic agave is added. “When you’re manufacturing at scale, the bananas vary in sweetness from batch to batch,” explains Yazeed Yasin, co-founder and CEO of Toronto-based Nanashake, the maker of NanaPops. “Of all the natural sweeteners, agave has one of the lowest glycemic indexes in addition to antioxidant properties with trace amounts of vitamins and minerals. It also has a very neutral flavour.”
Terry Samaroo, director of grocery at Nature’s Emporium, is seeing more natural sweeteners added to beverages. “There are also many ‘healthy’ food brands that are switching from cane sugar to agave, honey, coconut sugar or date sugar to appeal to health-conscious consumers."
A healthier sweet spot
Natural sweeteners—honey, maple syrup, agave and monk fruit—offer nutritional benefits and antioxidant properties. Driven by an increase in healthy eating and the declining popularity of artificial sweeteners, the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.9% in North America to reach a production value of US$965 million in 2032, estimates Research and Markets.
Location, location, location
A 2023 pilot with Longo’s placed NanaPops in a 5.5-cubic-foot freezer next to bananas in the produce section of three stores. “Even though it was winter, we saw a 500% spike in sales,” says Yasin. Freezers of NanaPops are now in the produce departments of six Longo’s, four Sobeys, eight Healthy Planets and three Nature’s Emporiums.
Halifax-based Made with Local, which sweetens its snack bars (available in flavours such as Peanut Butter Blondie and Coconut in the Dark ) with honey harvested from Ontario and Alberta, is seeing robust sales near checkout, a recent position for the brand. “Some stores have swapped out a few boxes of U.S. confectionery for healthier, more naturally sweet, Canadian-made options including our brand,” says Made with Local founder Sheena Russell. “We’ve been absolutely crushing it.”
Rewriting recipes, naturally
Natural sugar alternatives are gaining greater prominence in the baking aisle. Nature’s Emporium carries several options, including manuka honey from Wedderspoon. The Ontario-based health food grocer also features the product, in addition to maple syrup, as a sweetener in some of its café menu items such as protein bowls, smoothies and teas.
“Manuka honey has a richer flavour than traditional sugar, which has a simple one-dimensional sweetness,” explains Gina Nagel, holistic nutritionist and events co-ordinator at Nature’s Emporium. This honey may also support gut health and reduce inflammation.
The grocer provides customer education around natural sweeteners with recipe integration. Nature’s Emporium has also conducted in-store demos with the likes of Liva Date Sugar and Dutchman’s Gold honey. “We demonstrate how to use them in everyday meals through an in-store demo or Instagram post,” says Nagel.
This article was first published in Canadian Grocer’s May 2025 issue.
