Sweeteners
- Avoid
- white, raw and brown sugar
- Choose
- Amasake
- a fermented rice product with a subtle sweetening power
- Apple juice concentrate
- adds an earthy sweetness to dishes
- Barley malt and rice malt
- least sweet and closest to wholefood sweetener
- contain high percentage of complex sugars
- works well in sauces, syrups and soft desserts but gives chewy/ brittle toffee texture in baking
- rice malt has a milder flavour of the two
- Dried and fresh fruit
- deliver natural sugars
- try dates and raisins
- Maple syrup
- concentrated sap of maple trees
- rich in trace minerals and gives food a beautiful taste
- only a small amount is needed as it is very sweet
- Pear juice concentrate
- more sweetening power than apple juice concentrate
- gives beautify and fruity fullness
- best used in small amounts to balance a savory dish than in large amounts to sweeten cakes and desserts
- good with lentils, curries and dal
- Raw honey
- sweeter than sugar, contains sucrose and fructose
- why "raw" honey? it is unfiltered, unprocessed, unrefined and unheated honey with enzymes intact
- excellent as sweet topping but not for baking cakes as it results in chewy result
- Stevia
- leaf of a plant native to Paraguay
- used as sweetener for centuries and as a remedy for diabetes
- intensely sweet and can be bitter if too much is used
- excellent for fruit desserts but not as good in baked food
- Unrefined sugars made from minimally processed organic sugar cane
- demerara
- molasses sugar (rich in iron)
- muscovado (light/dark)
- organic raw sugar
- rapadura sugar
- sifted cane sugar
- sucanat
- Vanilla bean, natural vanilla extract and essence
- adds subtle flavour and does not influence colour of finished product
- go for good quality extract/essence as inferior ones contain corn syrup, glycerin, fructose, propylene glycol and preservatives
Watch this space. More information is on the way.