Q & A Month: alternative sweeteners to sugar and honey
Posted by kathryn in Nutrition
Continuing the sweet theme, Milly has asked:
What would be a good non sugar based alternate to honey? I’m allergic to honey and in its place I have been using golden syrup, which clearly isn’t quite as nutritionally beneficial. Is there anything that will have the same sweetening effect and consistency, but isn’t really bad for me (and my teeth)?
Golden syrup vs honey
It may seem counter-intuitive, but when you compare golden syrup and honey, the syrup doesn’t look too bad. Golden syrup has virtually the same kilojoules as honey, and about the same glycemic index (GI). However, it has the added nutitional bonus of minerals. They’re in small quantities, but golden syrup contains potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron.
Which makes golden syrup an okay alternative to both sugar and honey.
Other sweeteners
- My favourite sweetener is real maple syrup. While it’s more expensive, it has slightly fewer kilojoules than honey and sugar. Plus it’s in the medium GI range. Maple syrup also contains small amounts of minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium and manganese.
I haven’t used it, but Cassie has been cooking with agave nectar. I don’t know a lot about this ingredient and haven’t seen it here in Australia, but again it has a lower GI than sugar. According to Cassie, agave is slightly sweeter than sugar and thinner than honey.Since this post I’ve both used and read a lot about agave. My thoughts on agave syrup and fructose are here.- I sometimes use jam combined with fruit as a sweetener. While the jam does contain sugar, I don’t need to use as much of it to get the same sweetness.
Are these sweeteners good for you?
I still wouldn’t classify any of these sweeteners as actually good for you. They’re better than sugar. However, they’re still high in kilojoules and don’t contain as many nutrients as other foods.
Use these sweetehers is smaller quantities and as treats, rather than everyday foods.
I’d love to know about reader’s experiences with other sweeteners. What do you use and how?
What is Q & A Month?
This post is part of Q & A Month. For those of you new to Limes & Lycopene, I usually run a fortnightly question and answer forum, called Q & A Thursday. But for the next four weeks, it’s Q & A Month. If you have a question, or there’s a topic you’d like me to cover, leave a comment below or send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
30 January, 2008
Comments
juice! not especially for baking or cooking, but wonderful in tea. my favorite is pomegranate 100% juice. the juice is sweetened with grape juice i believe, but it’s still all juice.
I’ve been using Agave Nectar for about six months now and I’ve been very happy with it. I don’t really do much baking, so I can’t say it would be for that, but I have used it in place of honey in a few things like marinades or salad dressing, and I think the flavor is great.
I love agave and use it all the time. I’ve heard from Johanna at Green Gourmet Giraffe that you can find it (though I think it’s difficult) in Australia. I wrote an article for VegFamily magazine that has a lot more info if you’re interested, at http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-cooking-tips/agave.htm (and there are a couple of recipes, too!). :)
You can get agave nectar in most health food stores and even some independent supermarkets. It’s generally in the health food section.
I also recommend brown rice syrup as an alternative to honey.
I am a big fan of agave syrup which I purchased it from a stall at the Sydney Vegan Festival. I think it tastes sweeter than honey and the texture is a little runnier but it is a delicious alternative to honey. Not an everyday food but something that goes well with pancakes, stirfry or baking. You can buy it from Living Earth – http://www.livingearth.com.au – it’s certified organic too.
Agave syrup is great, unsweetened fruit juice concentrates (apple and white grape are relatively neutral), brown rice syrup, dried fruit like dates/figs/prunes… (purees of these are great to bake with). As for something that isn’t bad for your teeth, xylitol is good, tastes surprisingly sugar-like too – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol Stevia is so-so (though calorie-free and fine for teeth): it has a distinct flavor, similar to licorice root, so I sometimes combine it with another sweetener.
ps – love this blog :-)
I always use sugar but less than what the recipe requires.
Thank you for that it’s really helpful. I shall go in search of agave and some of the other alternates.
I shall also try using maple, I stopped using it after I had to take fenugreek and stank like maple syrup constantly.
Everyone, thanks for your excellent suggestions. I’m not a frequent baker, so it’s great to have feedback I find that now, if I forget to adjust the from everyone’s personal experiences. Plus, thanks for all the agave nectar sources.
One strategy that I didn’t mention is, purposefully reducing the amount of sweetener you use in recipes. I’ve been doing this over the last couple of years, which has allowed my tastebuds to adjust to the reduced level of sweetness, without feeling deprived. And now, if I forget to adjust the amount of sugar or other sweetener, I find most standard recipes way tooooooo sweet for me. It means recipes like the fruit, nut and tahini bars are sweet enough for me.
This is an interesting topic – I once made a cake and forgot to put the sugar in until the very end – when I did I was amazed at how the texture changed so it has made me wary of messing too much with sweetners but as Ricki says I have recently used Agave Syrup which I found was in a few health food stores in Melbourne (but not all) and like it so need to experiment more. I think maple syrup is also a good alternative – for me it is nice to have something with more flavour than just sugar. I tend to try and only use sugar where it is needed – so I buy jam that doesn’t have sugar added – why do you need it when the fruit tastes so good? I also reduce sugar in recipes like you when I think I don’t need it.
And Kathryn – hope you enjoyed your Melbourne trip!
Johanna, I used to run a catering business and at Easter I made my own hot cross buns. I forgot to add sugar to one batch and they were a total disaster. Rock hard and flavourless!
I’m going to have to try out the agave nectar – now I know you can get it in Australia and you’ve all enthused about it so much.
I’ve been using rapadura and don’t really keep white sugar around any more. It tastes more complicated, and is very easy to substitute 1-1 (although I often reduce the amount). On the downside it is HORRENDOUSLY expensive, about $16 a kilo where I buy it. I also use apple juice concentrate for kid’s muffins and the like. Anyone who’s seen kids after a sugary one knows why ; )
I have tried agave syrup, and it’s delicious. Then, I thought I will just try to find out more about it… and was shocked to find so many negative things. Apparently it’s very, very unhealthy :( So, it’s back to maple syrup for our family!
Hi there Anna, the agave (and fructose) story is more complex than most articles outline. I’ve written a summary of the situation here.
I wouldn’t have a problem with using small amounts of agave, but then small amounts are always the focus with sweeteners.
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