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Natural Sweeteners

Barley Malt- comes from sprouted grains of barley that are kiln dried and cooked with water. The resulting syrup is a mild sweetener with a rich malt flavor, recomended for baking. Barley malt is the commonly used sweetener in soy products. Read labels since it may contain corn syrup or refined sugars.

Brown Rice Syrup- is made from brown rice that has been cooked for a very long time. The sweetener has a mild flavor and the highest protien content of any natural sweetener. Very good for baking.

Date Sugar- is dried, pulverized dates It is very sweet, and although it does not disolve well, it is fine for cooking or baking.

Fruit Juice Sweeteners- are most often derived from grapes, followed by apples and pears. The end result of the refining process for fruit juice sweeteners is a product similar to white sugar. Fruit juice sweeteners are used to sweeten beverages or food products.

Fruitsource- is a combination of fruit sweetener are brown rice syrup. It is very sweet, but is more slowly assimilated into the bloodstream than refined sugar.

Fructose- is the kind of sugar naturally found in fruits and honey. Beware of fructose listed as an ingrediant in other foods. Most of the fructose available commercially is made from refined corn syrup, so those allergic to corn may have an allergic reation. The body responds to high-fructose corn syrup like it does to refined sugars. Excess fructose in the diet has been shown to raise triglyceride levels, increasing heart disease.

Honey- is one of the most popular sweeteners for people who want to avoid using refined sugar. Honey is produced by honeybees that take nectar from flowers and transform it. There are several types of honey, depending on the geographic location and the types of flowers from which the bees extract honey. Darker honey contains more minerals and has stronger flavor than lighter honey.

Natural Honey is minimally processed to remove chunks of beeswax and make it pourable. Read labels to be sure the honey you are getting is not overheated or finely filtered(can remove bee pollen), and does not contain sugar or corn syrup. Honey may contain botulism spores, and should not be given to children less than one year old.

Honey should be stored at room temperature, as it will crystallize if it gets cool. Place a container of crystallized honey in warm water to soften it. Honey is a very versatile sweetener.

Maple Syrup- is a popular natural sweetener made by boiling the sap of sygar maple trees down into a syrup. Besides pouring it on your french toast and pancakes, it can also be used for baking.

Molasis- is a byproduct of the manufacture of sugar from sugar cane. There are three kinds. Light molasses is the residue from the first extraction of sugar and is the sweetest. Medium molasses is from the seconf extraction and is darker and less sweet. Blackstrap molasses is the final residue and is very dark and only slightly sweet with a distinctive flavor. Blackstrap molasses is a very good source of calcium and iron. "Unsulphured mollasses" indicated that no sulphur was used in the extraction process.

Sorghum- is made from sweet sorghum, a grain related to milled and similar in appearance to corn. The juice from the plan is extracted and boilded down to a syrup. It has a flavor and textrure similar to molasses.

Stevia- is a perennial plant native to Brazil, traditionally used as a sweetener in beverages. It is 30 times sweeter than sugar, so two drops of stevia extract can sweeten one cup. Refined stevia powder is also available for baking or used as a flavor enhancer. Stevia may be used by people with candida or yeast conditions as a sweetener.

Sugar Cane Juice- is a vegan sweetener and is made by mechanically extracting the juice from the whole cane and is available in a dehydrated, crystallized form. Sucanat is simply rapidly dehydrated sugar cane juice. Florida Crystals is clarified(though not highly refined or bleached) and then allowed to cyrstallize like normal sugar.


Highly Refined Sweeteners

Sugar or White Sugar- is made from sugar cane or sugar beets that have been chemically processed or refined to contain 99.9% sucrose. This standard leaves little room for the nutrients and fiber that were part of the natural plant.

Brown Sugar- is simply white sugar wit a bit of molasses for color.

Turbinado or Raw Sugar- is made the same was as white sugar except for the last extraction of molasses. The standard for raw sugar is 96% sucrose.

Corn Syrup- is a chemically refined syrup made from corn kernels. Dark corn syrup is artificially colored. High fructose corn syrup is made by an additional refining process that splits the two components of corn syrup. It is now a common ingredient of processed food and beverages.

Sweeteners Equivalent to 1 Cup of Sugar

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one in the pink.
two in the stink.

TaintedSoul

I heard of Stevia and all it's benefits... just no big companies seem to be making use of it. It's a shame really.

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