For someone who loves to bake, how is it possible to avoid white sugar in my recipes?
Well, I made it my mission to find nutritious options my family as well as anyone else planning to cut back on white sugar could be able to enjoy!
Trust me, all of these are worth a try. They'll make you forget all about white sugar!
1) COCONUT (PALM) SUGAR aka "brown sugar"
If you haven't tried coconut sugar, you are missing out BIG TIME! Coconut sugar has this sweet and toasty aroma that I absolutely love. Its taste is also slightly toasty but it has such a rich caramel sweetness I adore in baking. I think the best recipes that will be greatly enhanced by the addition of coconut sugar will probably be the ones that feature cinnamon. Think apple crumble, churros, banana bread ... but that's just me (haha). Just remember, its brown colour will darken your food.
Coconut sugar comes from the sap of the coconut palm tree. This sap is then heated to evaporate the water content out, leaving a golden brown sugar residue which we call coconut sugar or coconut palm sugar.
Because coconut sugar is 80% sucrose, it is basically sugar. You do not want to go overboard with it as it has an average glycemic index between 50 to 54, which is the same as white table sugar (Holland, 2020). But don't feel sad, it is a better alternative to white and brown sugar. While white sugar is heavily refined, chemically stripped of its naturally occurring nutrients, and mostly sourced from GMO-ed sugar beets, coconut sugar contains a few traces of its minerals like potassium, iron and calcium and is not as processed. To be safe, I'd select an organic brand of coconut sugar. Yupik offers a great deal on their coconut sugar deal (check it out here).
2) GRANULATED ERYTHRITOL aka "white sugar"
It looks like sugar. It feels like sugar. It is 70% as sweet as sugar. This means that in order to achieve the same sweetness as 1 cup of white sugar, you will need 1 cup + 1/3 cup of erythritol.
Erythritol's taste is unique in that it has a cool-sweet taste. When you bake with it, it is not obvious. However, it may cool down hot beverages. What I love about erythritol is that not only is it a versatile sweetener, it has a glycemic index of 0. This means it does not have the capacity to spike or increase blood sugar. Another amazing point about erythritol is that its calories are negligible and its carbohydrate content is extremely low. This makes it an ideal natural sweetener for diabetics, keto and paleo diets.
It is important to know that erythritol is sometimes made from corn, which is heavily GMO-ed. The ideal brand would be one that says non-GMO. One brand I've been loving for the past 2 years is Amson Naturals' Granulated Erythritol (check it out here). It comes in a large bag that lasts me for months. My parents love using this as their choice of "sugar" to add to their morning coffee.
3) POWDERED ERYTHRITOL aka "icing sugar"
This is basically erythritol but in powdered form. Its cool-sweetness may need some getting used to but this is my go-to replacement for icing sugar. It sprinkles and feels exactly like icing sugar. You can definitely make buttercream frosting or decorate your crepes and pancakes with it. I recently learned that Amson Naturals sells powdered erythritol. But, the one I've got in my pantry at the moment, which is also another great brand, is the confectioner's sugar by So Nourished (check it out here).
4) HONEY
Do you know what I love best about honey? It does not have an expiry date! It is a nutritious non-perishable food. My best advice is to select the kind of honey that is raw, unpasteurized and organic. Even better, purchase one that is locally sourced like from your local farmer's market.
Honey can easily be refined and treated which boils away its natural vitamins, minerals and healing enzymes (aka through the process of pasteurization). Actually, honey that is raw and unprocessed provides the richest natural sources of all these nutrients but also amino acids (building blocks of protein), phenolics and phenolic acids (antioxidants and anti-inflammatory), peptides (pieces of amino acids together), flavonoids (antioxidant molecules), tocopherols (vitamin e), and superoxide dismutase (a powerful enzyme that helps break down harmful molecules in the body) (Wolfe, 2020).
Because honey contains these naturally occurring nutrients, I recommend not baking or pouring honey in hot temperatures. It would be better to drizzle honey after you've finished baking or cooking, use it in salad dressings, sweeten up your drinks or in a warm cup of lemon water. Costco offers a great selection of quality honey. One of them is called Naturoney which is organic and unpasteurized (check it out here).
5) MAPLE SYRUP
Now this will make most of you peeps very happy, but it is also a tricky one. Unfortunately, I am not talking about the cheap conventional maple syrup that you love to put on your waffles and pancakes. The ideal maple syrup is a dark amber colour and is pure (meaning it contains no other ingredients). That said, this type of maple syrup can be very costly. Because this is a blog post I hope to cater to as many people no matter your walks of life and food preferences, I will feature my top 2 maple syrup brands.
The first is not pure maple syrup, but it is organic. It is versatile enough to be baked with or sweetened in your coffee and latte. As I mentioned earlier, conventional sugar (be it white, brown, molasses, high-fructose corn syrup) is sourced from GMO-ed and pesticide-treated sugar beets and sugar canes. Opting for an organic brand like Wholesome can help you avoid eating unnecessary chemicals. Oh, and this is absolutely made for pancakes (check it out here)!
UPDATE: My second favourite maple syrup brand hails from Costco. They sell 100% maple syrup that is organic and rated as grade A amber. Since 2016, maple syrup sold in the United States requires a label identifying the type of maple syrup consumers are buying. In Canada, only grade A maple is sold in stores which includes conditions like being free from fermentation, uniform in colour, free of sediments, not cloudy, and no objectionable odour or taste. The grading system consists of 4 categories: (1) Golden, delicate taste (2) Amber, rich taste (3) Dark, robust taste (4) Very dark, strong taste. These characteristics observe the percentage of light passing through a sample of maple syrup (Government of Canada, 2022). As it says in their names, the colour of the maple syrup will have its own differences in flavour. I find that the Kirkland maple syrup is a perfectly rich toasty maple syrup flavour (check it out here). I love mixing it up in baking recipes or making a good Asian sesame dressing.
I hope this was a fun and insightful article!
Let me reassure you, I am not stopping at 5. I am currently looking and tasting other healthy sweetener replacements.
Anticipate an update on this article in the future 💚
References
Government of Canada, C. F. I. A. (2022, April 8). Government of Canada. Colour classes of maple syrup - Labelling requirements for maple products - Food label requirements - Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Retrieved April 22, 2022, from https://inspection.canada.ca/food-label-requirements/labelling/industry/maple-products/eng/1392414400422/1392414462687?chap=8.
Holland, K. (2020, April 13). Coconut Sugar and Diabetes: Is It Safe? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes/coconut-sugar-glycemic-index.
Wolfe, D. (2020). The beauty diet: unlock the five secrets of ageless beauty from the inside out. HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. p. 65-68
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