Several sweeteners replace sugar in foods and cooking.
Sugar substitutes supply the sweetness of sugar without the refined, empty calories of white sugar. Some substitutes are lower in calories, but others are higher in calories with a sweeter taste, so less is needed. Knowing use sugar substitutes to replace sugar in your cooking and table-use will make reducing the white sugar in your diet easier. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners add sweetness to food without adding calories. Sweeteners approved by the FDA include aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, acesulfame potassium (ace K), stevia and neotame. Only a small amount of these sweeteners is needed to replace sugar, but not all artificial sweeteners remain as sweet in cooking applications. Add aspartame, saccharin and neotame only after heating a dish as these are not heat-stable. Some brands will differ, but most artificial sweeteners replace 2 tsp. of sugar for each packet of sweetener.
Natural Sweeteners
Natural granular sweeteners generally have the same sweetness as white sugar, but they have undergone less refining in their production. Raw sugar contains residual molasses, giving it a stronger flavor than white sugar. Turbinado, Demerara and Barbados are also called raw sugars. These sugars differ in their grain size and moisture level, but all of them replace sugar on a one-to-one basis in any application. Turbinado is pale in color, Demerara has dry, large crystals, and Barbados sugar has tiny crystals and a moist feel. Fructose is a liquid sugar made from the natural sugars in fruit and honey. It is sweeter in flavor than white sugar, and you only need 2/3 cup fructose to replace 1 cup of white sugar. If you use fructose in baked goods instead of sugar, the finished product will have a chewier and moister texture and a darker color.
Syrups
Syrups remain fluid at room temperature. This category includes honey, barley malt syrup, molasses, brown rice syrup and maple syrup. Some syrups are sweeter than sugar, but others are not. When replacing syrup or sugar in baking, reduce the added liquids to the recipe to compensate for the liquid in the syrup. Honey, molasses and maple syrup are sweeter than sugar. Use 3/4 cup of any of these for each 1 cup of sugar. Barley malt and brown rice syrups are less sweet than sugar. Substitute 1 cup of sugar with 1 1/3 cups of either of these syrups.
Sugar Alcohols
Sugar alcohols are generally not available for consumers, but these are used extensively in commercial food preparation to reduce calories without using artificial sweeteners. These sweeteners are derived from changing the natural sugar molecule so the body does not digest it. They add mouth feel, bulk and sweetness to foods, but excessive consumption of foods containing sugar alcohols can result in gastric distress. Sugar alcohols with 40 to 60 percent the sweetness of sugar include mannitol, isomalt, sorbitol, glycerol and lactitol. Erythritol is 80 percent as sweet, and xylitol has the same sweetness as sugar for the same volume.
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