There are now hundreds of thousands of people who are well aware of the detriments of refined white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and abberrated products like Splenda and Equal!

The sweet success of natural sweeteners is becoming more prevalent as people switch to a healthy source of sweetness from natural substances.  The return to maple syrup and honey is heralding the wisdom of ancient cultures, with the enhanced availability of specialty honeys from different parts of the world and maple cream and granules from organic sources.

Now we are finding that ingenuity is bringing us some new players in the sweeteners category.  One of the finest is agave nectar.  It has an amazing flavor and is just slightly thinner than honey.  Date Sugar from dates is a grand source of exquisite sweetness and is wonderful for baking.

Rice Syrup is an interesting light choice.  It can be easily used in place of corn syrup.  Evaporated whole cane juice is very tasty and retains many of the minerals giving it more flavor.  Fruit Juice concentrate is fine for sweetening liquids and when used in baking and cooking.

Molasses and Barley Malt Syrup are classic choices and do lend their particular unique natural flavors to any other ingredients.

Personally, my favorite natural sweetener is Stevia.  It has anti-fungal, anti-viral, and other properties which can assist in balancing blood sugar levels.  Stevia is extremely sweet and less volume is needed to sweeten liquids and foods.  Stevia does come in both liquid and powder forms.  If you have yet to experience it…try it, you’ll like it!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 1:38 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.