"sweetener" news and stories

Photo: SUSTA.

A new sweetener is muscling onto store shelves already saturated with pink, blue and yellow packets.

SUSTA is the latest sugar substitute to hit store shelves with what developers call a proprietary blend of "inulin fiber, fructose, natural flavors, botanical extracts, vitamins, minerals and probiotics." At 5 calories, SUSTA claims its sweet punch from orange-peel extract.

But its inspiration came the Newton way -- with an apple.

Gourmet's Barry Estabrook finds that the latest nutritional studies are at odds with what some manufacturers' campaigns might have us believe. The following is an excerpt of his findings published on Gourmet.com.

Nothing spoils a good marketing campaign as surely as solid, scientific facts. So I imagine the folks over at the Corn Refiners' Association-who have recently spent a fortune on PR and advertising to convince "moms and healthcare professionals" that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was no better or worse for us nutritionally than sweeteners such as table sugar and honey-were shocked when they opened the latest issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

It contains a paper by a group of researchers at the University of Texas who report that fructose, the primary sugar in HFCS (which finds its way into just about every non-diet soft drink sold), made subjects of a study fatter than glucose, another sugar.

"Our study shows for the first time the surprising speed with which humans make body fat from fructose," said Elizabeth Parks of the Southwestern Medical Center.

It also may explain why the current obesity epidemic in this country dates back to 1980, the year HFCS entered our diet. Starting from zero, Americans now gulp an average of 66 pounds of the stuff each year.

And it shows.

The story continues at Gourmet.com: Politics of the Plate: How Sweet It Isn't

Try Honibe's Honey Drop, which the company claims is the first non-sticky solid honey product.

Each drop contains about a teaspoon of honey, and comes in a little packet just like your typical sweetener. But unlike your typical sweetener-in-a-bag, it doesn't contain any artificial ingredients. The product comes in a regular and a lemon flavor.

Even though I keep reading the company name "Oh-KNEE-bay" instead of "honeybee," the solid honey drop seems like the perfect solution to a problem that has plagued all tea drinkers at some point or another: sticky fingers.

Check out their aptly-named homepage, NoStickyFingers.com, for more info.

If you check out the labels on natural food products, you'll see agave syrup listed as an ingredient more and more often. Agave syrup - sometimes called agave nectar - is a natural sweetener that is marketed as a healthy alternative to processed sugars, as well as an alternative to honey, corn syrup and similar liquid sweeteners. The syrup is made from blue agave, a type of succulent, cactus-like plant that is also used in the production of tequila. The thick liquid comes in light and dark forms, the latter being unfiltered, and tastes similar to honey.

So what makes this syrup "healthier" than other sweeteners? It has a very low Glycemic Index (GI) value, so although it is noticeably sweeter than sugar, it doesn't cause the same type of "sugar rush" that other sweets do. Table sugar has a GI value of 68, on a scale from 1 to 100, while honey comes in at 55. Agave syrup has a value of around 15.

Agave syrup can be used in baked goods, with a reduction in the amount of liquid in the recipe to account for its presence. Starting with a recipe that already calls for honey and substituting it in is a good way to start, but as a general rule, you'll will need to spend some time playing around with your favorite recipes to get them to work, especially if you want to substitute it into a recipe that calls for crystallized sugars. The syrup will dissolve easily in liquids and is a good choice for sweetening iced tea or lemonade.

A new product has just been launched by the National Honey Board. Simply Honey, dried honey wafers made from 100% honey and nothing else. They are one of the first new products designed to use dehydrated, dried honey as a way to sweeten hot beverages. They are portable and mess free, which can't be said about regular honey and each wafer is around the size and thickness of a quarter.

I love honey and use it in most of my herb teas, on French toast, and in cooking, but it does find a way to leave sticky trails around my pantry. I also spent a lot of time in the wilderness camping and hiking, and my little honey bear always leaked all over my clothes in my back pack. This looks like a great way to have your honey and eat it too. Mess free, easy to use, and with the great taste of honey too.

The product was launched for consumer reaction this past summer at several trade shows around the US. It may take awhile for it to become fully developed, but hopefully it should be on the market sometime in the near future.

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