Palm sugar is extremely popular as a sugar substitute. But how healthy is plant sugar really – and what about its sustainability?
Palm sugar (also traditionally called “jagre”) is a type of sugar extracted from the sap of various types of palm trees. Sugar has a long tradition in Asia – but you can now buy it from us.
Palm sugar tastes less sweet than regular sugar and has a slight caramel flavor. It has one thing in common with conventional types of sugar such as cane sugar and beet sugar: its main component is sucrose.
Production of palm sugar
Palm sugar is based on the blossoms of the atta palm, sugar palm or date palm. A viscous juice can be extracted from the cut flowers, which is then boiled and crystallized into a syrup. The sugar crystals are then ground and packaged as caster sugar.
A special form of palm sugar is coconut blossom sugar. For this variant, the manufacturers only use the juice of the coconut palm.
Is palm sugar really healthier than regular sugar?
Some manufacturers of palm sugar advertise that the plant-based sweetener is healthier than conventional types of sugar. However, when researching this article, we could not find any scientific studies that support this. Even if palm sugar is no more harmful to your body than conventional sugar – the exotic sweetness is not much healthier. Sugar is just sugar.
Only when it comes to the glycemic index (GI) does palm sugar perform better than table sugar. The GI for palm sugar is 35, for table sugar it is around 68. This means that the blood sugar rises less with palm sugar. Foods with a low GI also tend to keep you full longer. Foods with a high GI, on the other hand, are said to increase cholesterol levels in the long term.
Its glycemic index initially sounds like a clear advantage for palm sugar. Local honey, which is ultimately more sustainable and cheaper, also has similarly low GI values.
