Breaking
FoodNerdy Recipes Management System
Tag

sugar

Browsing
Austria

Kaiserschmarrn: A fluffy shredded pancake served with powdered sugar, fruit compote, and sometimes whipped cream.

Introduction: Kaiserschmarrn – A Popular Austrian Dessert

Kaiserschmarrn is a traditional dessert that originated in Austria and has become popular across Europe. It is a fluffy, shredded pancake that is typically served for dessert or as a main course for breakfast or lunch. The dish is made by mixing flour, eggs, milk, and sugar to create a batter that is then cooked in a pan and shredded into pieces. Kaiserschmarrn is a delicious, light, and fluffy dessert that can be served with a variety of toppings.

Ingredients and Preparation of Kaiserschmarrn

The ingredients for Kaiserschmarrn are simple and easy to find. The batter is made with flour, eggs, milk, and sugar. The batter is then cooked in a pan with butter until it is cooked through. Once the Kaiserschmarrn is cooked, it is shredded into pieces and served with powdered sugar, fruit compote, and sometimes whipped cream.

To prepare Kaiserschmarrn, start by mixing flour, eggs, milk, and sugar in a large bowl until the batter is smooth. Heat a pan over medium heat and add butter. Once the butter is melted, pour the batter into the pan and cook until the bottom is golden brown. Flip the pancake and cook until the other side is golden brown. Use a spatula to shred the Kaiserschmarrn into small pieces and serve with powdered sugar, fruit compote, and whipped cream.

Serving Suggestions: Powdered Sugar, Fruit Compote, and Whipped Cream

Kaiserschmarrn is typically served with powdered sugar, fruit compote, and sometimes whipped cream. The powdered sugar adds a sweet touch to the dish, while the fruit compote provides a tangy and fruity flavor. The whipped cream adds a creamy and indulgent touch to the dish.

To serve Kaiserschmarrn, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top of the shredded pancake. Serve with a side of fruit compote, such as cherry or apple compote. Add a dollop of whipped cream on top for an extra indulgent touch. Kaiserschmarrn can also be served with other toppings, such as caramel or chocolate sauce. Enjoy this delicious and traditional Austrian dessert!

Keep Reading
By
Australia

Bush Tomato Chutney: Create a tangy and aromatic chutney using bush tomatoes, onions, sugar, and vinegar.

Introduction: Bush Tomato Chutney

Bush tomato chutney is a delicious and unique condiment that is perfect for adding a tangy and aromatic flavor to your meals. It is made using bush tomatoes, which are commonly grown in the arid regions of Australia. The chutney is easy to prepare and can be used as a dip, spread or a sauce for meat dishes.

Ingredients and Cooking Steps

To make bush tomato chutney, you will need:

  • 500g of bush tomatoes
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 cup of vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon of salt

Here are the steps to prepare the chutney:

  1. Wash and chop the bush tomatoes into small pieces.
  2. Place the chopped tomatoes and diced onion in a pot and add the sugar, vinegar and salt.
  3. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened.
  4. Reduce the heat and simmer the chutney for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened and the tomatoes have broken down.
  5. Remove the pot from the heat and leave the chutney to cool. Once it has cooled, transfer it to a sterilized jar and seal.

Tips for Storage and Serving

Bush tomato chutney can be stored in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. It can also be frozen for longer storage.

To serve the chutney, you can use it as a dip for crackers or vegetables, or as a spread on sandwiches or toast. It also pairs well with meat dishes and can be used as a sauce for chicken, beef or lamb.

In conclusion, bush tomato chutney is a delicious and unique condiment that is easy to prepare and can be used in a variety of ways. By following the simple recipe and storage tips, you can enjoy this tangy and aromatic chutney all year round.

Keep Reading
By
health

Sugar Makes You Sick: How Best to Avoid Fattening Foods

Very tasty, but extremely unhealthy: Sugar is in various forms in almost every food. However, particularly large amounts of the fattening agent are hidden in processed products. Here are the consequences of eating too much sugar and the best tips for eating less.

How much sugar is ok?

Assuming an average calorie consumption of 2000 kcal, that is 50 grams of sugar that you can consume per day. That corresponds to about half a liter of lemonade, 17 sugar cubes, or 100 grams of chocolate. So the recommended amount is reached quickly – but how do you manage to eat less sugar effectively and easily?

There are many different testimonials from people who give up sugar, but not every way works. First of all, the most important thing is to reduce the daily amount of sugar – this is particularly difficult for many at the beginning, because our body and our taste buds are used to the sweet experience.

Ways to eat less sugar

The aim of the reduction is to sensitize our taste for sweets again. Because if you eat sugar again after giving up, it tastes all the sweeter. Now you have to either continue to do without sugar or cut out sugary foods. For example, Ökotest suggests diluting juices with water or mixing fruit yoghurt with plain yoghurt.

You should also pay attention to the list of ingredients when shopping: Sugar is often added as a flavor enhancer to many processed products. Especially here you can eat a lot of sugar quickly. The bestselling author of the “Nutrition Compass”, Bas Kast, therefore always recommends: “Cook yourself with fresh, natural food” – because this is the only way to really have control over the ingredients and the sugar intake.

Eat sugar: Less is always better

The realization that sugar is unhealthy and that we should eat as little of it as possible is nothing new. However, the fact that the health consequences can go as far as cancer is very shocking. So in order to really pay attention to a healthy diet with little sugar, the best thing to do is simply stop eating.

That means no sugar in the coffee, no sweets in the evening and always cook with fresh ingredients. This is difficult for many to implement, but reducing the amount of sugar is a step in the right direction. “Enjoy, the dose makes the poison,” agrees the expert Bas Kast.

Keep Reading
By
health

Identify Types of Sugar and Reduce Sugar

Eating healthy also means reducing sugar. However, sugar is delicious and for many people, it is an indispensable part of their daily diet. However, if you are striving for a healthy diet, you should definitely learn to reduce sugar. You should also be able to identify all possible types of sugar.

Serotonin thanks to sugar

Sugar is so popular mainly because it triggers processes in the body that release the hormone serotonin in the brain, which has a mood-enhancing effect. Also, sugar goes into the blood very quickly, causing a burst of insulin to eliminate the sugar each time. This makes you hungry again after a short time.

Consistently reduce sugar

If you want to consistently reduce sugar, you should familiarize yourself with the different names of sugar. If you want to eat little sugar, then simply use the list of ingredients when shopping to check whether and how much sugar is contained in a food.

The higher the sugar appears in the list, the more sugar it contains. Consistent sugar reduction can also help to effectively lower cholesterol. By the way: Brown sugar is by no means healthier than normal white table sugar.

Recognize types of sugar with the sugar list

Basterdzucker, Brown Sugar, Decorating Sugar, Dextrose, Preserving Sugar, Farin, Liquid Sugar, Fruit Sugar/Fructose, Galactose, Preserving Sugar, Glucose, Glucose Syrup, Glycogen, Pearl Sugar, Household Sugar, Hexoses, Instant Sugar, Invert Sugar, Isoglucose, Candisfarin, Candy Sugar, Caramel, Crystal Sugar, Laevulose, lactose, corn syrup, maltodextrin, maltose/malt sugar, molasses, milk sugar, pilé sugar, powdered sugar, refined sugar, raffinose, cane sugar, beet sugar, sucrose, maple syrup (65% sugar), beet syrup (62% sugar), pear syrup (78% sugar), starch sugar, isoglucose, starch syrup, glucose syrup, fructose syrup, maltodextrin, dextrose, dextrose, glucose, vanilla sugar, vanillin sugar, consumption sugar, white sugar, sugar cubes, caramel color.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Is Sugar Vegan? You Have to Know That

It actually seems clear that sugar is vegan – it is obtained from plants such as sugar beet or sugar cane. In some cases, however, sugar is refined with animal substances. We explain when sugar is vegan – and when not.

Sugar is often hidden in processed foods in particular. But the sweetener is also often used in your own kitchen, when baking or for coffee or tea. Even vegans do not do without sugar, since the food itself is purely vegetable. A closer look reveals, however, that this is not always entirely true. In some cases, animal substances are used in production.

Sugar is vegan – but not always

Sugar is usually obtained from sugar beets or sugar cane and is therefore a plant-based food. Animal charcoal is sometimes used to make refined sugar.

Refined sugar is a particularly white, pure sugar that is almost 100 percent sugar and contains no trace elements or by-products. In order to obtain this, the sugar is also filtered and decolorized in addition to various other processing steps. Various substances and means can be used for this process – including animal charcoal.

Animal charcoal, also known as carbo animalis, is an activated charcoal made from animal products such as bones, blood, or skin. Since these occur in large quantities as slaughterhouse waste products, animal charcoal is a particularly cheap filter material.  Alternatively, sugar is refined with activated carbon from other raw materials or kieselguhr.

Recognizing vegan sugar: you need to know that

Animal charcoal does not have to be specified on the packaging as a production aid. It is therefore not clear by what means the sugar was processed and refined.
To be on the safe side, you have two options:

Ask the sugar producer directly whether or not they use animal products in their production.
Skip refined sugar and buy whole cane sugar instead.

Whole cane sugar has even more advantages over refined sugar: Since the molasses with its valuable minerals and vitamins remains in the sugar, it is considered the healthiest type of sugar.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Isomalt: Why Sugar-free Candies are Often Not Calorie-free

What is Isomalt? Where is the sugar substitute found and why is it considered “sugar-free” even though it has calories?

When it comes to sweets, many people turn to a sugar-free alternative – it’s better for the teeth and supposedly calorie-free. Unfortunately, this is often not true: Isomalt, for example, is a common sugar substitute in sugar-free foods – and it is actually sugar-free, but by no means low in calories.

What is Isomalt?

Isomalt is a sugar substitute (more precisely: a sugar substitute) and has the E number E953. In nature, the sugar alternative occurs, for example, in sugar beets. Isomalt is odorless, white and crystalline. The sugar substitute is also available in liquid form.

Isomalt for the food industry is produced from normal beet sugar in two processing steps:

In the first step, isomaltulose is extracted from the beet sugar with the help of enzymes.
In the next step, isomalt is obtained by hydrolysis – the splitting of chemical compounds by water.

What foods contain isomalt?

Isomalt is used in the production of many sugar-free and low-sugar foods: candies, baked goods, mustard, sauces, jams and desserts. Since isomalt only slightly affects blood sugar and insulin levels, it is particularly suitable for diabetics and is contained in many diabetic foods. It is used in corn flakes for its technical properties to improve the crunch.

In addition, isomalt is used in pharmacy and in animal feed production. And in technical applications, Isomalt is used as a stabilizer (e.g. in the production of PVC), plasticizer, adhesive or binder.

Identification: How do I recognize isomalt?

The Food Information Regulation of 2014 regulates the labeling of isomalt: sweeteners and sugar alcohols – to which isomalt belongs – are summarized under the term “sweeteners”.

Foodstuffs containing sweeteners must be labeled “with sweetener(s)”. In addition, the sweetener must also be included in the list of ingredients. For isomalt, for example, this could look like this: “sweetener isomalt” or “sweetener E 953”.

Why is isomalt “sugar-free” and still has calories?

Isomalt has almost the same sweetening power as normal sugar and can be processed in a similar way. However, anyone who assumes that “sugar-free” foods – which contain isomalt – are also calorie-free is wrong. Although isomalt has only half as many calories as sugar, it is still two calories per gram. So if you’re watching your calorie intake, don’t be misled by the “sugar-free” description.

However, isomalt has a lower glycemic index (GI) than regular sugar. The GI indicates how a carbohydrate-containing food affects blood sugar levels. A score below 50 is considered low. An index of two to a maximum of nine was found for isomalt in various studies. This means that, in contrast to normal household sugar (GI = 68), isomalt is more suitable for diabetics and people who want to lose weight.

Isomalt: tooth-friendly sugar substitute

Compared to normal sugar, isomalt is also significantly better for the teeth: It forms very little acid because it is not metabolized by the microorganisms in the mouth due to its stability. Isomalt has only a very low potential to trigger caries and is considered to be tooth-friendly.

Alternatives to isomalt

Isomalt has clear advantages: it is tooth-friendly, has a low glycemic index and only half the calories of regular beet sugar. However, don’t let the term “sugar-free” fool you: Many sugar-free foods are not also calorie-free. And the sugar substitute has another disadvantage: in large quantities, isomalt can have a laxative effect.

A calorie-free sugar alternative is erythritol. It is made by fermenting grape sugar. Like isomalt, it has only a minor effect on blood sugar and insulin levels. However, this sugar alternative is truly zero-calorie.

Keep Reading
By
health

Sugar Withdrawal: What Effectively Helps Against Sugar Addiction

Too much sugar can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and the so-called metabolic syndrome. Nevertheless, almost everyone likes to grab chocolate, gummy bears or sweet drinks. Is it the sugar addiction?

Sugar is not healthy and we eat far too much of it – everyone knows that by now. Whether sugar can be addictive and whether there is a sugar addiction is discussed in science.

Does Sugar Addiction Exist?

There are already a number of studies that deal with sugar addiction. Prof. Falk Kiefer from the University of Heidelberg used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look inside the brains of overweight people. He found that our brain reacts differently to apples than to sweets: the high-sugar foods activate the reward system. Similar to alcohol or other addictive substances, the brain releases more dopamine. Dopamine is known as a kind of happiness hormone. Nevertheless, Prof. Kiefer does not speak of a sugar addiction. However, there is no question that sugar can trigger addiction-like behavior.

Other studies have tested the link between sugar and addiction in rats. High sugar consumption caused brain changes in the rats. This later led to a craving for sweets. However, it remains unclear whether the result can also be transferred to humans.

Where does sugar addiction come from?

We live in a time when sugar is available anytime, anywhere. That was not the case before. The five tastes of bitter, salty, sour, umami (savory) and sweet were used by our ancestors to judge whether something was edible or poisonous. Poisonous plants are often bitter, unripe ones often sour. A sweet taste, on the other hand, means that something is ripe and edible. No wonder we love sugar and can’t resist it.

But our problem today is that we can hardly avoid sugar. It is omnipresent and available at all times. If you want to try avoiding sugar and reducing your cravings, Utopia shows you a number of helpful tricks.

Sugar withdrawal tip 1: Eat sensible food

Sounds banal, but it is important: try to eat as wholesome and healthy as possible. Dietary fibers from green vegetables or whole grain bread and proteins from legumes keep you full for longer. And you’ll get cravings less quickly.

Also watch out for hidden sugar in food: Sugar can be added to convenience products, bread, yoghurt or supposedly healthy fruit bars. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be called “sugar”: Sugar is also hidden behind sucrose, lactose, fructose (sirup), fructose, glucose (syrup), dextrose, invert sugar (syrup), dextrose or (malto)dextrins .

Sugar withdrawal tip 2: Eat regularly

Breakfast, lunch, dinner: These three meals should definitely be included. The longer you go without a meal, the more likely you are to crave sweets. And if you get hungry in the meantime: try fruit. Of course, fruit also contains sugar, which you want to avoid during sugar withdrawal. However, fruit is not as sweet as table sugar and also contains many important vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Sugar withdrawal, tip 3: Sweetener as a sugar substitute?

D rather not. Sweeteners are at least as sweet as sugar. So you won’t be able to get rid of the sweet taste from the sugar substitute. In addition, some sweeteners are not recommended: the sweeteners aspartame, acesulfame and cyclamate are suspected of having an appetizing effect and the consumer centers advise against consuming larger quantities. It is better to gradually reduce the amount of sugar as you withdraw from it.

Sugar withdrawal, tip 4: Sport against sugar addiction

The next time you get cravings, lace up your sneakers. Because when you exercise, your body releases the same feelings of happiness as it does with sugar. Especially when you go to your limits and it gets really exhausting, feelings of elation set in. In addition, the feelings of happiness last longer. You’ll still feel energetic and happy hours later, unless you’ve completely exhausted yourself by exercising.

Which sport you choose is up to you. The main thing is to exercise and have fun.

Sugar withdrawal tip 5: Get enough sleep

After a good workout you can sometimes sleep like a baby. And that’s a good thing: those who have had a good night’s sleep have less of a need for sweets to keep themselves awake and active.

The subject of sleep is often underestimated in everyday life. Not getting enough sleep can lead to a vicious circle: You are tired, so you eat sweets, you wake up for a short time, your blood sugar level takes a roller coaster ride. Then you won’t be able to fall asleep at night and the fun starts all over again.

Better get seven to eight hours of sleep, and you might not even think about your cravings, and the sugar withdrawal will go just fine.

Sugar withdrawal, tip 6: risk factor stress

Many people eat sweets because they are stressed. But chocolate & co. are not conducive to relaxation and sugar withdrawal quickly turns into a failure. After a stressful day, you should rather go out into the fresh air or get your mind off things when you talk to friends on the phone.

Or you try to counteract the causes of stress: For example, try to manage your working hours more efficiently so that you don’t drown in tasks. Or talk about it with the people who are causing you problems – for example, if someone in the family or close friends is the trigger of your stress.

Sugar withdrawal tip 7: Drink water if you are addicted to sugar

When cravings get you and you don’t have trainers handy, what then? Sugar attacks are often not as bad as we think. Try it with a large glass of water (or two or three…).

You can also feel really full of it, it will pass quickly. And? Still craving sweets?

Sugar withdrawal tip 8: Ban sweets from your reach

No matter how disciplined you are with sugar withdrawal, do you clear out all the cupboards when you get addicted to sugar? Then banish the seductive content elsewhere. Hide the candy in a place that’s hard to get to and doesn’t always catch your eye—like way back on a large closet. In the long run, however, only helps to get rid of the sweetness completely. Give it away to family or neighbors, or share it on foodsharing.

Being controlled by those around you can also help. Let co-workers, friends and family know that you are on sugar withdrawal. Who wants to be caught giving in to sugar addiction and emptying the pantry …

Positive support from those around you has an even more lasting effect: find someone who can tackle sugar withdrawal with you. In pairs or threes, you can motivate each other, praise each other – and sometimes stop yourself from giving in to sugar addiction “when you get hungry”.

Sugar withdrawal tip 9: Distract yourself

If you are about to give in to sugar addiction again: go for a walk, draw a picture, write down nice things, call a friend, read a good book or meditate a bit. Objectively, these are far more pleasant things than crushing a bag of gummy bears. It only takes you a few clear seconds to think about anything other than sugar, your sugar withdrawal, your sugar addiction. Withdrawal will take care of itself and you will be happy. Worth it.

Sugar Withdrawal Tip 10: Hold on to your success

There are always low points when you can’t take it anymore, when you want to throw everything away. Of course, also during a sugar withdrawal. It’s best to write down everything you’ve done. Then you can use it to motivate yourself again in low phases when sugar addiction strikes from behind.

For example, you could write down all the foods you want to avoid (chocolate, jelly beans, cake,…). For each day you’ve done that, put a tick next to it. Or you mark every day without sugary in the calendar. Once you have a small series of ticks on the paper, you probably won’t want to break the series.

Conclusion

Whether sugar addiction really exists has not been finally clarified – but sugar seems to have an addictive effect. In any case, it makes sense not to eat too much sugar. There are many small things that can help you with sugar withdrawal. It is important not to set your goals too high at the beginning and then gradually increase them. Here’s how you can tackle sugar withdrawal and reduce your cravings for sweets.

Keep Reading
By
Cooking Tips

Sugar, Sweetener & Co.

Sweet as sugar or rather bitter? If you want to sweeten your coffee or tea, you are spoiled for choice. There has long been a large selection of sweeteners. We present you with a selection.

The raw material sugar

The sweet taste of various types of sugar makes one or the other connoisseur’s heart beat somersaults. It makes us happy. The word sugar originally comes from the Sanskrit word (that’s a language in India) and means “sweet”. How fitting! Many sweeten the classic way with sugar. Whether in fine crystal form, as sugar cubes, syrup or rock candy – it comes in many forms. But what other alternatives are there?

There is cane, beet, maple and palm sugar. These are obtained from sugar cane, the juice of sugar beet or sugar maple and types of palm trees. A total of 194 million tons of sugar were produced in the 2017/2018 harvest year.

sweetener

Good alternatives are, for example, honey, stevia, sweeteners, fructose or types of syrup. Of course, they all have their own taste, so it’s best to try them in a cup of coffee to see what you like. Honey is a food made from the nectar of flowers by bees. The collected juices of the plants are enriched and changed by the bees in their bodies with endogenous substances such as enzymes, proteins and acids. After that, this liquid is stored in honeycombs and matured.
Stevia. It hides in a plant growing in South America. Native people have been using this plant for centuries as a sugar-free and natural sweetener, as the extract obtained from the leaves has a sweetening power that is ten to thirty times stronger than conventional sugar. So you need significantly less for sweetening. Sweetener is either synthetic or made from natural substitutes for sugar. It surpasses the sweetness of conventional sugar considerably. The best known forms are lozenges or in liquid form.

Syrup is available from many manufacturers in a wide variety of flavors. Caramel, coconut and co. sweeten the coffee with an additional flavor. But be careful: some types of syrup are only suitable for cold drinks. In forums you can read from some users that they use their drinks with agave syrup, sugar beet syrup, maple syrup or conventional vanilla sugar (the one used in baking).

There is certainly no one best solution for all people, for all occasions. Rather, it is a matter of taste whether it should be cane sugar for baking and hazelnut syrup in the cappuccino. Basically, you should of course always pay attention to a moderate consumption of sugar and other sweeteners.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Beet Sugar, Cane Sugar and Raw Cane Sugar: These are the Differences

Which sugar is hidden behind beet sugar, cane sugar and raw cane sugar? We explain the differences between the types of sugar and give tips on what to look out for when buying.

Cane sugar, raw cane sugar and whole cane sugar

Cane sugar is obtained from sugar cane. Sugar cane is grown in tropical countries like Brazil, South Africa, Australia or Cuba. Three different types of sugar can be made from cane sugar. They differed in the degree to which they were refined.

Whole cane sugar: The first and healthiest level of cane sugar is whole cane sugar. The sugar cane juice obtained is only thickened, dried and then ground. This preserves the molasses with its valuable minerals and vitamins. It is also responsible for the caramel flavor and the brown color of whole cane sugar.

Raw cane sugar: This is the variant for which the sugar crystals are only refined once. As a result, a small part of the molasses is retained and is responsible for the slightly brownish colour.

Cane sugar: The white cane sugar has been subjected to the refining process until it no longer contains any molasses. It not only lacks the brownish colour, but also the healthy minerals and vitamins.

Beet sugar

Beet sugar: Beet sugar is almost identical to raw sugar. Both consist of sucrose and have the same chemical composition. Beet sugar is obtained from sugar beet – a regional product. Sugar beets are grown in Central Europe. You will not find raw beet sugar, which would contain a small amount of healthy minerals from the sugar beet juice, on the market because it has an unpleasant taste.

Cane sugar and beet sugar are refined

The processing of sugar cane and sugar beet is similar. First, beets or sugar cane are crushed and juiced at at least 70°C. This raw juice is then treated with lime, carbonic acid and filters to remove unwanted substances such as proteins or minerals.

By further, slow heating, the raw juice is thickened until sugar crystals form. This is the so-called raw sugar with the characteristic yellow-brown color. In order to turn it into beautiful, white granulated sugar, the sugar crystals are dissolved and crystallized again and again. This process takes up to eight hours and is called refining, which is why white sugar is also called refined sugar. It doesn’t matter which plant the sugar comes from. Cane sugar can also be refined and thereby form white crystals.

What to look out for when shopping for sugar

When shopping, you should first be aware that too much sugar is not healthy. It doesn’t matter whether it’s beet sugar, cane sugar or other types of sugar: 100 grams of sugar contain around 400 calories and no vitamins whatsoever. It is responsible for many diseases of affluence.

It is true that “unrefined sugar” contains more minerals. However, their total content is less than one percent. In order for you to have any health benefit from eating unrefined sugar, you would need to eat a few pounds of it. That would be anything but healthy. Because there is no refining, it can be considered more sustainable – and is therefore the better one.

Also, don’t fall for the misconception that brown sugar is healthier than white sugar. Oftentimes, brown sugar is just conventional white beet or cane sugar that has been colored brown.

Disadvantages of cane sugar are the long transport routes and land reclamation for the sugar cane cultivation areas. Beet sugar comes from sugar beets from the local region, but – like cane sugar – requires a lot of energy to process.

Keep Reading
By
Cooking Tips

Coconut Blossom Sugar: The Sugar Substitute Really is That Healthy

Coconut blossom sugar is also called palm sugar and is an alternative to white table sugar. Many manufacturers advertise that coconut blossom sugar is also healthier – but is that really true?

There are numerous sugar alternatives that you can use to sweeten coffee or yoghurt. One of them is coconut blossom sugar. It is said to be healthier than white sugar because it causes blood sugar levels to rise very slowly. The theory goes that the body metabolizes less insulin and you have fewer food cravings. However, there are still no meaningful scientific studies on this.

Coconut Blossom Sugar: Healthy Sweetness or Calorie Bomb?

In terms of calories, coconut blossom sugar is anything but healthy: the sugar substitute contains 384 calories per 100 g. For comparison: In white sugar it is not much more with 400 calories per 100 g.

The carbohydrates contained (approx. 90 g) correspond to the amount found in white sugar (approx. 100 g). In addition, the nutritional information varies from manufacturer to manufacturer: Some advertise that coconut blossom sugar contains a particularly large number of vitamins and minerals. However, these promises should be treated with caution. Because to get a health benefit, you would have to consume several kilos a day.

Cooking and baking with coconut blossom sugar?

You can replace coconut blossom sugar 1:1 with white sugar. Because coconut blossom sugar is almost as sweet, despite its name, it doesn’t taste like coconut. Its caramel note is well suited for desserts.

However, you should not use coconut blossom sugar for baking: it easily forms lumps in the dough and does not rise as well as white sugar. If you cook with coconut blossom sugar, you have to keep in mind that the sugar dissolves very slowly. You should therefore plan a lot of stirring and a few minutes more time.

How sustainable is coconut blossom sugar?

The coconut blossom sugar originates from the blossoms of the coconut palm: they are cut open and the nectar that flows out is caught in a bowl. A palm tree can release up to two liters of nectar a day – that’s enough for a 500 gram pack of coconut blossom sugar. The nectar is then boiled down until a crumbly mass is formed. This only has to dry and can then be packed.

Almost all of the coconut blossom sugar in Germany comes from Southeast Asia. In Thailand and Indonesia in particular, the nectar is collected from the coconut palms and processed into sugar – the long transport route pollutes the environment. Since the sugar from coconut blossoms is not much healthier, we recommend a sugar substitute from the region – for example regional organic honey or organic sugar beet.

Keep Reading
By