What is a natural sweetener? Natural sweeteners are natural sugars that come directly from nature without refinement or enrichment. That's pretty simple.
The first and usually best choice is honey. However, it needs to be raw, unrefined, and unpasteurized. Unlike white sugar, honey contains important nutrients and enzymes. It does not cause the rapid rise and fall of blood sugar like refined sugars do. It also can be stored for a long time without losing nutritional value. **Word of caution: DO NOT give raw honey to children under 2 years of age. Honey contains spores that can lead to botulism in babies because their intestines are not able to kill the bacteria. Older children and adults can process this with no problems. They best honey for you is honey that is produced by bees as close to where you live as possible, especially if you have severe environmental allergies. I get local honey when I can, otherwise, I purchase it through our co-op from Bread Beckers. There are also various flavors of honey like Tupelo, Clover, Wildflower, just to name a few. Our family likes the Wildflower. It's a little stronger in taste, but it is DELICIOUS!
I use honey in baking all the time. I also use it in my cookies, although I usually have to add another sweetener like sucanat in order to get the right consistency. Otherwise my cookies are too runny.
Honey Crystals can be used in place of white sugar.
Maple Syrup or Sorghum Syrup is also another choice. We use this when making ice cream. It is rich in trace minerals that are pulled up from the ground.
Rapadura and Sucanat are dehydrated sugar cane, which are also rich in minerals.
Date Sugar (which I have not tried yet) comes from dehydrated dates. It contains tryptophan, which makes it a a good sweetener for hyperactive children. Tryptophan is that amino acid in turkey that makes you sleepy after you eat a Thanksgiving meal.
Molassas is a "waste" product from the sugar refinement process. It contains iron, calcium, zinc, copper, and chromium. In order to get the best of all these minerals, you need to get Blackstrap molassas.
Instead of using jelly with all the added sugar and high fructose corn syrup, try naturally sweetened jams like Polaners All Fruit. Many health food stores also carry other brands of jams.
Molassas crystals and Sucanat can be used in place of brown sugar.
Keep in mind that all of these sweeteners aren't nearly as sweet as sugar. As you decrease your sugar intake, your things that you used to enjoy will seem a little too sweet. For example, one day, my husband and I invited our neighbors over for ice cream. Unfortunately, the base for our ice cream maker was not frozen yet. I had some Breyers Natural Vanilla ice cream left in the freezer, so we got that out. Neither one of us could finish it. It was too sweet. I will share a little more later about how I make ice cream. Anyway, we don't need things to be as sweet anymore.
Here are some websites for some sweet and healthy recipes, as well as some more information about natural sweeteners.
www.livrite.com/sweeten.htm
www.freedomyou.com/recipes/natural sweeteners.htm
Over the next couple of posts, I will share some of my dessert recipes, that I have transformed into healthier choices, as well as some recipes I have collected.
As always, you can check out www.breadbeckers.com, Nourishing Traditions, and The Maker's Diet.
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