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Natural Sweeteners
By Thomas Stearns Lee, NMD
Natural sweeteners are delicious. If used in
moderation, they add a delightful dimension to life. If
abused, they cause many of the same ills as other sweeteners.
Here is some nutritional information about several natural
sweeteners -- maple syrup, malt syrups (which include barley malt,
barley/corn malt mixtures, and rice syrup), and date sugar.
Maple Syrup
To many natural food shoppers, maple syrup is the
premier sweetener. Its flavor is mild and unique, yet its
sweetening ability is excellent. The reason for this is that
100 percent pure Grade A maple syrup is 65 percent sucrose.
Lesser grades have a slightly lower sugar content.
Maple syrup is sweet stuff indeed, and when you pour
it over your pancakes, remember you are getting the equivalent of
half that amount of white sugar.
Maple syrup is produced in those states where nights
are below freezing while the days are warm. When these
temperature changes cause the sap in sugar maples, which contains
2-3 percent sucrose, to flow from the treetop down into the roots of
the tree, it is tapped, collected in buckets, and then boiled down
into a syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one
gallon of syrup.
Not all 100 percent pure maple syrup is processed in
the same way. Some undesirable practices are still being used
by the less enlightened producers.
A few of these are the use of formaldehyde pellets
to keep the sap holes from healing, allowing greater sap flow;
the use of vacuum pumps to suck sap out of the tree instead of
allowing its natural flow; the use of chemical anti-foaming or
polishing agents; and the use of lead-soldered buckets.
The best-quality maple syrup is collected in lead-free buckets from
trees without formaldehyde pellets, boiled down over hardwood (not
oil) fires, and packaged hot without filtering, polishing, or adding
preservatives.
Since all syrup tends to foam during the processing,
producers use cream or animal fat to reduce it. With demand
for kosher foods increasing, a few producers have switched to
natural kosher vegetable oil and are having their syrup approved as
kosher. This makes vegetarians happy, too.
Maple syrup is produced only in the Northern states,
and the total production is small -- only 30-35 million pounds
yearly versus over 250 million pounds of honey. This makes
maple syrup one of the most expensive sweeteners. Its
processing is simple, and the trees of the north woods displace no
food crops.
Malt Syrup
As a natural sweetener, malt syrup has many
advantages. It is made from cereal grains which are readily
available and inexpensive.
The sugar contained in malt syrup is mainly maltose,
which is less than half as sweet as sucrose. Since it is not
as sweet, there is a tendency to use more. This is not a good
idea, since some malt syrups are still concentrated sugars.
They are processed into syrup through enzymatic action.
First, barley is soaked and sprouted. The
sprouts contain enzymes necessary to convert the starches in the
grain. The sprouts are often dried and powdered to be used
later in malting of other grains. This powder is referred to
as malt. Barley and water are mixed together with malt, rice,
corn, or wheat and heated to about 180 degrees Farenheit.
Within 30-40 minutes, all the available starch is converted into
maltose and glucose.
This mash is strained and cooked down into a sweet
syrup. Some natural food stores carry three different kinds of
malt syrup. They have 100 percent barley malt (the least
sweet), a 60 percent barley/40 percent corn malt (sweeter and the
most popular), and a barley and rice malt referred to as rice syrup
or rice honey.
The rice syrups are available in two types.
One is amber-colored and is made from about 20 percent barley malt
and 80 percent rice. The other is clear and is made primarily
from rice with additional enzymes added. Barley malt is by far
the cheapest natural sweetener and has a rich, roasted taste that is
not overpowering.
The rice syrups are more expensive and lighter in
flavor. Malt syrups rank high on the list of natural
sweeteners, since they are produced from a whole food source
and are made up of the simple sugars that have the least detrimental
effect upon the body.
Date Sugar
Date sugar is a natural sweetener sometimes
available in natural foods stores. It is natural and almost a
whole food. Date sugar is a by-product of the date industry,
and usually the most cosmetically inferior dates and pieces are
used. First, fresh dates, which are about 60 percent
sugar, are dehydrated to about 2 percent moisture. Then
they are simply ground up to make an instant sweetener.
A guide to using natural sweeteners is available in
another article on this site.
Remember, the sweetest life is the one that is long
and healthy.
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