sugar

How to Sweeten Up Without Sugar

Filed under: Dining

Trying to cut back on sugar but love sweets? Although the only real solution is to wean yourself off sweets altogether (at least to a degree) there are other ways to quiet your sweet tooth without going the refined sugar route. Here are a few ideas, many of which are great for baking.

Honey Made up of a combination of fructose, glucose, maltose, and sucrose, honey is as much as 50% sweeter than sugar and has a distinctive flavor that can vary depending on location, time of year, and the bees diet. Honey also offers some nutritional benefits in the form of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients.

Maple Syrup Real maple syrup (not the 'maple-flavored' syrups) contains magnesium and zinc and comes from sugar maple trees. It's boiled down to the desired thickness and is usually about 60% sweeter than traditional table sugar.

Agave Nectar A fructose syrup that's slightly thinner than honey and originates from the Agave plant in Mexico, it's 25-30% sweeter than white sugar and has a mild flavor along with some nutrient properties (mostly minerals). It also has a lower glycemic index than sugar so is often favored by diabetics.

Molasses A byproduct of the sugar refining process, molasses is dark and heavy and has a very strong flavor. It is sweet (made up of fructose, glucose, and sucrose) but slightly less so than sugar itself. Molasses is high in iron and calcium and also contains several B-vitamins.

Raw Sugar If you must have sugar then go for raw sugar, or sugar that has not been refined and still maintains its nutritional value. Tastes very much like brown sugar (essentially it is, although even less processed).

Stevia Made from the leaf of the stevia plant, stevia sweetener is 200-300 times more potent than sugar and is usually found in liquid and powder form. Stevia leaves (although not always the end product) contain many nutrients like iron, calcium, and zinc.

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Tags: agave nectar, AgaveNectar, baking, cooking, dessert, desserts, dining, honey, main-pedia, molasses, stevia, sugar, sweets-pedia

Too Many Sweets Will Impair Your Immunity

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

It doesn't matter what time of year it is, sugar and sweets always seem to be in abundance. Cookies, cakes, pies, candy, ice cream -- it's a never-ending temptation that we all fight (and all too often lose) on a daily basis. But in this time of concern over illness and viruses like H1N1, you might want to rethink your sugar habit and get your sweet tooth under control.

Sugar is not necessarily evil, however. In small amounts sugars (in the form of carbohydrates) are necessary for life. The problem comes when refined, processed sugars are eaten in large quantities. Too much sugar can affect your weight, your mood, your energy level, and perhaps most worrying of all: your immunity.

According to Dr. Sears ingesting 8 tbsp of sugar (or the equivalent of just two and a half 12 oz sodas) can impair the effectiveness of your body's white blood cells by as much as 40%. Sadly, most of us probably do ingest that much sugar at least a few times a week (if not daily) in the form of a soda habit, donuts, chocolate, or eating too many non-sweet processed foods that have high fructose corn syrup hiding in them (like ketchup, peanut butter, and even wheat bread). All those little sugar doses add up.

So next time you're about to reach for another bear claw or find yourself heading to the vending machine for a Mt Dew stop and think: is it worth the risk of getting sick?

Tags: flu, germs, h1n1, health, immunity, sugar, sweets, sweets-pedia

Life of the Snowman

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

This very simple, very classic looking Life of the Snowman sugar dish could make either the perfect addition to your holiday table or the perfect gift for that friend who loves to cook or hostess but already seems to have everything she needs. Cute and simple, the only complaint I can possible come up with (not that I spend time trying to complain) is that the smooth clear glass design will quickly show every fingerprint and smudge! But what's a few smudges compared to all the adoring compliments? $53

Via Design Mind

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Tags: holidash, holiday, holidays, Life of a Snowman, LifeOfASnowman, snowman, sugar, sweet, sweets, table, tabletop

Barney's Gumdrop Tree

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Dining

If you don't want to deal with putting up a large Christmas tree, or if your kids live in apartments, dorms or other places that are short on space, the Gumdrop Tree at Barney's is a cute way to introduce the holiday spirit without introducing the need for cleaning up pine needles. It stands 16.5 inches high and is decked out with multi-colored spiced gumdrops, all sparkling with a sugary coating. It is inadvisable to try and string lights on this tree, but it does have the advantage of being edible, ensuring that the season will be a sweet one. Price: $88.

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Tags: candies, candy, christmas, gumdrop tree, gumdrops, sugar, tree

French Heart-Shaped Sugar

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

As far as sugar goes, these French Sugar Hearts are as elegant as you can get. Each heart has a notch in it so that it can sit easily over the edge of a tea or coffee cup, adding a bit of whimsy to the presentation in a way that a regular sugar cube, a certainly a bowl of loose sugar, could not. The cane sugar hearts come in white, amber and ebony, with the darker colors adding a hint of flavor that is more akin to brown sugar or raw sugar than white. Each box is imported and includes 64 hearts. Price: $25.