Care2 Directory of Natural Sweeteners

By Annie Berthold-Bond and Nava Atlas, author of The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet

The array of products in the sweetener aisle of your health food store might seem rather mystifying to the natural foods novice, but with a little help, sweeteners like rice syrup, barley malt syrup, and date sugar, among others, can be used with great effect in baked goods of all kinds.

While the detrimental effects of refined sweeteners such as white sugar and corn syrup are still being debated, there’s little doubt that Americans consume far too much of it. While natural sweeteners aren’t nutritional bell ringers, they are generally considered to produce less of a shock to the body’s blood sugar level because among the nutrients found in whole food sugars are necessary minerals that help with sugar metabolism.

From a culinary standpoint, natural sweeteners offer bolder, more complex flavors than sugar, adding delectably different dimensions to baked goods and other treats.

Here is our directory of less refined sweeteners, including a chart of equivalents:

Agave Nectar: A natural liquid sweetener that is less viscous than honey, agave nectar comes in three grades: Light, medium and amber. Light agave is sweet but neutral making it great for recipes where the stronger flavor of maple or honey may interfere. The flavor of agave becomes more intense and earthy with the darker grades. Agave is extracted from the agave plant, and is low on the glycemic index. It is about 1 1/2 times sweeter than refined sugar.

Barley Malt: Dark, sticky and boldly flavored, barely malt sugar is nonetheless neither as assertive as blackstrap molasses nor as sweet as honey. Primarily maltose, a complex sugar that enters the bloodstream slowly. This sweetener offers trace amounts of eight vitamins and several minerals. Barley malt syrup is a wonderful addition to squash and pumpkin breads, bran muffins, and hearty rye or pumpernickel breads. Use it to glaze sweet potatoes and to make winter “malteds” combined with bananas and soy milk.

Date Sugar: Not actually a sugar in the conventional sense, date sugar is ground from dehydrated dates. What a great source of sweetness. Dates are high in fiber, and rich in a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. Date sugar can be exchanged measure for measure for sugar in baking, for cakes, muffins and quick breads. Use it in place of brown sugar to make crumb toppings for pies and fruit crisps. It can’t be used to sweeten beverages, though, as the tiny pieces won’t dissolve.

Fruit Juice Concentrates: Made from the juice of fruit that has been reduced about one quarter by slow cooking. Note that some commercial fruit juice concentrates have been stripped of flavor and nutritional value.

Fructose: Derived from fruit sugar, this sweetener, closely resembles granular white sugar but is more concentrated so that less is needed for a similar effect—about 1/2 cup fructose to 1 cup of sugar. Though fructose has little nutritional value, it is generally believed that it doesn’t disturb the blood sugar level as much as sucrose. Use it in place of sugar as an all-purpose sweetener in baking and cooking, and in hot and cold beverages.

FruitSource: A relatively new natural sweetening product, Fruitsource replaces not only sugar, but also fat, in baking. Made from a natural blend of grape and rice carbohydrates, it can also be used as a general-purpose sweetener for hot and cold beverages and in cooking. To use in baking, replace every cup of sugar with 1 1/4 cups Fruitsource and reduce fat by 50 percent; optimal oven temperature is 300 to 325 degrees.

Next: G-S sweeteners

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Winthrop Z.

10:56PM PST on Nov 28, 2011

One of the best ways for people to become healthy is to use natural sweeteners instead of sugar. Natural sweeteners are made from natural substances with no additives. I am pleased to read your informative post. Thanks for share.
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Fred K.

6:45AM PDT on Oct 27, 2011

The saccharin-cyclamate 'tests' were very dubious and I question their validity; aspartame is a mild toxin and has a bad aftertaste so I refuse to use it. While I don't need diet sweeteners myself, I don't mind food or drinks with Stevia or Sucralose (chloride of sucrose) or saccharin in it. This article also left out papaya extract, another natural low-calorie sweetener. The nutrients that show up in molasses are also the reason that people who consume raw sugar cane don't have the health problems associated with eating large amounts of refined sucrose.

Izis A.

9:07PM PDT on Jun 26, 2011

thank you!!

Mel K.

7:56AM PST on Dec 18, 2010

Very useful, nice!

Priscilla G.

2:21PM PST on Dec 11, 2010

I tend to use Raw Sugar for cooking but I see there are lots more choices I didn't know about, will have to try them, Sucanat sounds like a good one to start with.

Manuela C.

6:13AM PST on Dec 8, 2010

Thanks.

Rosalyn H.

7:40AM PDT on Oct 18, 2010

To see the end of my comments, go to The Fresh Network website and ask for info on Agave Syrup or email me and I'll send you the whole article. rosipoos@cuckooland.eclipse.co.uk..

7:37AM PDT on Oct 18, 2010

Thanks for the info. However, I understool Agave not to be the B all and End all after all. See The Fresh Network article:- "As of now we're no longer selling agave syrup - here's why
Since you’re reading this, chances are you consume as little refined sugar as possible – if you even consume it at all. But what about agave syrup (also known as agave nectar)? That’s completely different…isn’t it? If you’re anything like the average raw food fan you’ll be regularly adding agave to your recipes in the belief that it’s a natural (and therefore healthy) sweetener. You’ll be buying and eating foods that contain agave without thinking for a moment that these foods may be as bad for you as the processed foods you used to eat in their place. You may even believe that agave has “beneficial properties”.
When raw agave came on the market six years ago, it sounded like the answer to every sugar-loving raw foodist’s prayers. It is mainly fructose, which is both much sweeter than glucose, and much lower on the Glycaemic Index. So here at last was a sweetener that was sugary enough to satisfy the sweetest of tooths, yet that would not cause those undesirable blood sugar spikes. Better still it had the delicious consistency of a runny, easily pourable syrup that worked like a dream in a huge range of recipes – and yet it was completely natural! It sounded almost too good to be true – and there was a reason for tha

Jan Carlo T.

1:26AM PDT on Aug 3, 2010

perfect! i need this list!

Petra L.

1:32AM PDT on Jun 21, 2010

Thank you.