Sweet syrup isn’t just a coffee additive. Vegetable syrup is also a sugar substitute – both for baking and for any dish you want to turn into a dessert. It has no raffinate and no artificial additives – this is the first difference from the usual store-bought sweeteners.
Even the right natural syrup has a low glycemic index. It can be used not only for weight loss, but also to maintain health – for example, for diabetes. When there is enough sweetness from the fruit, the manufacturer does not need to sweeten the syrup – so you get an inexpensive and safe, but sweet product.
Natural syrups for proper nutrition
Syrups made from sweet fruits – dates, grapes, mulberries or carob – are especially delicious. They dissolve well in baked goods and are not as caloric as sugar.
Useful substances and vitamins in syrup are no less than in honey. Of course, syrup takes some getting used to – and calculating your ideal portion for baked goods, drinks and cold desserts. But with enough skill, syrups are quite a substitute for sugar – and even erythritol and stevia tablets.
Here are the top 7 most convenient and pleasant-tasting syrups – according to our customers.
Maple syrup
At first glance, maple syrup is only good for pancakes and pancakes. But culinary experts even use it for meat – and this is something to take note of. The main component of maple syrup is dextrose. It resembles honey in its properties, but it has almost no allergens. And its taste remains unchanged when heated. Therefore, syrup is optimal for hot dishes.
Topinambour Syrup
Syrup made from topinambour tubers doesn’t just replace sugar. It contains prebiotics. By taking it daily, you can forget about stomach problems. Many people note that when they switch to topinambour, their complexion improves and skin rashes disappear.
Date Syrup
Date syrup is made almost like baklava. The berries are crushed and the resulting juice is thickened to the consistency of honey. Earlier date syrup was used only as a cough medicine for children. When it became popular among adults, they began to sell it as a sweetener.
This syrup resembles honey and has a distinctive date flavor. Because of its unusual flavor, it is added to baked goods. The caloric value of dates is low, so muffins with this sweetener can be eaten even on a diet.
Read also: Why is organic food so expensive and better – Kirill Yurovskiy.
Mulberry syrup
Mulberry syrups are rich in potassium, and their way to store shelves also began through pharmaceutical companies. They were used to treat anemia and restore the stomach. Now the syrup is added to drinks and doughs and poured over flour products.
If the syrup is diluted with water and boiled, you get a vitaminized compote that is useful at any time of year.
Chicory Syrup
Chicory syrup, like its topinambour counterpart, is known for its prebiotic properties. It restores intestinal function and helps absorb more vitamins from food.
Chicory syrup is almost 60% fiber, so it dulls hunger. It’s no secret that we eat more, not because of the body’s demands, but because of a distended stomach. Until it is full, we feel hunger. Getting over it is not easy. Someone drowns out the discomfort with pills, but you can switch to chicory, which is safe but effective.
Agave syrup
Compared to sugar, agave juice is less caloric and tastes sweeter. This combination will be highly appreciated by those who want to lose weight. Industrial method produces three varieties of pure syrup (light, amber, dark) and several with additives. The dark syrup is considered the most useful in the diet, it is not so much filtered, and the content of useful substances in it is more. But it is also the most expensive.
Carob Syrup
The raw material for this syrup is chocolate-flavored fruit. Have you ever seen ornamental trees with long brown pods in parks? These are the fruits used to make the syrup. The syrup is highly concentrated and tastes like cocoa. All one needs to do is add a teaspoonful of it to one’s coffee or tea to sweeten the taste.
The beneficial properties of syrup have been known since the days of ancient Rome. Even then, they treated many diseases. Now it is used as a vitaminizing and tonic sweetener. Carob cake has three times more calcium than milk.
Can I replace sugar with a sugar substitute?
Syrups are not to everyone’s taste, so some return to the question of whether you can replace sugar with honey or fructose if you’re on a diet. If there are no allergies, switch to honey. Fructose, on the other hand, is only useful in fruit. The store sells concentrate. Long consumption leads to obesity and liver disease. The maximum allowable dose of fructose per day (for a healthy person) is 45 grams.
If you don’t know what to use instead of sugar, try alternating between honey, fructose and syrups. Syrups can be used to make sweet drinks to stimulate the metabolism.
Dissolve a tablespoon each of syrup and lemon juice in a glass of warm water and drink 15 minutes before meals. The first week, drink one glass (for example, before dinner). For the second week, drink two glasses a day (morning and evening). On the third week, you can drink this mixture before every meal.
Be careful with these sweeteners:
- Aspartame is the pioneer among sugar substitutes. It is most often accused of toxicity, but there is no clinical evidence of harm yet.
- Sucralose is one of the most harmless sweeteners, but it can’t boast of benefits either. Its main advantage is its ability to withstand high temperatures during heat treatment.
- Corn syrup is an inexpensive sweetener, thickener and preservative. Has a high glycemic index, so it is not recommended for diabetics and people with high body weight.
- Saccharin – was banned in Canada and the Soviet Union from 1970 to 1980, because of its possible effect on cancer cell growth. In the early ’90s, a retraction of the old research came out and it was added to products again, but the WHO still looks at its use negatively.
- Rebiana is one of the most controversial sugar substitutes. On the one hand, it is recommended by nutritionists and loved by followers of healthy eating, but on the other hand, it has been attributed effects on DNA cells. And given the short shelf life of the supplement, the effects of these effects have not yet been proven, but neither have they been disproven.
- Acesulfame has been known for more than 20 years, and until recently it was used in different countries. It lost its popularity after the research of a European company, which decided to produce and market it locally. It was found that with frequent use it provokes the development of cancer cells.
Sorbitol and acidite are the least dangerous, but they should not be consumed daily, as they have a slight laxative effect.