CALORIC SWEETENERS

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• Caloric sweeteners are produced from plant saps—including flower nectar extracted by bees—fruits, starches, and milk. Their sources are sugar cane, sugar beet, flower nectar, agave, coconut and maple trees, sorghum, corn, barley, brown rice, dates, pears, and apples. Keep scrolling to see them all.

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• A caloric sweetener contains two major portions --- sugar and water. It is a solution of one or more sugars in concentrated form. Honey is about 80% sugar, maple syrup around 66% sugar, and table sugar 99.9%. The remainder is mostly water. The sugar portion is mainly composed of glucose, fructose, and sucrose, no matter where it comes from and how it is produced.

 

• In regards to composition, caloric sweeteners are not too different from one another: Those in solid form (granulated, powder, cubes, tablets, blocks) contain over 90 percent sugar and provide about 16 calories per teaspoon. Caloric sweeteners in liquid form (syrups, nectars) have over 50 percent sugar and about 22 calories per teaspoon. They do differ in how they affect the taste and texture of foods.

 

• All caloric sweeteners are natural (found in nature) and, except for raw honeycomb, are processed and refined in one way or another. The favorite of all sweeteners, table sugar (granulated white sugar), is the most familiar and versatile caloric sweetener. The term sugar can cause confusion as it has many definitions, so refer to my blog post What Is Sugar, Anyway?