If you're finding it hard to

SORT THE SWEETENER AISLE

Start here by choosing a

group of sweeteners, based on the

calories

they provide:

~ 0 cal

< 12 cal/ tsp

15 to 21 cal/ tsp

ZERO CALORIE SWEETENERS

< 5 cal per serving

0 to100 cal per cup

Low carb. Low GI. 0 Sugar.

High Intensity Sweetener

Stevia | Pure Extract

Stevia leaf extracts are food ingredients with GRAS status. The leaf extracts go through a great deal of processing and purification until they become palatable and free of impurities. They provides zero calories and are 200 to 400 times sweeter than table sugar. Find here brands of pure stevia leaf extract, with no fillers or additives.

Stevia | Liquid

Stevia leaf extracts are food ingredients with GRAS status. The leaf extracts go through a great deal of processing and purification until they become palatable and free of impurities. They provides zero calories and are 200 to 400 times sweeter than table sugar. Find here brands of liquid stevia. The most common carriers include glycerine, erythitol, alcohol, and cellulose. Some are sold as dietary supplements and allow health claims on labels.

Stevia | with Erythritol

Stevia | with Inulin

Stevia | with Sugars

Stevia leaf extracts are food ingredients with GRAS status. The leaf extracts go through a great deal of processing and purification until they become palatable and free of impurities. They provides zero calories and are 200 to 400 times sweeter than table sugar. Find here brands of stevia-sugars blends. Sugars used: glucose, organic cane sugar.

Stevia | with Maltodextrin

Stevia | with Xylitol

Stevia blended with Xylitol Sweeteners

Stevia | with Rare Sugars

Stevia blended with Allulose and Tagatose Sweeteners

Stevia | Brown & Powdered

Stevia Sweeteners that are Brown Sugar Replacements and Powdered Sugar Replacements

Stevia | Dried Leaf

The whole-leaf Stevia is dried, cut, and turn into a green powder. It has a very mild sweet taste and does not dissolve well. Extracts (highly refined with > or = 95% purity) from the leaf are approved by the FDA but the leaves itself are not due to inadequate toxicological information.

Stevia | with Benefits

Stevia extract offer no health benefits because the amount we eat is minuscule. However, the sweeteners I add here contain ingredients that offer health benefits such as vitamins and fibers.

Stevia | Monk Fruit Blend

Stevia is the term used to refer to steviol glycosides (highly refined extracts from the leaves of the stevia plant). Monk fruit is the term used to refer to mogrosides (extracts obtained from the luo han guo fruit)

Monk Fruit | Pure Extract

Monk fruit, also called luo han guo fruit, is a small green fruit of the Chinese plant Siraitia grosvenorii Swingle. The sweet components in the fruit, referred to as mogrosides, are 230 to 425 times sweeter than table sugar.

Monk Fruit | Liquid

Monk Fruit | with Erythritol

Monk Fruit | with Inulin

Monk Fruit | with Glucose

Monk Fruit | with Rare Sugars

Monk fruit extract blended with allulose or tagatose sweeteners

Monk Fruit | Powdered & Golden

Brown Sugar Substitute made with monk fruit is called Golden Monk Fruit. Powdered sugar substitute made with monk fruit.

Monk Fruit | Packets

Brands of monk fruit that come in packets, sticks, and cubes

Erythritol

Erythritol is sold in powdered, crystallized, and blended with other ingredients. You can buy it as a brown sugar replacement and powdered sugar replacement.

Allulose

Allulose come in liquid, powdered, crystallized, and granulated form. You can also find allulose blended with stevia and monk fruit extracts.

Natural Sweeteners | Liquid

Sweeteners made with stevia, monk fruit or both. Stevia is the term used to refer to steviol glycosides (highly refined extracts from the leaves of the stevia plant). Monk fruit is the term used to refer to mogrosides (extracts obtained from the luo han guo fruit).

Miracle Fruit | Dried and Tablets

Miracle Fruit extract (or Miraculin) is a protein extracted from the African berry, Synsepalum dulcificum (or Richardella dulcifica). It does not taste sweet but is able to transform acidic flavors into sweet. It can enhance the sweetness of low pH (acid) foods and beverages to become 200 to 800 times sweeter than table sugar. Not approved as a food ingredients by the FDA, but the extract is sold in tablets or you can buy the frozen fruit.

Artificial Sweetener | Liquid

Sugar substitutes in liquid form with artificial sweeteners are made with saccharin or sucralose.

Sucralose

Sucralose is made from table sugar in a process that changes its configuration into a compound around 600 times sweeter with no calories.

Saccharin

Saccharin is a salt around 200 to 700 times sweeter than table sugar. It provides no calories as it is not metabolized and is excreted in urine. It has noe effect on bood glucose. It may be combined with other sweeteners (such as glucose) or bulking agents (such as maltodextrin) in commercial tabletop sweeteners.

Aspartame

Aspartame is a high intensity sweetener that, being a protein, provides 4 Calories/g. But since it can be up to 400 times sweeter than table sugar, it is used in such small amounts that contributes few to no calories (200g or ~ 1 cup of table sugar can be replaced by 1g of aspartame). It is approved by the FDA as a nutritive sweetener.

Replace Sugar 1:1 | + Erythritol

Are sweeteners that measure spoon-for-spoon (or cup-for-cup) like regular sugar, and mantain some of sugar's role in baking but with less calories. When substituting this sweetener for sugar, consumer must substitute 'equal volume', not 'equal weight', because this sweetener is much lighter than sugar. Main ingredient is erythritol.

Replace Sugar 1:1 | + Maltodextrin

Reduced Calorie Sweeteners

REDUCED CALORIE SWEETENERS

Two groups:

(1) Sugar Blends

(2) Low-Digestible Sweeteners

SUGAR BLENDS

25 - 75% fewer calories than the sugar or syrup they replace.

Contain sugars or maltodextrin.

Often suggested to be measured in cups for baking/cooking.

Not calorie free. Not sugar free.

Low to medium GI.

Blends with Less Sugar

Reduced-Calorie Refined Sugar

White Sugar Blend contains white cane sugar blended with a reduced calorie sweetener and/or a high intensity sweetener. Brown Sugar Blend contains regular brown sugar instead. It helps consumers reduce regular sugar intake. It is designed for baking and cooking as it gives the benefits of sugar (familiar taste, rising, browning, moisture) with less calories per serving. 1/2 cup of white or brown sugar blends sweetener is typically equal 1 cup of regular white or brown sugar

Reduced-Calorie Sugars

Raw Cane Sugar Blend: is a raw cane sugar blended with one or more reduced calorie sweetener and/or high intensity sweetener. Also called baker's blend or baking blend, it maintains almost the same role of raw cane sugars in baking, but with less calories. Is typically twice as sweet as regular refined sugar.

Reduced-Calorie Syrups

Liquid Blends (syrups) are often 2x as sweet as the pure caloric sweetener. Some of these blends contain honey or agave blended with stevia. It maintains some of honey or agave's role, but with less calories. Pancake syrup, waffle syrup or simply 'syrup' may be (1) LITE, LIGHT; (2) LOW CALORIE caloric sweeteners (sugar, cane syrup, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, etc) are blended with high-intensity sweeteners (sucralose, stevia, etc)

Replace Sugar 1:1 | + Maltodextrin

LOW-DIGESTIBLE SWEETENERS

25 to 90% fewer calories than table sugar.

Often less sweet than table sugar.

Offer digestive benefits and adverse effects.

Sugar-Free. Zero to low GI.

Bulking Sweetener & Agents

Erythritol

Erythritol-based Sweeteners. Erythritol is a polyol or sugar alcohol - a type of carbohydrate that, unlike sugar, is not completely digested. It is less sweet than sugar (~70% the sweetness of regular sugar). It is promoted as a natural sweetener as is found in nature but is synthetically produced by fermentation or an electrochemical process. It is considered a zero-calorie sweetener as it provides 0.2 kcal/g.

Xylitol

Xylitol is a polyol or sugar alcohol - a type of carbohydrate that, unlike sugar, is digested slowly, having little impact on blood sugar or insulin levels. Xylitol provides about half the calories of regular sugar (sucrose). Xylitol is the sweetest of the polyols and is as sweet as sucrose.

Xylitol-based Sweeteners

These sweeteners contain xylitol blended with stevia, inulin, erythritol, or sucralose. Xylitol is a polyol or sugar alcohol - a type of carbohydrate that, unlike sugar, is digested slowly, having little impact on blood sugar or insulin levels. Xylitol provides about half the calories of regular sugar (sucrose). Xylitol is the sweetest of the polyols and is as sweet as sucrose.

Sorbitol | Mannitol | Isomalt

Tabletop Sweeteners that contain carbohydrates that are slowly, partially, or not digested at all Provide 25 to 90% fewer calories than sugars Include polyols, rare sugars, and some dietary fibers.

Soluble Fiber | Inulin, FOS, IMO

May be oligossacharides or polysaccharides | Fructooligosacharides (FOS): a carbohydrate with linear chains of (< 9) fructoses. Inulin (from Jerusalem artichoke, chicory root, or agave): a carbohydrate with long chains of ( > 10) fructoses. Isomalto-oligosaccharide (IMO): a short-chain carbohydrate, produced from starch. FOS, inulin & IMO have 1/2 the calories of table sugar and are prebiotics (are minimally digested in the small intestine and stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria)

Rare Sugars

Rare sugars, as the name implies, are rare in nature but can be synthetically produced. Examples are allulose (aka D-psicose), D-xylose, and tagatose. They are slightly sweet; typically half as sweet as table sugar. (allulose is 70% as sweet as sugar). Their sweetness profile is very similar to table sugar. Are low in calories. Have low GI. D-xylose is a synthetic sugar produced from coconut shells, corn cobs, and other plants rich in hemicellulose.

SUGARS

aka Caloric Sweeteners

Obtained from: (1) plant saps (2) starch (3) fruits or milk.

Solids (crystalized): > 90% sugars and ~15 cal per tsp.

Liquids (syrups, nectars): > 50% sugars and ~20 cal per tsp.

Glycemic index: Low to high

Sugars

Cane Sugar

Beet Sugar

Sugars from Other Sources

Refined Sugar

Explore here almost twenty types of refined sugar from sugarcane and sugarbeet plants, starting by the favorite of all sweeteners - the table sugar

Raw Sugar

Explore raw sugars. They retain trace amounts of the original cane molasses, which gives them a delicate flavor and blond to light brown color

Unrefined Sugar

Unrefined sugars retain most or all the original cane molasses. They have between 8 to14 percent molasses content, which gives them a strong flavor and intense brown color.

Sap- and Nectar-Derived Sugar

Sources of sugar include tree sap, flower nectar (collected by bees in the case of honey), fruit, cereal (starch), and milk. Find here sugar obtained from the agave plant, coconut and maple trees, sorghum, corn, barley, brown rice, dates, fruit juices, and more.

Starch-Derived Sugar

Fruit- and Milk-Derived Sugars

GET MY FREE GUIDE