A guide to choosing the best sugars, syrups, and sweeteners for you
A guide to choosing the best sugars, syrups, and sweeteners for you
MEET THE BRANDS
IN 2021
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​In my continuous quest to discover all sweeteners in stores across the United States, I found hundreds of brands and listed them below
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Beet and cane sugars are the most widely available sweeteners; forty forms of cane sugar are sold under eighty brand names
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Stevia (pure leaf extract, liquid, powder) is sold in almost twenty different ingredient combinations and about a hundred brand names
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Honey, with more than three hundred varieties, and maple syrup have the most brand names of all sweeteners
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Looking for organic sweeteners? Find below USDA's organic seal displayed on the lower right corner of organic options
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Looking for fair trade sweeteners? Find below fair trade seals displayed on the lower left corner of fair trade options
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Looking for flavored sweeteners? Options are overwhelming! Popular flavors: vanilla, chocolate (cocoa), caramel, hazelnut, and fruit
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Brand names of sweeteners with storefronts on Amazon are listed below, from small to big sellers. Click here for flavored options.
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There is A LOT to see here as some companies own many brands. Scroll down to explore all brands or make your selection below:
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Julian Bakery Pure Monk
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MonkSweet (Steviva)
A-B SWEETENER BRANDS
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Aunt Patty's brand is part of GloryBee, a family-owned and operated company in Eugene, Oregon. GloryBee brand specializes in honey varieties from small local beekeepers. Aunt Patty's is a brand of a variety of caloric sweeteners in liquid, powder, and granules form. About half of their sugars and syrups are available in organic version. The company is transparent in how their sweeteners are produced and sourced. Their website is very informative.
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Billington's brand of cane sugars is sold in the U.S. by Wholesome Sweeteners. Billington's is one of Europe's leading brands of imported traditional unrefined and raw cane sugars sourced from sugar mills in Mauritius, Malawi and Brazil. Owned by The Associated British Foods Group (AB Foods), an international food, ingredients and retail group. AB Foods owns 26% of Wholesome Sweeteners (see W- sweeteners below) and British Sugars (producer of beet sugars). AB Foods sugar division is called AB Sugar.
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Bob’s Red Mill is an employee-owned company that started by selling whole grains milled the traditional way. Currently distributes over 400 food products under the brand Bob's Red Mill sold all over the United States. It was founded in 1978 by Bob Moore, that now is in his 80s and is the face you see displayed on every single bag of product they sell. It is based in Milwaukie, Oregon. The company packages and distributes seven caloric sweeteners: cane, date, and coconut sugars.
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Born Sweet is a brand of stevia and agave owned by American Sugar Refinery or ASR Group. The brands C&H, Domino Sugar, Tate & Lyle Sugars, Lyle's Syrups, and Florida Crystals are also part of ASR and distributed by Domino Foods. Born Sweet Blue Agave is available in two forms: raw (heated at a much lower temperature, more full-bodied flavor, rich amber color) and golden (filtered more times, mild taste). Born Sweet line of stevia is called Zing and contains stevia leaf extract (organic or not) and glucose.
C-E SWEETENER BRANDS
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C&H is the most well known brand of refined sugar on the West Coast. It is sold since 1906. C&H cane sugars are refined in the U.S. from imported and/or domestic raw sugar at the C&H Sugar Company Refinery, located in Crockett, California. C&H and Domino are brands owned by American Sugar Refining or ASR Group, the producer of about 60% of the total refined cane sugar in the country. C&H sugars are kosher certified and Non-GMO Project Verified.
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Domino Sugar and C&H are sister brands, that sell essentially the same sugars. Domino is the most well-known brand of refined sugar on the East Coast, where it is predominantly sold since 1901. Sugars are refined in the U.S. from imported and/or domestic raw sugars. Domino Sugars Refineries are located East of the Mississipi River: two on the coast in Yonkers, NY & Baltimore, MD, and one near cane plantations close to New Orleans in Arabi, LA. Their sugars are kosher certified and Non-GMO Project Verified.
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Equal brand, known for its little blue packets, was the first aspartame sweetener sold in the U.S. It is owned by Merisant, based in Chicago, IL, a company that manufactures and sells sweeteners in more than 90 countries. Besides Equal, Merisant also owns Whole Earth Sweetener Co. and PureVia, which are brands of stevia-based sweeteners. Today, Equal is a brand of a variety of sweeteners, not only with aspartame, but also with saccharin, sucralose and stevia. Equal Plus is a new line of sweeteners with vitamins and minerals that came out in 2019.
F-H SWEETENER BRANDS
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Florida Crystals brand of cane sugars and syrups is owned by Florida Crystals Corp., which pioneered organic sugar farming in the country and is America’s only producer of certified organic sugar. Sugars are produced in two sugar mills in South Florida and a sugar refinery that refines raw sugar from domestic sources. Owned by the Fanjul brothers, a Florida-based Cuban American family, that in 1998 partnered with the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida to create American Sugar Refining (ASR).
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GloryBee brand is owned by GloryBee, a family-owned and operated company in Eugene, Oregon. It includes honey varieties from small local beekeepers in the Pacific Northwest, and imported organic honey from cooperatives of small beekeepers. GloryBee sweeteners in a straw called HoneyStix, with many flavored versions, and AgaveStix are practical on the go options. The company has a very informative website. It also owns the Aunt Patty's brand of sweeteners referred above.
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Health Garden brand is a full line of gluten-free, non-GMO Project Verified, Kosher, and low glycemic sweeteners. Owned by Health Garden, a company launched in 2010 and based in Spring Valley, NY. Health Garden claims to be the leading brand of natural sweeteners in the U.S.
I-K SWEETENER BRANDS
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In The Raw brand is owned by Cumberland Packing Corporation, which packages and distributes sweeteners sold under the brands Sugar In The Raw, Agave In The Raw, Stevia In The Raw, Honey In The Raw, and Monk Fruit In The Raw. The company, family-owned and based in NY, is known for their saccharin tabletop sweetener sold under the brand Sweet'N Low, introduced in the U.S. almost 60 years ago. Cumberland's other brands include: NatraTaste, Sweet One and Sweet Magic.
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India Tree brand of sugars are sourced and distributed by India Tree Gourmet Spices & Specialties, based in Seattle, WA. It includes three fair trade certified cane sugars: two unrefined sugars (light and dark muscovado) and a raw sugar (demerara); all imported from Mauritius, a volcanic island off the Southeast Coast of Africa. Two of India Tree sugars are refined sugars from cane with very small crystals: Caster and Fondant/Icing. Check out my blog posts on India Tree Dark Muscovado and Light Muscovado.
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KAL brand was founded in 1932 as one of the first line of dietary supplements. Today, it has a variety of supplements, including sweeteners. In 1995, KAL joined the enormous family of brands owned by Nutraceutical, based in Park City, UT. KAL's line of stevia sweeteners are sold under the brand SURE Stevia as dietary supplements. One is certified organic. KAL monk fruit sweeteners are available in liquid and powder form.
L-N SWEETENER BRANDS
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Lakanto is a Japanese-owned manufacturer of monk fruit sweeteners. Their processing facility, said to be zero emission and eco-friendly, and farm are located in Guilin, China. It claims to be one of few manufacturers of monk fruit extract in the world.Lakanto brand of sweeteners have a very recognizable bright orange package.
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LC brand is sold and distributed by LC Foods, based in Raleigh, NC. The company offers low carb sweeteners that come in white, brown, and confectionery varieties made with stevia and monk fruit blended with inulin or erythritol. To be used as a substitute for white, brown, and confectioners sugars, they can conveniently replace those sugars on a 1 for 1 ratio.
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Madhava brand of honey, agave, coconut sugar, and flavored pancake syrups is owned by Madhava Natural Sweeteners, a private owned and operated company from Boulder, CO. Madhava started as a brand of honey in 1973, but currently sells about a dozen sweeteners (including Ambrosia Honey Co brand) with very attractive labels and website.
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NOW brand is owned by Now Real Food, a family-owned company which claims to be one of the natural product industry’s most recognizable brands. The company has offices in Bloomingdale, IL and Sparks, NV. It sells almost thirty different sweeteners, including a full line of stevia sweeteners under the brand BetterStevia.
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NuNaturals is a family owned and operated company that has been providing sugar-free sweeteners for almost 30 years. Based in Eugene, Oregon, NuNaturals company has a line of stevia sweeteners sold under the brand NuStevia, three different monk fruit sweeteners, and tagatose, which has the brand Sweet Health.
O-Q SWEETENER BRANDS
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Pyure brand of stevia (Reb A) is owned by a company based in Naples, Florida that sells only organic certified versions of stevia sweeteners: pure stevia extract, stevia blended with erythritol (pouch and individual packet size), stevia liquid, and "Bakeable Stevia Blend" (maltodextrin with stevia).
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PureVia is a brand of stevia-based sweeteners owned by Merisant, based in Chicago, Illinois. The company has offices all around the world and sells sweeteners in 90 different countries. Merisant also owns the brands Equal, Sugarly Sweet (sold only by amazon.com), Whole Earth, and Canderel (not sold in the U.S.).
R-S SWEETENER BRANDS
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Splenda brand of sucralose sweeteners, famous for its little yellow packets, is owned by Heartland Food Products Group, based in Carmel, Indiana. The company claims the Splenda brand is the #1 brand of zero calorie sweetener, being the favorite and most recognizable in the world. The company also produces Skinnygirl Sweeteners. I found ten sweeteners sold under the Splenda brand, besides the original yellow packets: Minis, Granulated, Sugar Blend, Brown Sugar Blend, 1 Gram of Fiber, Fiber, Stevia, and Zero.
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Splenda Naturals Stevia brand of sweeteners get their sweetness from a stevia leaf extract called Rebaudioside D (Reb D), as opposed to the vast majority of other stevia sweeteners, which contain Reb A. Reb D is considered the "better-tasting" and more "sugar-like" stevia leaf extract. The brand was launched in 2016 as Splenda Naturals, with a beautiful colorful looking package. In 2019, it got a new look and is being promoted as Splenda Stevia. Splenda Stevia is also owned by Heartland.
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Splenda Zero is a line of liquid sweeteners owned by Heartland. The slogan is "zero calories, zero compromises". Three varieties are available containing a high intensity sweeteners (sucralose or stevia), water, and preservatives. The black little plastic bottles are with sucralose and the green is with stevia. Each Splenda Zero bottle has 200 squeezes and provides the sweetness of eighty to one hundred of the Splenda packets.
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Stevita Naturals brand of sweeteners is produced with stevia grown in Brazil. It claims to be the world's first tabletop sweetener with stevia in 1988. About 90% of the total stevia grown in the world is planted in China, so most of the stevia sweeteners you find come from Chinese grown plants, but not Stevita. This brand SteviTA is based in Arlington, Texas and should not to be confused with SteviVA brand (see below) which is from Portland, Oregon.
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Steviva brand is a full line of sweeteners with a variety of other brand names such as SteviaSweet (stevia-based), KetoSweet (allulose-based), MonkSweet (monk fruit-based), XeroSweet (xylitol-based), and PreBiotica (inulin FOS). Nectevia, Fructevia, and CocoSweet are blends with less sugar. FruSweet brand is crystalline fructose. ErySweet is pure erythritol. The "+" versions contain stevia leaf extracts. Steviva's roots were set about 20 years ago. The parent company is Icon Foods, based in Portland, OR.
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Sugarless is the name used in two different tabletop sweeteners. Sugarless Sweetener is a brand owned by Health Garden (see H- sweeteners above) which contains two ingredients: erythritol plus stevia. Sugarless Sugar, by Ellyndale Naturals and a trademark of NOW Foods (see N- sweeteners above), contains erythritol, inulin, maltodextrin, guar gum, and stevia. Both sweeteners are promoted as a one-to-one sugar replacement, i.e., 1 cup of Sugarless = 1 cup table sugar.
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Sugarly Sweet by Equal is the brand of sweeteners sold exclusively at Amazon.com and owned by Merisant, based in Chicago, IL but with offices all around the world. Merisant also owns the brands Equal, PureVia, Whole Earth, and Canderel (not sold in the U.S.). Five Sugarly Sweet sweeteners are available: two are labeled as Granulated to be a 1:1 substitute for sugar, and three are individual packet size of sucralose, saccharin, and stevia.
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Sukrin brand, founded in 2007 by the Norwegian company Funksjonell Mat AS, is claimed to be the dominant health brand within its category in all of Scandinavia and large parts of Europe. Sukrin USA, based in Virginia Beach, VA, started importing Sukrin sweeteners in 2015. All Sukrin sweeteners in powder form contain erythritol. Two products are pure erythritol (organic and non-organic version) and four contain stevia. Sukrin Fiber Syrup has two versions, both with the soluble fiber IMO.
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SweetLeaf brand, launched in 1981, is owned by Wisdom Natural Brands, based in Gilbert, AZ. It claims to be the leading U.S. manufacturer of stevia and to carry 31 awards for taste and innovation. Their line of stevia sweeteners include: (1) powders (organic & non-organic), (2) brand of liquids SweetDrops SteviaClear (two versions: in a glass bottle made with organic stevia & in a plastic bottle made with non-organic stevia), (3) brand of tablets SteviaTabs, (4) a dietary supplement, and (5) line of flavored liquid stevia.
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Sweet'N Low brand of saccharin sweeteners is owned by Cumberland Packing Corporation, which also packages and distributes sweeteners sold under the brands In The Raw (sugar, agave, stevia, honey, and monk fruit). The company, family-owned and based in New York, introduced the famous little pink packets in the United States almost 60 years ago. Cumberland's other brands include: NatraTaste, Sweet One, and Sweet Magic.
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Swerve brand was launched in 2001 and the company is based in New Orleans, LA. Swerve used to be a small company [on their website, they claim they still are], but was purchased by Whole Earth, a global food company, for an impressive $80 million cash transaction. Whole Earth, also purchased Merisant, which manufactures and sells sweeteners—including Equal and PureVia—in more than 90 countries. Plus, in 2021, it also acquired Wholesome Sweeteners (sells over twenty different sweeteners) for $180 million.