Alternative natural sweeteners tend to address many or all of consumers' concerns about sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and artificial sweeteners. In fact, in addition to being many times sweeter than the sucrose standard, natural sweeteners tend to also be low- or unprocessed, low-calorie, low on the glycemic index (GI), and mindful of sustainable and environmental concerns.
In addition to maple syrup and sugar cane—the source of most table sugar today—our distant ancestors enjoyed the sweetness of honey. This nectar of the bees was collected as far back as the caveman days and was used to make baked treats in Ancient Egypt. Rebeca Krones, Tropical Traders Specialty Foods, defined honey as the substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants are gathered, modified and stored in the honeycomb by honey bees. "The definition of honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance," she noted.
The sweetness in honey is due to its fructose and glucose content, but as food for bee queens, this sticky amber-colored fluid is also home to many minerals, vitamins and amino acids.
For practical purposes, honey is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by FDA and does not contain any allergens required for labeling by the agency. Also, honey can be certified organic, although Hawaii is the only U.S. state capable of producing organic honeys, according to Krones, who noted two of her company's Royal Hawaiian Honeys are certified organic. "All other organic honey sold in the United States is imported from other countries," she said. Tropical Traders honey products are also certified carbon neutral.
Honey is used to sweeten tea and many other beverages and is increasingly favored by top chefs for their signature dishes, according to Krones, who said honey has also become a favorite ingredient in ice cream, as evidenced by an up-tick in use by Haagen-Dazs. Krones reported honey can be used in all sorts of food applications, as most recipes can be converted to include honey. She added, "Baking with honey is especially wonderful as it adds moisture and shelf life to many baked goods." Beyond foods, she said honey seems to be appearing more often in beauty products for hair, face and skin, including offerings from Burt's Bees and Beeceuticals.
Still, honey has a GI of 55 (sucrose is about 68), although its reported medicinal benefits, from antibacterial to antioxidant, are a considerable balance to its effect on blood-glucose level. Another source of sugar is coconut palm blossoms, which has a GI rating of 35. Navitas Naturals used this as the source of its organic palm sugar, which is 100-percent organic, unprocessed, unfiltered, unbleached and contains no preservatives. Like honey, this staple sweetener of tropical Indonesia contains numerous nutrients, including amino acids, potassium, magnesium, zinc and iron, as well as vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and C.
For applications, coconut blossom, organic palm sugar can be used in recipes as a 1-to-1 substitute for cane sugar. In fact, it is made in the form of a fine granule that rapidly dissolves in liquids and wet dough, making it a candidate for sweetening beverages and baked goods.
Honey and palm sugar are similar in sweetness to sucrose, but other natural sweeteners differentiate from sugar in the realm of sweetness, source and health effects. Sugar alcohols are not as sweet as sucrose, honey or palm sugar, but they have much less caloric impact, in addition to having some possible health benefits, compared to sugar. Such alcohols as erythritol, sorbitol, maltitol, isomatlulose and xylitol typically are not readily absorbed into the bloodstream, which generally means a minute effect on blood-glucose levels. This makes them a good sweetener alternative for diabetics and dieters. Due to an endothermic (absorbs heat) reaction when dissolving, these alcohols can have a cooling effect, making them a great fit for gum products, which also benefit from oral bacteria's inability to feed on sugar alcohols. In fact, FDA recently added isomaltulose to its list of sugar alcohols permitted in a health claim for reduction of tooth decay and low-sweetener products, such as gum.