CHOOSING SWEETENERS

If using granulated sugar, look for pure cane sugar. If sugar isn’t labeled as cane, it is probably made at least partially from beets—and in America, sugar beets are mostly genetically modified. Many of the recipes in this book call for natural, less processed sweeteners, such as the following.

Honey: The best honey—both for nutrition and flavor—is in its raw form. Raw honey is a powerful antioxidant and has antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. It strengthens the immune system and can fight allergies (particularly if the honey is from local bees).

Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is, well, delicious. I’m from Vermont, so I grew up tapping trees and boiling down the sap to make our liquid gold. Maple syrup doesn’t rank quite as high as honey on the health scorecard, but it does have a lot of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Be sure to use 100% real maple syrup, not a syrup that’s artificially flavored.

Coconut Sugar: Evaporated sap from coconut palm trees, coconut sugar has a delicate caramel flavor, similar to brown sugar. It contains many vitamins and minerals and less fructose than cane sugar.

What about Agave? Agave, sometimes called “the great Mexican aloe,” produces a sweet sap, or nectar, that is traditionally extracted from the leaves, filtered, and heated to become a concentrated syrup—sort of like the tropical version of maple syrup. However, most agave sweeteners you can find in stores come from the blue agave plant, and rather than the sap being extracted from the leaves, it comes from the starchy root bulb. The agave glucose is converted to syrup through an enzymatic and chemical process that is similar to how cornstarch is converted to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and results in a product that’s very high in fructose. Fructose in highly concentrated forms wreaks havoc on your liver and can result in long-term health problems.