Since the recent revelation about agave nectar is it possible to change some of your recipes to include PALM SUGAR? I am not sure what quantities to sub the agave for tho... agave is much sweeter than palm sugar.... have you heard about the agave debate?
Gluten Free Forums - Elana's Pantry » general
Elana! I love your book but......
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Have you tried making this palm sugar syrup? I use equal amounts of this in place of the agave nectar in all of her recipes and am very satisfied with the level of sweetness.
Coconut Palm Sugar Syrup
* 1 ½ cups palm sugar
* ½ cup water.1. To make the syrup, bring the coconut palm sugar and water to a boil in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stop stirring and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 3 minutes. Keep warm if to be used immediately. Or, let it cool and keep refrigerated to use later on.
I guess if you don't think it's sweet enough for your taste, then maybe you could experiment with increasing the ratio of palm sugar to water.
I've read through Elana's Pantry (blog) and forum since finding this site in January and had come across these links on her decision to stick to the brand of agave she recommmends.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/the-great-agave-syrup-debate/Since I had never used agave in the first place, I was uncomfortable with the controversy and thought the palm sugar syrup idea was a much better option. I love it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
What palm sugar do you use? Is it expensive? Where can I buy it less expensive? Thanks!!!
And thanks for the syrup help! I also feel the same about agave...:)Do you find yourself able to control your cravings more with coconut palm sugar? And I've heard it is called candy too is that correct?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Well, the granulated form of palm sugar isn't cheap. Seems to run on average about $5 per lb. The brands I've seen online are Sweet Tree or Navitas Naturals, which is the one I've been buying at iherb.com. Amazon.com and vitacost.com sell a 6-pk. of the Sweet Tree brand. I think Whole Foods sells it, too, although I didn't see it at mine.
A member here buys hers at a local Asian market for a lot cheaper, but it's in a solid form, although it can still be boiled with water to make a syrup. I believe this is the one she mentioned (and it can be called palm candy):
http://www.efooddepot.com/products/asli/21152/asli_palm_sugar__hypen__8oz.htmlYou just want to make sure what you're buying is 100% palm sugar/candy, beause sometimes ones that are sold in Asian markets are mixed with cane sugar or other things.
Also, I had come across an article that mentions the "Cocos Nuciferas" variety is the one that was tested to have the low glycemic value of 35, and the Sweet Tree and Navitas Naturals are of that variety. My husband is diabetic, so I kind of need to make sure to buy the right one just to be on the safe side.
http://cocopalmsugar.sch.ph/node/54As for palm sugar directly curbing cravings, well, I've only been using it for a few months, and all I can really report on that is that I'm not getting that jittery or hangover feeling like how can be typical with regular sugar. I'm sure it has to do with it being low glycemic, plus baking with almond flour is awesome.
Hope this helps! :)Posted 1 year ago # -
I still maintain, especially after learning about Agave, which I will NOT continue to use..... that the best sweeteners are the ones our great great grandmothers used, honey, maple syrup and organic molasses (molasses has a very high iron and potassium content). Organic brown rice syrup also has a high mineral content, but I don't know how processed it is. But for everyday baking, and I do a lot of it, I'm sticking almost solely to rapadura sugar which is good old fashioned sugar cane unrefined, with all the original nutrient and mineral values in it because the molasses isn't removed. Sometimes I still use organic cane sugar for special things that need to "look nice" like birthday cupcakes or cakes.....but I am so sick of new and improved turning out to be just as much hype and poison as everything else processed out there. Try to buy local honey and maple syrup from people you know. From now on if I've never heard of it, I'm not buying it. Next it will be xylitol. The stevia at least I can grow the plant in my own backyard and use it to sweeten tea, etc.
Posted 1 year ago # -
i found the truth about AGAVE, finally. A great explanation. This rings true for me. Read the entire article at the below link.
Mike Adams (naturalnews.com) contacted the manufacturer, who wrote a loooong rebuttal, explaining the 2 different processes being used by 2 differenet manufacturers, the first of which is out of business and which is the one the negative report is based on, even thouugh the good guy was contacted. Not one word of his explanation was contained in the negative report. I will use agave in Elana's recipes.
it appears to me that agave is very successful and is probably competition for the toxins aspartame and Splenda (?), making this an attack by TPTW (The Powers That Were).
Here's the full article: http://www.naturalnews.com/025060_agave_nectar_sugar_sugars.html
Posted 1 year ago #
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