Glossary - Sensationally Sugar Free - Susanna Booth

Sensationally Sugar Free: Delicious sugar-free recipes for healthier eating every day - Susanna Booth (2016)

Glossary

The following is a guide to some of the sweeteners and more unusual ingredients that I use in my recipes.

Agar powder

Agar (or agar-agar) powder is a natural gelling agent that comes from freeze-dried seaweed. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans, it helps to prevent the growth of ice crystals in frozen foods and give a satiny mouthfeel to ice cream. It is sometimes sold as flakes. If you can’t find agar powder, carrageenan powder (made from another kind of seaweed) can be used instead.

Almond milk

This dairy-free alternative to cows’ milk is made from a filtered blend of almonds and water, and provides an assortment of nutrients. Make sure the product you choose is unsweetened; it is naturally sugar free.

You can use soya milk instead if you prefer.

Apple purée

I use apple purée to sweeten some of my dishes. It can be tricky to find, but the baby food aisle of the supermarket is a good place to source it, especially if only a small amount is needed. If you want to make your own, finely chop a peeled, cored cooking apple and heat gently in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons apple juice until the apple has become pulpy. Leave to cool before use.

Chestnut flour

Made from ground dried chestnuts, chestnut flour is naturally gluten free. High in fibre and very nutritious, it also has a natural sugar content of about 20 per cent, which means that chestnut flour can be used as a wheat flour substitute in cakes with few, if any, further sweeteners needed.

Evaporated milk

This is milk that has been boiled for a long time until it becomes thick and gloopy, a process that concentrates its natural sugar (lactose) content. It can be useful in some recipes, though it has a distinctive taste. It usually comes in a can. Evaporated milk is not to be confused with condensed milk, which has added sugar.

Honey

Chemically speaking, honey is not much different to diluted table sugar, though good quality honey also contains a mixture of minerals and other nutrients. I use it very sparingly and always choose a raw local organic honey.

No-added-sugar chocolate

As distinct from unsweetened chocolate (which is rather bitter), no-added-sugar chocolate is still somewhat sweet but is sweetened without sugar. It is sometimes marketed as diabetic chocolate. The brand I use contains stevia, but look out for others sweetened with erythritol or maltitol, which are low-calorie naturally derived sweeteners.

If you can’t find them in your supermarket, try health food shops or online suppliers. Normally both dark and milk versions are available.

This kind of chocolate is useful for adding a touch of luxury to desserts and cake, but bear in mind that it is still high in calories.

Raw lucuma powder

This low-GI sweetener comes from a nutritious South American fruit with a very hard flesh, which is ground up into a powder that has a malty toffee-date flavour. It is useful in some recipes, but the drawback is that the powder doesn’t dissolve, so it’s not suitable as a sugar alternative for sprinkling on doughnuts or cereal, for instance, because it will just taste ‘claggy’.

Rice milk

Made from blended rice, water and oil, rice milk should not contain any added sweeteners. Although the total sugar content is the same as cows’ milk (about 4 per cent), it tastes sweeter. This is useful in recipes because it means that the need for further sweetening is reduced.

Stevia powder

I use the term ‘stevia powder’ in my recipes to refer to sweeteners based on stevia extracts. There are many such products on the market and the precise extract of the stevia plant used varies, as does the added ingredients. I like stevia because it is naturally derived and only a little is needed. I keep the amounts of stevia I use to a minimum -

just enough to make the recipes pleasantly sweet, but without the aftertaste becoming noticeable. The brand I use has added erythritol, a low calorie, naturallly derived sweetener, and is about three times sweeter than ordinary white sugar. But don’t feel you have to use stevia powder at all - there are many other alternative sweeteners available.