Natural Sweeteners

Making the switch to natural sweeteners, like many Americans are doing with maple syrup, has lots of advantages. Natural sweeteners, being less refined, still contain some minerals and enzymes – molasses is high in iron, and honey contains amylase, an enzyme that helps break down carbohydrates (so it comes with its own enzyme to digest it – or the toast you put it on).

They are often sweeter than table sugar, so you can use less (you can use just 2/3 the amount of maple syrup as sugar in recipes – or even less, if you adapt your palette to less sweet foods). Like maple syrup, other natural sweeteners like honey, molasses, or rapadura have a distinctive flavor that actually heightens the flavor of baked goods and adds a level of complexity not found with white sugar. Since they are naturally more liquid, they also add moisture to many baked goods. And being more expensive, we use less of them, and become conscious of how precious the honeybee’s larder, or the maple tree’s sap, really are.

Honey: Honey is made from the nectar of flowers by the honeybee, and though the nectar consists of sucrose, in bees’ stomachs it is partially broken down into fructose and glucose. A bee may visit two million flowers to gather enough nectar to make just one pound of honey. Honey is sold in raw and pasteurized forms. Raw honey is honey that has not been heated above 117 degrees and therefore contains naturally-occurring enzymes (such as amylase, which help break down carbohydrates) and nutrients found in plant pollens. Because honey contains most of its nutritional value when it is raw, it is best to buy raw honey and refrain from heating it, such as to sweeten fruit or put on toast or porridge. However, for people watching their sucrose intake (such as diabetics), it is also appropriate for baking. Honey is sweeter than sugar, so substitute 2/3 to 3/4 cup honey for 1 cup of white sugar in baked goods. Honey draws moisture from the air, so using it in baking will help prolong freshness.    
 
Maple syrup: Maple syrup comes from tapping the sap of maple trees and is primarily sucrose with many trace nutrients. As the season progresses, the sap darkens, producing the different grades. It can take as much as fifty gallons of boiled sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. Because maple syrup is concentrated sap, it is rich in the minerals that travel up from a tree’s roots. Some maple producers use formaldehyde and other additives during processing, so it’s best to buy organic when possible. Maple syrup (any grade) is very appropriate in baking, where it lends a distinctive flavor. Like honey, it is sweeter than sugar, so use 2/3 to 3/4 cup maple syrup for 1 cup of white sugar. (Maple sugar, which is evaporated maple syrup, can be substituted 1:1). Maple syrup makes cookies and granolas crisper and less crumbly than using white sugar.   

Molasses: Molasses is made from boiling sugar cane and extracting its sugar to make refined sugar, so in a sense it is a “waste” product of making refined sugar. Molasses is about 70% sucrose. There are two kinds of molasses: Light or sweet molasses is the liquid from the first extraction of sugar crystals, while blackstrap molasses is the liquid from the second extraction of sugar crystals. Blackstrap molasses has a strong, pronounced flavor and is rich in potassium, calcium, iron, and B vitamins. Molasses was the major sweetener in America until the 1920s because it was less expensive than refined sugar and was used in everything from baked goods to baked beans. Molasses is a good substitute for recipes that call for brown sugar, because brown sugar is refined white sugar with a little molasses added back in for color and flavoring. Because molasses is not as sweet as brown sugar, you can substitute 1 1/4 cups of molasses for 1 cup of brown sugar in recipes. Molasses can also be fermented to make rum.

Rapadura: Rapadura is the trade name for dehydrated cane juice and is the only granulated sugar that is unrefined. Unlike other sugars, it is not separated from molasses during processing. Because of its high-molasses content, it is rich in iron and other nutrients mentioned above. Rapadura is a wonderful and relatively inexpensive alternative sweetener in baking. Unlike the liquid natural sweeteners, it closely resembles sugar’s baking properties. You can use it 1:1 in recipes that call for sugar, but the taste will be slightly less sweet. Because of its brown color, be aware that it will darken the color of white cakes and frostings.  Note: Rapadura is different from so-called “raw sugar” or “sugar in the raw” because these sugars have been partially refined. Sugar sold as raw sugar is not actually raw – it is the result of the first extraction of sugar and has been partially refined, producing a lighter, more crystallized sugar than Rapadura with fewer actual nutrients.

Barley malt: Malted syrups are made from sprouting the whole grain, usually barley, and then heating it to form a thick syrup, which breaks it down into about 65% maltose and 30% complex carbohydrates. Malted syrups have been around a long time. Barley malt contains small amounts of nutrients in the form of enzymes that help digest starch, but its real value seems to be that the high proportion of complex carbohydrates slows the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. It takes about 2-3 hours to digest, supplying a steady stream of energy. You can use about 1 1/3 cups barley malt for 1 cup sugar in baking, but it is best used in combination with other natural sweeteners because it can make baked goods brittle. People with gluten intolerance (celiac disease) should not consume barley malt, since it derived from a grain containing gluten. Barley malt is also fermented to make beer.  

Brown rice syrup: Brown rice syrup is made from culturing rice with enzymes and straining off the liquid, which is then heated to make a thick syrup. Like malted barley, it is mostly maltose (about 50%) and high in complex carbohydrates (40%). It has the same benefits and baking properties as barley malt and a mild, butterscotch flavor. 

Stevia: Stevia is a shrub indigenous to the highlands of northern Paraguay and Southern Brazil.  The stevia leaf has long used by the Guarani Indians as a natural sweetener. The Italian Dr. Moises Santiago Bertoni, who came across the plant in the late 19th century and named it “stevia,” wrote: “In placing in the mouth the smallest particle of any portion of the leaf or twig, one is surprised at the strange and extreme sweetness contained therein. A fragment of the leaf only a few square millimeters in size suffices to keep the mouth sweet for an hour; a few small leaves are sufficient to sweeten a strong cup or coffee or tea.”  In 1931, two chemists in France isolated a pure white crystalline compound they called “stevioside” which gives stevia leaf its sweet taste. Stevia is not a sugar and contains zero calories. It can be safely used by people sensitive to sugars found even in natural sweeteners, but it is extremely potent – in its crystallized form, it is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. It comes in several forms. (1) Stevia leaves – fresh, dried, or ground – are 10-15 times sweeter than sugar and used in teas and cooking, but they do not dissolve. (2) Stevia liquid extracts: a concentrated syrup made from the leaves (dark extract) or from powdered steviosides (clear extract). (3) Powdered stevia extracts (steviosides): the processed form of the leaves and 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. Because it is so sweet, bulking agents are often added to powdered steviosides so one packet will provide the equivalent sweetness of the artificial sweeteners Equal or Sweet N’ Low dissolved in a hot beverage. Best used to sweeten beverages because of its strong sweetness and lack of bulk, though it is heat stable so it can be used in extreme moderation in baking.

Other natural sweeteners are whole fruits, such as apple sauce, fruit juices, such as apple cider or orange juice, and fruit-sweetened jams.


Splenda, which has recently received a lot of attention as an alternative sweetener, is not a natural sweetener. It is the trade name for the sucralose molecule, which is made by scientists by substituting chlorine atoms into the sucrose model. It is therefore a chlorocarbon, containing chlorine in a form not normally found in nature. Though it is derived from sucrose, it is as artificial as aspartame and saccharine. The FDA has found sucralose safe for consumption, but some studies have shown significant health risks associated with it in laboratory animals. Splenda is promoted as an alternative sweetener because like the other artificial sweeteners it contains zero calories.