Sweet is one of the five tastes our tongue detects, it’s a fundamental part of the eating experience, and there are whole books dedicated to cooking with it. I’ve not got a sweet tooth, but still I keep and use several types of sweet things in my cupboard.
First a tiny bit of chemistry. Sugars are small organic compounds made as either a source of readily available energy or as building blocks for other things. They are called carbohydrates and there are loads of types – monosaccharides are the simplest: one sugar molecule like glucose, disaccharides are two sugar molecules (like lactose made of glucose and galactose, or sucrose which is glucose and fructose) these need to be split into mono saccharides by the body before being used. Then there are poly saccharides – long chains of sugars, starch is the most well known example, but so is cellulose. These more complex sugars need more processing (and time) to release their energy. Humans can’t digest every sugar, and so some passes through our gut (like fibre).
So for a quick hit use glucose, for a long burn use starch, for low calorie and filling use fibre. Simple.
This post is about the sweet stuff.
Unrefined (golden) sugar
This is my staple, I use it in tea (if someone wants it) and in cakes. It is my basic go to sugar for things I eat with sweetness in them, I prefer it to white, so I don’t use white – simple. This is the sugar I use for all my syrups and preserves.
Glucose (sugar from corn starch)
Glucose is cheap, and I use it in fermentation (cider, vinegar etc). It’s very sweet compared to soft brown and I use it for yeast cultures. So breads and brewing – that’s it. Oh and if I need a sugar syrup for crystallising leaves (like attar of roses) I’ll use this, just because it’s easy and doesn’t change the taste of the delicate preserves.
Malt
Malt is the sugary extract from germinating seeds. I use two types – wheat and barley. I wouldn’t have them in the house except for brewing, but having them here I use them to flavour breads, and cakes. They add a richness beyond unrefined sugar, and I use it as a substitute for soft brown sugar if needed.
Of course malt loaf isn’t possible without it and a wheat malt loaf (rather than the traditional barley malt) is a thing of loveliness.
Vanilla extract
Vanilla is naturally sweet and adding a little of this to muffins allows you to cut the sugar content quite a bit. The extracts are often in corn sugar syrup, so extra sweet.
Fruit
The last thing I use for adding sweetness is fruit. Fruit is naturally quite high in sugar, so a handful in a curry or couscous adds a sweetness to mellow the heat. Apples sliced in a pork hotpot do the same, as do figs served with venison, or quince with cheese.
When you look at recipes think about the flavours, see what sugars are there and that will allow you to think about substitutes. That can be to experiment, to lower calories or because it’s just what you have to hand.
Have a fiddle – go on I dare you 🙂