What’s in a name?

You’re probably already aware that there are numerous sugar substitutes on the market, some are natural alternatives such as honey, some have been manufactured from a natural source, like stevia, and others are synthetically produced. We’ll be meeting a wide selection of them this week, but first an introduction to some of the more curious sounding sugar substitutes!

Have you heard of erythritol, aspartame or jaggery?

_{Jaggery is a dark coloured, unrefined natural sugar made from the sap of the date palm or sugar cane}

They’re all sugar substitutes but with quite different contributions and properties. We’ll be learning about them and several others this week, but here is a brief introduction to a handful of them:

• Jaggery is a dark coloured, unrefined natural sugar made from the sap of the date palm or from sugar cane.

• Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, derived from plants including corn. It looks like sugar but is much lower in calories.

• Stevia is a zero-calorie sweetener derived from the leaves of a shrub-like plant.

• Aspartame is a non-nutritive sweetener. It is a derivative of two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine and is often used in diet foods and drinks.