syrups and concentrates Archives

One Last Bash at an “Alternative” Sweetener–Agave Nectar

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020 by Debi Simons

Image attribution: Marc Ryckaert (MJJR) [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

I realized that I didn’t include agave nectar syrup in yesterday’s post, so here’s a short rundown on that hyped-up product. The word “nectar” just sounds so lovely and natural, doesn’t it? And in reality if you had an agave plant sitting on your patio you could go out, cut one of the leaves, and squeeze out the sap into your cup of tea. Well, actually you’d have to boil it down into a more concentrated sweetener, as otherwise it wouldn’t do much.

Some Sweet Syrups that Won’t Help You Much

February 5, 2020 by Debi Simons

I used to watch a TV show called “Christina Cooks,” with host Christina Pirello. She advocates a vegan diet and will not use regular sugar, opting instead for “brown rice syrup.” Hmmm, I thought. Is that substance really better for you than regular table sugar? I was aware of another syrup that also claimed to be healthy, “barley malt syrup.” I knew that this substance was often called for in bagel recipes and actually have a jar of that sweetener in my pantry for use if I ever again torture myself by trying to make my own bagels, an effort which probably won’t happen any time soon.