Natural Sugar Guide 2020 – 9 Refined Sugar Alternatives

Refined sugar or table sugar should be thrown off your kitchen shelves. Sugar substitutes and natural sugar deserves a serious consideration for good and sustainable healthy lifestyle.

If you have ever tried to read about sugar, you would largely classify sugar as table sugar, artificial sugar and natural sugar.

Natural Sugars Discussed in this Article

• Jaggery
• Mishri
• Honey
• Coconut sugar
• Date sugar
• Stevia
• Maple syrup
• Monk fruit syrup
• Molasses

The regular sugar that you have stacked on your dining table or kitchen shelf is refined sugar. This is also called table sugar.

I will not make this boring, however you should know it.

The job of a foodie is not to just share recipes of delicious dishes and keep you updated with the best food-events in town. A foodie should help you understand food, share with you information on how food is manufactured and guide you to make healthy choices.

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The raw material in table sugar is mostly sugarcane and sugar beets. In India, all refined sugar is manufactured from sugarcane.

The end product, however, is not as natural as sugarcane juice.

Why?

From extracting sugarcane juice to packaging and transportation, the process is highly chemical. Natural sugar from sugarcane juice is transformed into a white crystalline solids that is sweet and contains sulphur.

Many might use phosphoric acid too.

In India, the maximum permissible limit of SO2 in white refined sugar is 70 ppm (parts per million) whereas the international standard is about 10 ppm.

Not to forget, refined sugar is associated with, and blamed directly and indirectly for 83% of all diseases in the world.

You should avoid stocking up on refined sugar which adds empty calories to your body and contains no nutrition.

Instead, treat your body like a temple and give it natural sugars that have nutrients and minerals in them.

Luckily in India, you have a few healthy options that you should seriously consider. But before you read more, here’s the oil guide that you should consider for Indian cooking.

Jaggery (Gur) – Highly Recommended

When I was a kid, my mom would give me a sattu drink that had jaggery as the sweetener. It tasted delicious and I drank it in a gulp.

Then I went out of the city and resorted to the same drink many many years ago. I remembered and cherished every drop of it.

Jaggery is a natural sugar that has been an intrinsic part of Indian culture.

Today most jaggery is made by boiling sugarcane juice till it solidifies. Jaggery can also be produced from date palm sap which is very popular in certain parts of India like Bengal during the winter seasons.

If you are health conscious and looking to remove refined products from your pantry, jaggery is one of the best refined sugar alternative that you can certainly bank upon for your daily needs.

Gur or jaggery is not refined during its production and hence carries a lot of health benefits. A few are listed below

• Cleanses the liver by flushing out the toxins
• Improves digestion by activating the digestive enzymes
• Treats flu symptoms
• Boosts immunity
• Purifies the blood
• Enriched with minerals like zinc and selenium and prevents early aging
• Jaggery sherbet cools the body making it an effective summer drink

As per Ayurveda, a piece of jaggery after meal helps the body to kick-start the digestion process. You can certainly give it a chance.

Jaggery is a complex carbohydrate and hence provides energy to the body for longer duration than refined sugar.

Jaggery should be consumed in moderation as it has high calories. Diabetics should discuss with their healthcare representative before deciding on how much is okay to consume.

Always prefer solid jaggery over the powdered version for best results, even if it means some work.

If you are buying online, you can consider few of these jaggery products.

How to Use Jaggery?

Jaggery can be used in the following ways:

• Grated into cereals
• In hot beverages like tea, coffee, etc.
• Added to cold drinks like lemonade, lime water, etc.
• Sweeten desserts and custard
• Flavor Bakery products like breads

Mishri (Rock Sugar) – FinallyFoodie Favorite

And when during the summer, mom would take three glasses, pour in water and add in chunks of mishri to each of it. We would return in the afternoon, sweating and yearning for the glass of water. She would only allow after we have sat under the fan for five to ten minutes.

The sweetness of the mishri-mixed water had a soothing effect on us. I would quickly have my lunch and race for the evening games.

Like jaggery, most mishri in India is made from sugarcane juice which is churned in huge tumblers for a couple of days. The mixture is rotated at a high speed and washed off with water. This process removes the dirt and a powder is produced on drying.

This white powder is boiled and melted. A string is put in and the mishri crystallizes around it before being packed and sent off to the market.

Mishri or rock sugar is a natural sugar and a great alternative to refined sugar. It is also called sugar candy.

Unlike sugar, mishri does not go through the sulphination process. It is chemical free and can be used to flavor your drinks like tea and coffee.

Mishri can also be made from date palm trees, but the production has highly decreased, to the point where we may not get it after a few years. When I was a kid, Dulal’s Tal Mishri used to be very famous and every grocery shop used to keep stock of the same, and television ads would prominently feature the product.

This form of natural sugar has a slew of health benefits.

• Promotes digestion
• Boosts energy
• Provides refreshment and cools the body
• Can cure sore throat when had with lukewarm water and pepper

Mishri is rich in minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and contains dietary fibre

Buying Tip: Always consider the threaded ones if you prefer the white mishri. However, there are grey, yellow and red variants as well which are better in quality.

In the market, there are many brands that market mishri which look crystalline like sugar but much larger in size – like the ones below. DO NOT BUY THEM. They are just sugar with bigger crystals.

Here are a few recommendation that you might consider in your journey for refined sugar alternatives.

How to Use Mishri?

Mishri can be used in the following ways.

• As a cold beverage in water with or without lemon
• Hot beverages like tea, coffee, etc.
• Cold drinks like lemonade, lime water, etc.
• Sweeten sweets and custard
• Bakery products like breads
• Replace sugar with mishri in any dishes or drinks

Honey – Natural Sugar with Immense Health Benefits

Does honey need any introduction? One of the best forms of natural sugar, honey has been long used in Indian culture since time immemorial.

Honey has many essential health benefits like –

• Rich in anti-oxidants
• Warming during the winter
• Help lower blood pressure
• Improves immunity
• Home remedy for cold and cough
• Promotes healing

You can include honey as a morning ritual during the winter. It works like magic!

Buying Tip: Not all honey available in the market is pure and unprocessed. Unprocessed honey is more expensive than processed honey. Please do due diligence before making your choice.

I use Farm Honey and Honey & Spice. Affordable, unprocessed and complete value for money are their USP.

How to Use Honey?

Honey can be used to sweeten drinks and desserts. Other areas are as follows:

• Drizzled on toasts
• Mixed with cereals and oatmeal
• Sweeten bakery products
• Drizzled on pancakes, cakes, pastries and desserts
• Sweeten drinks that are cold or at room temperature
• Sweeten drinks that are lukewarm (below 30 degree Celsius)

Do not use honey on hot drinks as it changes the chemical composition and destroy the vitamins, nutrients present in the honey.

Pause, Read, Consider –
Jaggery, Mishri and Honey are the best forms of natural sugar that you can afford in India. These are also the most beneficial sugar products from Mother Nature.

Below are a few more natural sugar options that you can consider, however, they are more expensive than the ones already listed above.

Coconut Sugar – Unconventional Vegan Natural Sugar

Made from the sap of the flower bud stem of the coconut tree, coconut sugar is easily digestible for the body as compared to refined sugar.

This property makes it a great refined sugar alternative to consider.

This form of natural sugar contains traces of iron, calcium, potassium, zinc. Coconut sugar has 400 times more potassium than refined sugar.

Glycemic index is less than that of refined sugar.

Fructose content of coconut sugar is higher than that of refined sugar while glucose levels are lower. This means that coconut sugar has similar health effects as refined sugar.

The only defining characteristic is the nutrient profile which is better. You can use coconut sugar in moderation.

How to Use Coconut Sugar?

You can use coconut sugar in a variety of ways. A few are listed below:

• In hot beverages like tea and conffee
• Baking
• Cooking

Dates Sugar – Unprocessed and perfect for baking

Date sugar is a perfect refined sugar alternative for baking. Date sugar has a grainy texture that can appear like small brown flecks, and lends an overall sweetness to the taste of baked goods.

The delightful caramel flavor makes it great for baking and cooking.

This is a natural sugar made by drying the dates. Once dried, the dates are de-seeded and ground to a powder.

Other products can also include very finely chopped dates.

This is light brown-colored, fiber-rich granulated sugar.

It may or may not undergo a level of filtration before being packed.

Confused between date sugar and brown sugar?
Date sugar appears like brown sugar but does not melt like one. Another differentiating factor is the structure.

Brown sugar has regular crystals. Date sugar is however fine, irregular, and fibrous.

Date sugar reduces the bad cholesterol and has higher amount of minerals and vitamins.

This refined sugar alternative can be had with milk, but not with tea or coffee because of the flavor. You may also try this natural sugar with other recipes that don’t require the sugar to melt.

This pleasant tasting natural sugar is raw and unprocessed.

Benefits of date sugar are many like below.

• Contains minerals like magnesium, iron, calcium, copper
• It is quite fibrous containing 8% of the total volume
• Has a low glycemic index making it diabetic-friendly when eaten in moderation
• Good source of antioxidants

It is important to note that date sugar is a different product than date palm sugar, despite the fact that both come from the same tree. Date palm sugar is made from the sap of the date palm tree while date sugar is made from the tree’s fruit.

If you are buying date sugar, ensure that you read the label carefully. Also date sugar will sediment when added to sugar, while date palm sugar will dissolve completely.

How to Use Date Sugar?

You can use date sugar in the following ways:

• In baking and on baked goods
• Sprinkled on cereals
• Provide a caramel flavor by rubbing on chicken or meat
• To add caramel on top of your pie

Stevia – Zero Nutrition Natural Sugar

This is a natural sugar derived from the plant sap of stevia plant species.

In a 2010 study conducted in a laboratory setting, more than 60% of the participants found their insulin and glucose levels to be lowered.

Sugar derived from this natural plant extract is safe for consumption and has no calories which might prove to be an advantage for people looking to lose weight. Also this form of alternate sugar has no nutrition in it.

Some stevia based sugar have a mild taste with a bitter after-taste. Few people may like it while few may not.

This form of refined sugar alternative is highly sweet in taste where a pinch can actually replace one teaspoon of refined or table sugar.

You can use stevia in tea, coffee, lemonade, and breakfast cereals.

Consider buying the powdered or liquid form if stevia interests you. Note the sugar to stevia ratio mentioned on the box before you finalize on the purchase.

All in all, be vigilant while you buy stevia-based natural sugar products.

How to Use Stevia

Use stevia as a replacement for your table sugar. It is a good alternative.

• Sweeten drinks – both cold and hot
• In bakery products
• With cereals and toasts

However, please note that a pinch of stevia is enough to provide an equal sweetness as much as one spoon of sugar.

Important!
Note: As per WebMD, products considered safe contain words in their ingredient list such as stevia extract or stevia rebaudiana. If you see whole stevia leaves or crude stevia extracts at your local natural foods store, don’t buy them.

Maple Syrup

Made from the sap of maple trees, maple syrup is another good sugar alternative. It is however quite expensive because of the scarcity (since it is a seasoned crop) and has a labor intensive process.

How to Use Maple Syrup

You can use maple syrup in moderation in a variety of ways.

• Flavor curd and fruit salads
• Drizzle on pancakes and cakes
• Sweeten pies, desserts, etc.

Monk Fruit Syrup – New Natural Sugar in India

Monk fruit is the latest sugar alternative available in India.

They are generally available as syrup or concentrate and is highly sweet. While the sweetness depends on the brand and product, you might take a look at the packaging for usage and other instructions.

Currently, monk fruit extract is not available in stores and is only available in online. Go through the product description carefully, to choose the correct sugar substitute.

Molasses – Natural Sugar Alternative from Table Sugar Manufacturing Process

Molasses is a dark, viscous liquid produced during the manufacturing process of refined sugar. It can be produced from sugarcane or sugar beet.

Sugar crystals are formed by boiling sugarcane juice across multiple stages. Depending on the stage, the color and flavor of molasses can vary – from light to dark drown. And from sweet to a bitter aftertaste.

Molasses can be of three types – light molasses, dark molasses and blackstrap. Light and dark molasses are produced from the first and second boil of the syrup respectively, while blackstrap is from the third boil.

Blackstrap is most concentrated and contains most vitamins and minerals. It can be a bit bitter for few and many may not like this bitter taste.

Molasses can be sulphured (to increase shelf life) and non-sulphured and their flavor can vary accordingly.

Unlike table sugar, molasses are rich in nutrients and minerals. This natural sugar contains copper, manganese, magnesium, iron, potassium, calcium and vitamin B6.

Consume this form of sugar alternative in moderation and not in excess just because it has minerals and nutrients.

Where to Use Molasses?

Molasses is a natural sugar by-product. You can use it in the following:

• Baking – use light or dark molasses
• Baked beans – use light or dark molasses
• Barbecues – use molasses

You can read more about molasses on Spruceeats.

Sugar Substitutes Not Recommended

There are many sugar substitutes available in the market today. Not all are healthy, yet many still fall prey to them. Commercial gains lead many brands to market artificial sugars as healthy.

Here are a few that I would not recommend.

• Sucralose
• Acesulfame potassium
• Agave Nectar – Unhealthy although natural

Summing Up

You know that table sugar is harmful. Luckily nature provides many choices of sugar for use as sugar alternatives.

You can use each of them based on your need, choice of taste and convenience. Personally, I use jaggery, mishri, honey a lot in my food. I will discuss about each in another blog post.

Now that you know about natural sugars, would you give these sugar alternatives a try? If yes, which one and why? Do share with me!