How to sweeten all this cooked fruit without mega calories

Primrose

I've a mountain of soft fruit in the freezer to cook in various ways and use up, much of which will need sweetening. How best can I do this without adding all the calories which sugar provides? Can anybody recommend some good alternative sweeteners which are palatable and less calorific?

purpleheather2810

I use a small amount of sweetener in mine, eg splenda. I know it's not very good for you though...

Seakay

The only one that I know of is Xylitol which I have come across in products (no after taste that I could distinguish) but have not used for cooking. It is made from birch bark (I think).
If you Google Low calorie natural sweetners then quite a few suggestions come up.

diluvsdiscounts

Do remember that you are adding calories by stewing the fruit in the first place.Like for example orange juice has a much higher calorie value than three oranges.

ceridwen

Well Mardatha and I are growing Stevia Rebaudiana plants as we speak - as they are a potential source of "sweetener". Certainly a commercial firm or two are investigating making an alternative sweetener with them I do know.

Don't know about Mardatha - but mine havent quite grown to the stage where I can start experimenting yet...

Penelope_Penguin

Primrose wrote: »

I've a mountain of soft fruit in the freezer to cook in various ways and use up, much of which will need sweetening. How best can I do this without adding all the calories which sugar provides? Can anybody recommend some good alternative sweeteners which are palatable and less calorific?

Add some sweet cicely - added sweetness and no calories

ceridwen wrote: »

Well Mardatha and I are growing Stevia Rebaudiana plants as we speak

I'm pretty sure I heard on Radio 4 that there may be some health issues with stevia - have you heard of this, ceridwen?

silly_moo

Use fruit sugar. It's sweeter than cane sugar, has low IG and is healthier than any artificial sweeteners. We have been using it for a few years now, mainly for making sugar-free jams but also for sprinkling on fresh fruit, sweetening cocoa, soft cheese, etc.

misskool

If you're not making jam and just using stewed fruit as and when, why bother adding sugar? Just pop some out from the freezer and stew them and add them to what you want.

ceridwen

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Add some sweet cicely - added sweetness and no calories



I'm pretty sure I heard on Radio 4 that there may be some health issues with stevia - have you heard of this, ceridwen?

There was some concerns about it - but I understood that seemed to be tied up with companies wanting to make sweeteners from it commercially or summat. Bit vague on details - but I gathered the overall verdict is that we were being TOLD that there are some concerns, but this wasnt valid information.

If I come across the info. link/s I'll post it.

emiff6

To take away the sharpness of soft fruit, add a few drops of vanilla extract (not flavouring, it's not strong enough), or a little cinnamon, or with apples, add a few sultanas.

But if you truly want to make what should be sweet flavoured fruit even more sweet, this won't help.

Honey is much sweeter than sugar, you can use less for the same level of sweetness.

Fructose (fruit sugar) is sweeter than sugar unless you cook it, when it's about the same, but in quantity is not good for your liver.
That just leaves the chemical sweeteners already mentioned. :eek:

Originally Posted by Penelope Penguin
Add some sweet cicely - added sweetness and no calories



oh yes, sweet cicely too, must get some seeds of that to grow.

mandragora_2

Have you thought about mixing some mango in? I find it very sweet, so although it will have a calorie value, I'd think a little would go a long way, and it keeps it all non-chemical... I think that's what I'd do. The other thing to think about is portion control - fruit is great, but as soon as you start fiddling with it and making it more tempting to eat, the calories always mount up. I love fruit and eat loads of it, but if its stewed or juiced or dried, just keep an eye on this. Have it, but not gallons!!