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<\/a>Sucanat stands for SUgar CAne NATural.\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s sugar, but delivered by a different processing method.\u00a0 Usually sugar cane is cooked and processed with chemicals in many stages.\u00a0 For Sucanat, the producers use a centrifuge to whirl the juice out of the sugar cane.\u00a0 It is then dried and milled into a powder.\u00a0 And it\u2019s done!<\/p>\nThe result is a sugar that is marginally healthier than the white crystals you can pick up cheaply in the baking aisle.\u00a0 It is said to have a lower GI rating — which I was unable to find in spite of a morning spent in research.\u00a0 However, it does have a smaller proportion of sucrose than white sugar, so maybe this is so.<\/p>\n
I found that 1 tsp. of sucanat sugar contains 15 calories, just the same as regular white sugar.\u00a0 So why bother?\u00a0 Well, sucanat fans point out that white sugar calories are empty calories.\u00a0 They give no nutritional benefit at all.\u00a0 Sucanat, however, because it contains the original molasses, contains antioxidants and minerals.\u00a0 Significant enough to warrant the calories?\u00a0 Probably easier to get them from other healthier food and\/or good natural supplements.<\/p>\n
Sucanat is brown in color and can be substituted for brown sugar in most recipes and many sources say that it can also be substituted 1:1 for white sugar.\u00a0 Yet another source recommended grinding it in a blender or food processor to make a healthier confectioners sugar.<\/p>\n
What about taste?\u00a0 Because it retains its molasses content, you can taste that flavor. It seems to work best in baked goods with strong or complimentary flavors, like pumpkin bread or banana muffins.<\/p>\n
However, will this product help you in your quest for a healthier you?\u00a0 Well, probably not.\u00a0 It may be a bit better, but not enough to warrant the expense.\u00a0 It is about 5 to 10 times more expensive than table sugar, depending on the brand and where you buy it.<\/p>\n
Unless I uncover evidence that it has a significantly lower Glycemic Index rating, I\u2019m afraid this alternative moves toward the bottom of the list.<\/p>\n
Eating to live and living for Christ,<\/p>\n
Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A stroll down the sugar and sugar alternative aisle in the health food store will….confuse you.\u00a0 What are all these products and how are they different from sugar?\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at some — honey, stevia, agave Nectar, and xylitol.\u00a0 Today we\u2019ll look at another twist to the sugar story, sucanat. Sucanat stands for SUgar CAne…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[400,33,399,141],"class_list":["post-1374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eating-plan","tag-alternative","tag-glycemic-index","tag-sucanat","tag-sugar"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Sucanat stands for SUgar CAne…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html","og_site_name":"Beyond Gorgeous","article_published_time":"2012-03-22T17:23:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/03\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n18-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"sbrown","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html","name":"Sugar Alternatives - Another Choice - Beyond Gorgeous","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/03\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n18-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2012-03-22T17:23:55+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-22T17:23:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#\/schema\/person\/710ec516b61bcd3c78925c0c31c5afe6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/03\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n18-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/03\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n18-150x150.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/03\/sugar-alternatives-another-choice.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sugar Alternatives — Another Choice"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/","name":"Beyond Gorgeous","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Susan Jordan Brown","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#\/schema\/person\/710ec516b61bcd3c78925c0c31c5afe6","name":"sbrown","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/author\/sbrown"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1376,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions\/1376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/03\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n18.jpg\")
<\/a>Sucanat stands for SUgar CAne NATural.\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s sugar, but delivered by a different processing method.\u00a0 Usually sugar cane is cooked and processed with chemicals in many stages.\u00a0 For Sucanat, the producers use a centrifuge to whirl the juice out of the sugar cane.\u00a0 It is then dried and milled into a powder.\u00a0 And it\u2019s done!<\/p>\n