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Health & Fitness

AGAVE NECTAR: My favorite sweetener!

Agave nectar is becoming a pantry staple FAST! With its natural sugar composition, it can add a healthy does of "sweet" to your next baked good.

I LOVE sweets. It is obvious. Chocolate chip cookies to angel food cake to strawberry gelato ... I crave it. In fact, sugar is the only food we naturally crave. Each day, I need a little "sweetness" in my life.

The two most popular basic sweeteners I use:
-White refined sugar: Sucrose, from cane or beet. It is used to add any type of sweet flavoring to an item.
-Brown sugar: Sucrose plus molasses. Light brown sugar will contain less molasses than dark brown sugar. It adds more of a "deeper" sweetness than white sugar.

My favorite sweetener: agave nectar!

What is agave nectar?
It is a LIQUID sweetener from Mexico, made from several species of agave. It is primary made up of glucose and fructose. It is vegan, thus used in many vegan baked goods! (FYI: During the refining process, some sucrose is processed with animal bone char. It is not actually in the sugar, but used in the process. Some may consider white sugar non-vegan.) Agave nectar comes in light, amber, dark, and raw varieties. I like the amber and dark agaves because they have a deeper and more complex flavor.

Can I substitute it for white or brown sugar in recipes?
Agave is about 1.5x sweeter than refined sugar. You can use slightly less agave for sugars always. (For example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup sugar, you can use 3/4 cup agave.) Remember, since agave has a different composition than white sugar, the final product may be slightly different than normal. You can always sub agave for honey in recipes.

I heard agave has a "low G.I. index number." What does that mean?
The "G.I Index" is the "Low Gylcemic" Index. The "low G.I." diet is slowly spreading its way to the USA because it focuses on healthy foods, gluten-free carbs, and lots of fresh produce. The "G.I. index" was created in the '90s by two Canadian scientists. Thus, you will see many G.I. recipes in the metric system.

When a food is "bad" or unhealthy, it will have a high number. When a food is healthy, it will have a low number.
Low GI Foods: 55 and under
Medium GI Foods: 56-69
High GI Foods: 70 and above.
Agave nectar has a GI number, between 10-19 (depending on the brand)
White sugar has a GI number of 30-40.

Why is it healthier?
Agave is better than white sugar because it won't give you the sugar "rush" refined sugar does since it is natural and low GI. If you are trying to add better foods to your diet, cut out white sugar and add agave in its place.

What are other ways I can use agave?
Straight out of the bottle! Use it instead of maple syrup over pancakes and waffles. Sweetened your iced or hot tea with it, too. Or my favorite: drizzle some over a piece of whole wheat toast and sprinkle with cinnamon! Yum!

Why not try agave? It is becoming more and more popular and common. Find it at your natural health store (like ) or in the organic food section of your local grocery store!

Happy Baking!

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