Raw Sugar? Really?
Labels are deceptive.
I was in the grocery store yesterday — in the sugar aisle. Of 5 products claiming to be natural, raw sugar, exactly ZERO actually were!
Now, I know we’re supposed to avoiding sweeteners altogether. When I get a hankerin’ for sweets, I usually grab a fruit or — I kid you not — a glass of whole raw milk.
But, sometimes you may want to make something sweet as a special treat. It’s the holidays. It’s your kid’s birthday. You got promoted. You need comfort.
When those days strike, it’s best to use natural, unrefined sweeteners to fill the gap. Things like honey, maple syrup, or raw sugar.
Want to test your raw sugar spotting abilities? Check out the photos below and tell me which one’s really and truly unrefined, raw sugar.
Will the Real Raw Sugar Please Stand Up?
Each of the sugars below is advertised as natural, raw sugar.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
Figured it out yet?
(Answers coming soon!)
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I’m goin’ with options 2 or 3 because they are the most brown (and that’s the opposite of WHITE).
I don’t know–option 2 looks like it could be Sucanat up close, so I’m guessing #2.
Shannon
Sucanat isn’t really raw sugar.
I’m going with #2, too, which looks like sucanat. #1 & #4 look like sugar in the raw (which isn’t). #3 looks like turbinado. Of course, sucanat isn’t really raw since it’s heated until it’s thick enough to crystallize when paddled, so I’m kinda thinking this is a trick question.
Jenny
Ah, Jenny! Do you really think I’m THAT tricky?
KristenM
I’m guessing none of them unless number two was scraped right out of the sugar cane itself. If I can’t see the cane, it just doesn’t seem natural.
Genie
Hi Kristin!
Perhaps I can clear up the confusion? #2 is true raw Rapadura? I know there’s an old Sucanat-Rapadura debate…. I think recently Sucanat fell back into graces because they’ve changed their processing and are now actually real, but the only real raw cane sugar I know of is Rapadura.
Unfortunately, I test badly for all cane sugar, so I tend to stick with raw honey and stevia. Great blog, by the way!
The Thrifty Oreganic
Why oh why can’t they just ALL be good for us????? Or if we could just get a *chocolate* exception…
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
I went on a detox diet and since then, rediscovered the beauty of honey. We are also experimenting with Agave syrup as an sugar alternative.
Fumi
I wouldn’t do agave if I were you. It has a higher percentage of fructose than HFCS, and can damage your liver. Plus, the way it’s made is questionable.
I would say none of them are “raw”. But it may depend on your definition of “raw”
If you’re not overweight, the main problem with sugar is the fructose. Getting too much fructose, from whatever the source, tends to mess up your system over time and will likely lead to obesity and increased risk for type II diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. It’s the fructose that appears to be the addicting component of sugar. Most sugars when digested are about half fructose and half glucose, including table sugar (sucrose), and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), as well as honey, maple syrup, and molasses.
If you’re overweight or have diabetes, then the glucose matters as well. Most people lose weight more easily by cutting carbs, including starches and sugars.
Interestingly, mother nature did not provide fructose in milk. That alone is a strong sign that fructose is not good for us. The sugar in milk is lactose, which digests into glucose and galactose. So, as long as you don’t already have weight problems, raw milk is great for satisfying any urge for sweets. I like it with a little raw organic unsweetened cocoa powder and raw pastured egg yolks blended in for a really healthy treat.
The sugar in fruit typically digests to about half fructose, but the quantity is small compared to what you get in typical desserts that are made with added sweeteners. So, it’s still not a good idea to eat too much fruit, as the fructose does add up.
Bryan – oz4caster
[...] Sugar Answers Sunday, January 25th, 2009 | Author: KristenM | I asked, and you answered. [...]
Your posts aren’t individually dated, are they? We can search for a month, but within that month we can’t go to a specific date, can we? If not, how do we find the answer to your sugar question?
My guess is that none of them are raw sugar.
Bryan, interesting treatise on lactose vs fructose, I’d never thought of it that way. But if you’re going with what Mother Nature intended, she certainly never intended us to drink the breast milk of other mammals. Cow’s milk is designed for calves. We are the only creatures who drink the milk of other animals and the only ones who drink it past the age of weaning.
Good point about milk and our consumption. I’m lactose intolerant. During a university health course I read how our bodies were never meant to be able to digest cows milk. They only reason (most) people can is because of high consumption over time. Asian countries where dairy is rarely consumed have high rates of lactose intolerance. I used to live in Korea and dairy was extremely expensive.
Actually, most mammals will drink the milk of others if milk from their own kind is unavailable. Humans are also different from other animals in many ways. We have the ability to reason and project into the future. We also rely on the industry of others to provide our sustenance, and as a society are willing to consume an awful lot of engineered crap that no living creature was ever “designed” to consume. Edible petroleum products anyone?
My apologies, I realize this is off the raw sugar topic, but I just can’t leave this alone.
I was lactose intolerant as a child when I consumed pasturized milk, but had no problems with the occasional raw milk we obtained. It was the pasturized milk that “exploded through” me. Some, like Sally Fallon, suggest that it is the dead bacteria in pasturized milk that causes the problem, not lactose.
Excrement also consists largely of dead bacteria. Isn’t that an interesting connection?
i hear the argument against milk (only humans drink another species’ milk) a lot, but it’s not true. Dogs, cats and bears drink milk if they have access to it — they just don’t often. It’s clearly not meant to be drunk often by carnivores, based on what happens to them when they get too much, but humans are not carnivores. Even a vegetarian is an omnivore, they just don’t want to be.
What about coconut sugar or perhaps I should say coconut crystals? How does this measure up? Are they still fructose, still taxing on the system overtime?
I realize this is a few years old, but I’m reading it because I had a discussion with a friend yesterday about howI had heard agave nectar was bad. Anyway, what is the suger answer here?
Where is the answer? I don’t see a link anywhere.