Coconut Palm Sugar

Sugar, sweetness, good, bad. What's the real story about this newest of sugars? For a start, it really isn't new. Sap collected from the flower buds of coconut palm trees in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines has been going on for years.

Collected sap, boiled in shallow pans to concentrate, then dried, is the simple process of creating coconut palm sugar. It isn't a new process. What's new is that coconut palm sugar has been discovered by the rest of the world to be a sweetener of delicate flavor, composed largely of sucrose, and lower on the Glycemic Index than other sugars such as white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, and maple syrup.

A sugar lower on the Glycemic Index is agave syrup. However, agave syrup, from the agave plant in Mexico, is a concentrated sugar composed largely of fructose, a simple sugar which is hard on the liver.

Catherine Saxelby, an accredited nutritionist, blogger and award-winning author has written a lengthy article about coconut palm sugar which is worth taking the time to read. It is well documented and very informative. The link to this research is here:

https://foodwatch.com.au/blog/carbs-sugars-and-fibres/item/coconut-sugar.html

In conclusion, sugars derived from various plants are all concentrated sweeteners with calories. It's important to use them sparingly and wisely. Hopefully, after reading the coconut palm sugar article by Catherine Saxelby, you will better understand why this sugar was used in the final recipe of the year from the Vegan Culinary Academy. Coconut sugar is a concentrated sweetener of more value than other refined sugars. All concentrated sugars must be used sparingly, if at all.