Evaporated Cane Juice

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<<<What is evaporated cane juice?>>>

 

Jane,

 

"Evaporated cane juice" is a term I use to encompass any of the natural granulated "sugar cane" products on the market. They are made by evaporating or drying cane juice--some types are filtered first (which removes some nutrition and makes a lighter-colored less molasses-y tasting product). Organic sugar is the most like white sugar and is more acceptable to most vegetarians since it isn't filtered through bone char (as commercial white sugar can be). Wholesome brand is carried in most health food stores, some supermarkets and most co-ops. Florida Crystals would be another name for organic sugar. It retains a bit more nutrition than white sugar and is much less processed. Sucanat, which stands for "SUgar CAne NATural" is a little darker, but not necessarily less processed as it is often made by adding some molasses back to organic sugar. The *best* and most expensive (upwards of $2.50 per pound) evaporated cane juice is made by a company called Rapunzel and their Rapadura sugar is truly dried cane juice that has not been filtered with all nutrients in tact.

 

I don't generally use sweeteners to *add* nutrition to my diet anyway, so I just try to use any sweetener (including natural ones like honey and brown rice syrup) in moderation and usually choose the sweetener based on the flavor of the finished product. Organic sugar works well cup-for-cup in place of any white sugar and Sucanat works great cup-for-cup in place of standard brown sugar. I have found that I can reduce the sweetener by half in most recipes though without sacrificing flavor. One trick to using Sucanat, is to mix it with the liquid portion of the recipe so that it dissolves some before adding it to the dry ingredients.

 

Hope this helps!

Blessings,Nita