Sugar: tips for alternatives and tricks for reducing

Sugar and its alternatives

It doesn’t always have to be super sweet

In January we avoid a lot of things, including sugar. Our tips for alternatives and tricks for reducing.

Published today at 9:31 am

Tough times for people who want to reduce sugar? Confectioners don’t adjust the sugar until January; for example, the fig cake only has some sugar in the sponge cake.

Photo: Claudia Salzmann

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BotTalk

Shortly:

Anyone on a sugar diet has numerous alternatives to choose from.
In some baking recipes, the sugar content can easily be reduced by 10 percent.
Confectioners rely on sour fruits, bitter chocolate and homemade products.

A maximum of 16 cubes or 50 grams of sugar: This is the maximum amount recommended by the World Health Organization that you should consume per day. However, most of us achieve twice that amount. And it’s quick: a yogurt and a portion of crunchy muesli for breakfast can easily contain over 20 grams of sugar. Husband picks up at lunchtime Take-away food or sits down in the canteen. Later in the afternoon you treat yourself to chocolate. In the evening you lounge on the sofa and grab your Güetzibox.

Now in January, many people are paying attention to their weight, and sugar consumption is particularly being observed. For those who don’t want to give up sweets entirely, we have examined alternatives and asked confectioners and patissières for tricks:

The tips of the former pastry world champion

Rolf Mürner is known for his mischief, his fruit desserts and cookbooks.

Photo: Lukas Bidinger

You can’t get enough of Rolf Mürner’s buffets, but it’s easy to eat enough. The former world champion pastry chef has written seven baking books and is very familiar with reducing sugar. “We always implement what we promote in the books in courses and at catering events.” We use the honest feedback to further develop the recipes.” He has continually reduced the sugar content in each new book by up to 30 percent.

A buffet by Rolf Mürner, who is known for working with acid and little sugar.

Photo: Claudia Salzmann

The secret of Rolf Mürner, who has his shop at Bern-Belp Airport: sour fruits. Because fructose can also change the taste. If the fruit has less of it, more of the fruit flavor remains on the tongue. Because there’s one thing the proud pastry chef doesn’t want: “Everything tastes the same. If I want a raspberry or yuzu flavor, it shouldn’t be masked.”

The tricks of the excellent patissière

At the age of 24, Nicole Lüthi is already on a career path: victory at Marmite Youngster in the patisserie category and a job with three-point chef Sven Wassmer.

Photo: zvg

Nicole Lüthi works in the Sven Wassmer Memories restaurant, which is located in the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz. Here too, the desserts rely on a light and balanced acidity, so that Alpine cuisine is represented. For example, with a burnt cream, the 24-year-old first boils the milk, water evaporates and the rest remains the milk sugar. “Milk sugar is often forgotten, but it helps to save sugar when cooking,” says Lüthi, who was just named best patissière at the Marmite Youngster competition.

Lüthi created this dessert in the national cooking team and contains no refined sugar at all. Alternatives: maple sugar and milk sugar.

Photo: zvg

She likes to work with the natural sweetness of the fruit, for example in a banana bread the ripe fruit would make the sugar obsolete. Instead of refined sugar beet sugar, she often uses raw cane sugar. “It has the same number of calories as white sugar, but at least it still contains a tiny bit of nutrients.” And her last tip: There is always sugar hidden in sauces, coffee drinks or bread. “Anyone who has cooked and baked themselves knows exactly what ingredients are in it and how much work it was.” So they are a much more conscious person. And who knows, maybe even one or two Güetzi less.

The suggestions of the experienced confectioner

Samuel Dober lives in a sugar-free home; in his job, the confectioner tries to work with as little sugar as possible.

Photo: Claudia Salzmann

While the trained confectioner Samuel Dober processes 25 kilograms of sugar per week at his workplace, his private home is already completely sugar-free. He is convinced that the taste buds are manipulated and that children are conditioned to eat sweets. His children would eat any vegetable, even artichoke. And an apple already tasted very sweet to her. “But of course, if there is a birthday cake at school, they should eat it too. Many things can also be prepared wonderfully without sugar.”

This lemon tart has 15 percent less sugar. Confectioners’ advice is to continually reduce sugar.

Photo: Claudia Salzmann

Dober has been working as a confectioner for 20 years and is responsible for desserts, patisserie and pastries at Casino Bern. He confirms the rule of thumb that you simply have to add 10 percent less sugar to recipes. “I’m taking this step by step.” Sugar is also responsible for consistency and stability. This had to be noticed when he made a chocolate mousse without sugar.

Dober has experimented with alternative sugar and some people find the aftertaste annoying. “Stevia tastes green and bitter to me, so I can’t work,” says the 35-year-old. With maple syrup, however, you could counteract this with rose hips or oranges. Four flavors are needed for the perfect dessert: “Chocolate provides bitterness.” The chocolate used in the casino contains 71 percent cocoa.

There is approximately 1 bar of chocolate hidden in this chocolate croissant.

Photo: Claudia Salzmann

For his pains au chocolat, which seem to come from a French gourmet dream, Dober had to abandon the dark filling. He finds this a shame. You can’t completely re-educate the guests: “They prefer hazelnut milk chocolate filling.” To achieve this, he reduced the sugar content in the lemon starter by 15 percent. This way the lemon comes into its own much better. Less is more after all.

From the bee: honey

Honey goes wonderfully with cheese, like fried feta here. Photographed in the Kocheria in Zurich.

Photo: Claudia Salzmann

100 grams of sugar has around 380 kilocalories, honey has 304 kilocalories. The liquid gold remains a calorie-containing source of energy and, if consumed in excess, can increase the risk of obesity, tooth decay and type 2 diabetes. For thousands of years, honey was probably the only sweetener that we humans could use. Indirect evidence for the product produced by bees comes from prehistoric rock paintings that are 8,000 to 40,000 years old.

From the tree: maple syrup

A great pairing: fluffy pancakes and maple syrup. Preferably in large quantities, like we did when we were children.

Photo: Getty Images

What is primarily poured over pancakes in our latitudes is used in a more varied way in North America. For example, as a marinade for grilled meat or vegetables. To obtain the syrup, maple trees are drilled, their water is collected and boiled down. This sweetener contains 260 kilocalories per 100 grams. The world’s largest producer of maple syrup is Canada with 71 percent Association Maple from Canada is to be read. Every March, when the snow melts, the trees start producing the liquid. And people flock to sugar shacks to eat pea soup with maple syrup or sausages dipped in syrup.

From the leaf: Stevia

The sweetener steviol glycosides is obtained from the leaves of the stevia plant and is available in tablet and powder form.

Photo: Getty Images

The Guaraní, indigenous people in the border area of Brazil and Paraguay, have been using the tropical plant for sweetening for centuries. The leaves have been officially approved in Switzerland since 2017. Stevia is one of the daisy family that is known to cause a high risk of allergies the Federal Office for Food Safety writes. There could therefore be a risk of allergy if whole leaves are used for sweetening. The sweetener steviol glycosides obtained from the plant are 300 times sweeter than sugar. And has zero calories.

From the succulent: agave syrup

An all-rounder: The plant is processed into alcohol (mezcal and tequila) or syrup. But their flowers and leaves are also edible; they are roasted or baked.

Photo: Getty Images

Agave syrup has 310 kilocalories per 100 grams. You save additional kilocalories because this sweetening power is stronger than that of sugar. And: The sugar obtained from succulents causes blood sugar levels to rise more slowly than table sugar. The agave syrup consists mainly of fructose, also fructose. Excessive and regular consumption can lead to fatty liver because fructose stimulates the liver’s fat production.

From the palm tree: Coconut blossoms

This alternative is made from the flower bud of the coconut palm. Because of its dark color it appears to be healthier; raw sugar or molasses also give this impression. However, this appearance is deceptive. Like table sugar, coconut blossom sugar also consists largely of sucrose. With 400 kilocalories per 100 grams, it is one of the calorie bombs among types of sugar.

From the bark: birch sugar

Birch sugar (xylitol) is produced industrially using acids or alkalis in several steps. Sugar is one of the sugar alcohols and is a sugar substitute. At 240 kilocalories per 100 grams, it contains almost half the calories as table sugar, but has the same sweetening power.

Ingredients for granola (800 g)

60g sunflower seeds

40 g pumpkin seeds

200 g oat flakes

200 g hazelnuts

40g flax seeds

10 g poppy seeds

10 g rapeseed

Ingredients for the spice mix:

12g salt

4 g cardamom, ground

2 g cinnamon, ground

1 g clove, ground

1 g fennel seeds, ground

0.5 g chili or cayenne pepper

Ingredients for the syrup:

70 g glucose (or honey)

50 g maple syrup

50g honey

Mix the ingredients for the syrup and warm slightly. Mix the other ingredients and the spice mixture, add the syrup. Spread flat on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Don’t put too much on the tray, stir once if necessary. Bake at 150 degrees for 20 minutes. If the granola seems too light, bake for 3 to 8 minutes. Allow to cool thoroughly, appears sticky when warm. Then chop it up.

Add chopped cranberries and freeze-dried berries, mix again. Suitable for every occasion: as muesli in the morning, over a salad at lunchtime or as a snack in front of the TV. (cla)

Claudia Salzmann has been writing about cuisine and gastronomy since 2009.More info@C_L_A

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