These Culinary Thymes

Sugar…how sweet it is.  For some of us, a “sweet tooth” can be a bad thing.  Those of us with type 2 diabetes can only drool with envy as others get to indulge themselves on those wonderful cakes and pies.  One of those favorite things I miss is Creme Brulee…that sinfully delicious baked custard with that crust of caramelized sugar on top.  Creme Brulee translated means “burnt cream.”  Ok, I’m good with that, but sugar is used for that crackle.  Where is the justice in all of that?  Well…justice sometimes works on the side of people like me.  Through science and nature there are a few solutions at hand. 

Before we go on let’s just break down what we know, and go from there.  There are different kinds of sugar.  Sucros, or white sugar is harvested from sugar cane.  When broken down sucrose becomes glucose and fructose.  Glucose can most commonly be seen as “corn syrup” and fructose is most common as “fruit sugar.”  High Fructose corn syrup is a bad thing, but one of the major pluses is that when making caramel it will help slow crystallization.  Now that we have had our little science lesson…where do we go from here?  To the store to be quite honest.  Through research and development there are many options out there now that may just solve your problems (and mine too.)  One of those options was found at Whole Foods market.  The name of this product is “Organic Zero.”  It is a zero calorie, zero glycemic index and zero artificial sweetener.  Erythritol is an organic sweetener extracted from sugar cane juice.  There are many recipes more direct info at their website.  The address is www.organiczero.com.  The other choice, besides Splenda, Sweet N Low and Equal is a low glycemic response sweetener called Fifty50.  Half of the profits that this company make go towards diabetic research.  It has a 65% lower blood sugar response than regular table sugar.  I have tried both in my coffee and lean towards the Fifty50 sweetener more.  Both have an off after taste, but then again I was like that when I first tried Splenda. 

Now, being a chef I had to see for myself their reaction to heat.  I am currently developing recipes that are for diabetics, but do not taste any different than regular foods.  Once I do this I am planning on writing a cook book using these new found recipes.  Why should people who need this life change suffer from food they hate to eat?  This is one of the major reasons why people don’t stay on track.  They feel left out, and everyone loves sweet things.  Ok, back on track now.  I took a teaspoon of each of these sweeteners and spread them out onto seperate pieces of tin foil.  I broke out my trusty blow torch and went to town.  When I was done I was ready for the sweet taste of success.  The end products were very different though.  Both melted into a liquid state much faster than even super fine sugar but the results were very different.  The Organic Zero didn’t caramelize but the Fifty50 did.  The resultant caramel shell (I melted it on foil) was crispy just like on Creme Brulee but had more of an elastic texture as well.  It was more like caramel in the sense that it stuck to my teeth.  The flavor was like that of what you would expect, but still a little off.  My conclusion to all of this is that there will still be a difference in dessert made with these substitutes, but at least there will be things out there that we too can enjoy.  Like anything else we will just have to get used to it.  I will be continuing my reserch into this subject and hopefully have delicious results.

That’s prety much it for now.  Tune in next time for more.  Ciao.