Maple syrup is an excellent alternative to many traditional sweeteners often used on our tables, especially an excellent substitute for both white sugar, brown sugar or honey.
Maple syrup has a sweetening power clearly superior to other sweeteners, and contains fewer calories: an average of 261 kcal per 100 grams compared to 395 kcal of traditional sugar.
Maple syrup
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The nutritional values and nutrients of maple syrup make it much healthier than other sweeteners
Maple syrup in fact has a sweetening power much higher than sugar, sweetens 25 times more, a glycemic acid inferior to honey (maple syrup: 54, white sugar: 70, honey: 87) is much less caloric and, thanks to its nutritional properties, Mineral salts, vitamins, antioxidantvery healthy sulta.
It is 100% natural, free of dyes or additives. It does not undergo processing processes that alter its taste or nutritional content: it can be said that it passes almost directly from the tree to the table, after only a boiling phase.
Unlike sugar, the abuse of which adversely affects health – helping to cause obesity, high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes – maple syrup helps digestion, stimulates metabolism, has an energizing and purifying effect.
Thanks to the phytohormone, called abscissic acid (ABA), which can be useful in moderating blood sugar levels and stimulating the release of insulin by pancreatic cells, thus increasing the sensitivity of fat cells and favoring the absorption of sugars by the muscles.
Check your daily intake of sugar
Sugars are very important in our diet, they are a direct source of energy for muscles and brain.
However, with the increase in foods and beverages rich in sweeteners, in recent decades their consumption has increased, reaching excessive levels, potentially harmful to health.
The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends not to exceed 10% of total daily calories. This means that it is recommended not to exceed about 50 g of sugar for women and 70 g for men, depending on how active we are.
Here are some tips to reduce sugar consumption using maple syrup:
- in coffee or drinks you just need a teaspoon of maple syrup.
Its sweetening power and aroma will not make you miss white sugar or artificial sweeteners. - As an alternative to sugary yogurt, you can add a drop of maple syrup and fresh fruit to white yogurt. It will be a healthy and completely natural breakfast or snack.
- Instead of drinking sugary and fizzy drinks, add some maple syrup and lemon to the water, you will get a cool and refreshing drink, energizing as well as detoxifying.
Maple syrup is also very appreciated by athletes and those who love to lead a healthy lifestyle: consumed alone, to sweeten drinks and energy bars to be consumed during physical activity, as a detoxifier and even in slimming diets.
How to replace in recipes sugar with maple syrup
In most recipes it is possible to replace white or cane sugar with a lower amount of maple syrup, since maple syrup has a much higher sweetening power.
To use maple syrup as an alternative to common sugar in baked goods and desserts, just keep in mind a simple conversion: 75 g of maple syrup sweetens like 100 g of refined sugar.
You will also need to remember to reduce the amount of liquid ingredients in the recipe by about 30% and lower the cooking temperature by 25 ºC.
If you want to use maple syrup as an alternative to other liquid sweeteners such as honey, molasses and corn syrup, it is even simpler since the ratio is one to one: practically the dose does not change.
In addition to maple syrup, there is also maple sugar, produced exclusively from 100% pure maple syrup, has the same properties as syrup, but has a grainy consistency, similar to traditional sugar.