HWN Suggests

The Sweet Facts on Palm Sugar - The Plant-Powered Dietitian

So are there any potential benefits? Many purveyors of palm sugar claim it’s a “sweetener without the guilt,” but there’s little research to support any health benefits. Researchers analyzed 14 different cane and palm sugars and found that unrefined palm sugar is higher in antioxidants than refined cane sugars, according to a study in Food Chemistry; however, this doesn’t necessarily mean that those antioxidant benefits will be seen in the human body...

The bottom line: Go ahead and enjoy palm sugar’s caramel-sweetness in foods; just remember to use it in small amounts, as you would any sugar.

read full article

Featured

 Palm Sugar 101

I was recently working with a new cookbook that called for palm sugar and I was stumped. Palm sugar? Never heard of it.

 Palm Sugar-Nature's Alternative Sweetener

Palm sugar is emerging as the next big thing in the hunt for a natural, wholesome sweetener. And according to many health experts, it has shown tremendous promise.

Articles of Interest

6 Reasons To Include Palm Sugar In Your Diet

Palm sugar is made from the sap of Palmyra palm, date palm, or the sugar date palm. It is mainly used in Asian and Middle Eastern countries. It looks like brown sugar but is much more nutritional and beneficial compared to it. Here is how replacing your regular sugar with palm sugar in your daily diet, going to help you.

Is Palm Sugar or Jaggery a Better Option than Sugar?

Over the last few years, palm sugar, also known as, jaggery has been promoted as a natural sugar alternative. It is considered to be healthier than standard cane sugar, but is this really the case?

Nutritional benefits of Palm Sugar

Palm sugar is an unrefined healthy sweetener sold in crushed form in stores. The sap of the nipa palm tree is boiled until it forms a syrup. Then it is hardened to form the sugar. Date palm or sugar palm trees are also utilized to make palm sugar. They are common in Asia and Africa. Across India, jaggery is the most popular palm sugar. In short, it can be said that palm sugar is mostly made in tropical countries due to the availability of trees that create these particular juicy saps.

Palm Sugar Is Healthy To Eat?

Palm sugar and coconut sugar are two different types of sugar. Both are natural sweeteners that come from trees. Coconut sugar comes from the shoots of the coconut tree and palm sugar is made from palm tree sap. Both are collected as sap.

Palm Sugar: Uses, Benefits, Side Effects By Dr. Smita Barode

Though some studies show the benefits of palm sugar in various conditions, these are insufficient, and there is a need for further studies to establish the true extent of the benefits of palm sugar on human health.

Sri Lanka's 'Kithul' Palm Syrup: An Ancient Sweetener In Need Of Saving

Despite its vital place in the Sri Lankan pantry, kithul syrup is becoming something of a vanishing treasure. And tappers are increasingly turning to other, more lucrative professions. Dayasena too has other sources of income – two acres of farmland on which he cultivates tea and a flourishing home garden, where he grows a variety of food crops like pepper, pineapples and vegetables.

What Is Palm Sugar?

This natural sweetener is made by boiling the sap collected from palm flowers until it is reduced to sugar crystals. It is referred to as an unrefined sugar because it undergoes minimal processing and no chemicals are involved. The sugar can be made from a variety of palm trees, including palmyra, date, toddy, nipa, sugar, and coconut palms.

What Is Palm Sugar? Nutritional Information, Benefits, and Healthier Alternatives

Sugar has quite the reputation in the vast world of nutrition. Sure, we all want sugar occasionally. No scratch that. We want it daily! However, do we need it that often? Considering all the health implications at play here, the simplest answer would be no. Life without sugar…sounds grim, right? Well, now that we have sugar substitutes, we don’t have to consider that prospect. So what is palm sugar?

What Makes Palm Sugar Unique?

Have you ever seen palm sugar in the sugar aisle of your local grocery store and wondered what it is? It's tan to light brown in color, and is sometimes sold in the form of a solid cone or brick shape, though it is becoming more common to see palm sugar sold in bags of granules.