I personally think that making your own chocolate creations is a perfect opportunity to learn how to sweeten your treats “to taste” - meaning that you decide how much sweetener to add rather than always following a recipe exactly.. It’s an opportunity to see how most commercial products are so heavily sweetened that they have us accustomed to a level of sweetness that we don’t always need. Less sweet treats might become more appealing to you if you give them a chance!

Also, you'll might find that you enjoy the complex flavors you get when you combine two or three different sweeteners together, specifically non-glycemic sweeteners like stevia, monkfruit, and xylitol with glycemic ones. Decreasing your use of the fructose and glucose-rich glycemic sweeteners is always a good idea, and choosing to pair them with non-glycemic choices allows you to significantly decrease the amounts you use. Non-glycemic sweeteners mimic the taste of sugar and are often very sweet though they contain no actual fructose, glucose, or calories. Except in rare cases, they don’t spike your blood sugar or create an insulin reaction, so for the most part, they are the ones I prioritize using in my own kitchen. They certainly make sticking to a higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet like I enjoy doing a lot easier! Read on to learn more about specific sweeteners I use and love.

NON-GLYCEMIC SWEETENERS

MONKFRUIT: My preferred sweetener for the past few years has been a potent powder that is an extract of monkfruit, a small fruit in the melon family. In traditional Chinese Medicine, it's called Luo Han Guo and is used to increase chi and longevity. The extract powder I use is extremely concentrated so you only need a small amount for a big burst of sweetness; be judicious at first as you get to know its strength. Monkfruit extract is also used in the popular Lakanto brand sweeteners, where it is paired with erythritol to make a crystalline one-to-one sugar replacement. There are so many options for monkfruit these days. Here is the one I prefer; a four ounce bag has lasted me more than a few years!

STEVIA: Stevia is a plant in the mint family that is also outrageously sweet thanks to the glycoside compounds it contains. It's 200 times sweeter than sugar, yet contains no sugar or calories. A tiny nibble of a fresh green leaf will explode with sweetness on your tongue! Some people think that it has a weird aftertaste, though I personally think its particular sweetness mitigates the extreme bitterness of both cacao and coffee very well. It’s available in a multitude of forms, including as dried leaves, a dried powdered green herb, refined white powders, or clear extracts. The refined white powders are extremely potent and come in handy for sweetening Essential Raw Chocolates where any water content is unwelcome. My favorite product — aside from fresh green leaves straight from the garden, useful in blended drinks and brewed herbal teas — is a less refined brown liquid extract, which works well in drinks and other creations where water content is fine to use.

XYLITOL: Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that looks and tastes just like sugar. The body does not require insulin to metabolize it, and though sugar alcohols do contain some carbohydrates, they have minimal effect on blood glucose and insulin levels. It has a neutral taste that work well in chocolate making. When mixing into melted cacao paste, you might want to powder the crystals more finely in your high speed blender or a coffee grinder so that the finished texture is less crunchy. When purchasing, look for the best quality, which for xylitol means it's derived from hardwood trees, North American birch being the best. Keep in mind that a small percentage of people with GI issues such as SIBO, leaky gut, or IBS have adverse reactions such as bloating or gas after consuming sugar alcohols. I definitely don’t recommend that anyone eat a large amount in one sitting.

Note: I hope it goes without saying here that chemical sweeteners such as Nutrasweet, aspartame, Sucralose, and the like should always be avoided. They are known to be neurotoxic and harmful to the body.

GLYCEMIC SWEETENERS

**An assortment of sweeteners found in my pantry. My recent favorite is monkfruit extract powder!**

COCONUT SUGAR: This sugar derived from the sap of coconut blossoms is yummy and pairs so well with chocolate. It has an array of minerals that add to its earthy, complex flavor. Because of its truly delightful taste, I use this occasionally to augment the sweetness of the non-glycemic sweeteners. I also adore the liquid syrup made from the same coconut sap, usually labeled Coconut Palm Nectar; it often comes in a light and dark version, and both are astoundingly delicious. If you're going to use coconut sugar to sweeten a batch of Essential Chocolates, you might consider grinding the coconut sugar crystals more finely in a high speed blender coffee grinder before adding. Bear in mind that that coconut sugar is still refined and mostly sucrose just like white sugar, despite the fact that it purportedly has a lower glycemic index than other sweeteners.

DATES: Dates can be a wonderful whole food ingredient to use in your treats. Just be careful if you are sensitive to mold, as there is often a whitish sheen on dates that might be indicative of yeast or mold. I find myself very sensitive to this and don’t appreciate the brain fog that it creates for me. If I use dates, I buy them fresh from the farmer at the farmer’s market, but examine the ones for sale at your local store – they might look fine and be pretty fresh depending on where you live. Dates are so delicious in blended elixir recipes and drinks, and you might try fine powdering Date Sugar crystals to sweeten a batch of Essential Chocolates.

MAPLE SYRUP: A traditional sweetener with a complex flavor that has been used for centuries, it has natural phenols and some antioxidant properties, but is still also mostly sucrose, so I use it sparingly. It has a high water content so is perfect to use in liquid drinks, but could contribute to seizing when making your Essential Chocolates recipe. In that case, you might use maple sugar crystals, which I find to be extremely tasty.

RAW HONEY: Good quality local raw honey is worth seeking out! It is my usual go-to choice to pair with non-glycemic sweeteners to sweeten most of my treats. Honey is made up of glucose and fructose but because it also contains hundreds of bioactive compounds, vitamins, and enzymes, it does not spike insulin as much as other sweeteners. Keep in mind that different honeys have incredibly different flavors, with lighter ones usually more mild and flowery flavors. Darker honey is most chock-full of the beneficial compounds, but is often stronger in flavor. I recommend tasting a honey to see what you think of the flavor before investing in a large jar for your projects.

LUCUMA: Lucuma is a raw, organic, low-glycemic sweetener that comes in powder form. It's made from the dried pulp of the tropical egg fruit and provides a creamy texture to your treats and a full-bodied, maple-like flavor. It's a source of B vitamins, beta-carotene, niacin, and iron, with significant amounts of calcium and phosphorus, but I'm not sure it deserves the "superfood" status it often garners. Nevertheless, it's yummy.

PRODUCT RECS

Top choices for sweetening cacao creations are:
• coconut sugar
• liquid coconut palm nectar
• date sugar crystals
• divinely flavored maple sugar
• lucuma powder
• honey: please purchase from a source local to you!

I also enjoy having bottles of liquid stevia around, to balance the bitter flavor and keep my use of sugars in check. I also use dried powdered green stevia herb in herbal infusions and other hot beverages where the sweet flavor will infuse into the hot liquid. (It’s really easy to grow your own stevia plant as nurseries often carry stevia plants now, look next to the mint in the herb section 🌱 )

Aside from stevia, other non-glycemic sweetener choices include:
• monkfruit is as a potent pure extract powder such as this one (good for sweetening Essential Chocolates where no liquid can be used)
• birch xylitol crystals if you'd like to try the unobtrusive flavor of the low net carb sugar alcohols

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