agave nectar is a Godsend!

[homeschoolmom]

Hi all,
For those of you who are missing "sweets", I wanted to tell you a little about agave nectar. I LOVE this stuff!!! It is a natural sweetener with a low glycemic index of 27! It is much sweeter than sugar, so you only need 1/4 c of it for every cup of sugar in a recipe. I've used it in banana bread and other baked goods with great results. Recently, I made David Lebovitz's agave sweetened homemade chocolate ice cream (using unsweetened choc. and agave nectar), and it was incredible!!! Honestly, my family fought over this ice cream!! You can google his name with agave sweetened ice cream to find the recipe. If you are interested, I would recommend buying the Volcanic Nectar brand since it has a lower GI. I've tried some of the other brands, and they do raise my blood sugar considerably. It is nice to have an alternative to sugar that doesn't have an aftertaste. ENJOY!:)

[Evermont]

I'm a big fan too! :D Good stuff!

[Janlaton]

SO where did you buy the product? I have not heard of it before. Thanks for the info.

[Evermont]

I get it at my local health food store(s). Some grocery stores carry it too. You can always order on the web too.

[morrisma]

Is this stuff the source of stevia?
Mike

[Evermont]

Is this stuff the source of stevia?
Mike

No, Stevia is a different plant. Agave comes from the same plant that they make tequila from.

Learn more about Stevia (link) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia)

Learn more about Agave (link) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave)

[princesslinda]

Can you drink it or is it used mainly for cooking?

[Evermont]

Think of it like honey. It's usually clear or translucent golden brown in large quantity. It's sweeter than honey so nobody would drink it straight. You could mix it into a drink but if the drink is cold before you add it, it might take a lot of stirring. It would work in tea for example. I don't find any kind of flavor or after taste - it's just sweet.

I don't use much of it really, a small bottle will last a few months. I put it in my plain yogurt with real blueberries, neither of which is very sweet on their own. I've been meaning to cook more with it but I just don't do many sweets. I've been talking about doing another batch of my double Dove bar chocolate peanut butter ice cream. I think I'll use agave instead of sugar this time.

[homeschoolmom]

I've tried stevia, but it had too much of an aftertaste for me. Also, I never had any luck cooking with it. Stevia is supposed to be a lot sweeter than sugar, but I didn't think it tasted all that sweet. A lot of people use agave to sweeten their tea, coffee, etc. (Dr. Oz on Oprah uses it for his drinks.) Some people like to use it for syrup on their pancakes. It looks a lot like honey, only thinner. I use it for baking pancakes, waffles, breads, muffins and now ice cream. I bought the agave nectar cookbook on the volcanic nectar website, but I really haven't used it that much. It is much easier to use it in your own favorite recipes - just use less and adjust baking temp. lower by about 25 degrees.

[princesslinda]

I've been talking about doing another batch of my double Dove bar chocolate peanut butter ice cream. I think I'll use agave instead of sugar this time.


You need to share this recipe! :eating: Dove chocolate and peanut butter...I don't think it could get any better than that!

[Evermont]

You need to share this recipe! :eating: Dove chocolate and peanut butter...I don't think it could get any better than that!

Somehow I expected this reaction. LOL

You know I don't cook from recipes - I just do my thing and if you're lucky, I write it down afterward. This one is easy, just get a chocolate ice cream recipe that you like and replace that nasty "bakers chocolate" with twice as much Dove Dark Chocolate melted in a double boiler. Like homeschoolmom says, swap in the agave for the sugar. After churning just fold in your favorite peanut butter so that there's good sized ribbon and chunks running through it. Don't over-stir and you probably don't want any baseball sized globs. Probably. You could go crazy and chop up some dove bars and throw them in too. :bird:

Fair warning, this stuff even better than it sounds. You might want to have a spotter nearby to peel you off of it once you get going.

[morrisma]

I'm drooling now. Thanks.

Thanks also Evermont for the agave vs stevia links.
Mike

[Janlaton]

Don't make ice cream any more now that my kids are grown, where was this receipe when I was making it all those years!?

[slipperyelm]

Nectars are full of sugar. That is why insects and birds lap it up. For the plants, nectar not only attract pollinating animals, but sometimes provides a level of glucose on the surface of the female reproductive structure that enhances the germination of pollen grains. For different, plants, different sugar levels are ideal.

What kind of nutritional information are you seeing on the label?

[jacobsam622]

Hi all,
For those of you who are missing "sweets", I wanted to tell you a little about agave nectar. I LOVE this stuff!!! It is a natural sweetener with a low glycemic index of 27! It is much sweeter than sugar, so you only need 1/4 c of it for every cup of sugar in a recipe. I've used it in banana bread and other baked goods with great results. Recently, I made David Lebovitz's agave sweetened homemade chocolate ice cream (using unsweetened choc. and agave nectar), and it was incredible!!! Honestly, my family fought over this ice cream!! You can google his name with agave sweetened ice cream to find the recipe. If you are interested, I would recommend buying the Volcanic Nectar brand since it has a lower GI. I've tried some of the other brands, and they do raise my blood sugar considerably. It is nice to have an alternative to sugar that doesn't have an aftertaste. ENJOY!:) I love algave when it in my tequila that is :D

[Scrabblechick]

Fascinating. And this stuff doesn't spike your BG?

[Evermont]

Nectars are full of sugar. That is why insects and birds lap it up. For the plants, nectar not only attract pollinating animals, but sometimes provides a level of glucose on the surface of the female reproductive structure that enhances the germination of pollen grains. For different, plants, different sugar levels are ideal.

What kind of nutritional information are you seeing on the label?

I googled it: Agave nectar nutritional facts (link) (http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/madhava/agave-nectar)
(this is the brand I've been using)

Fascinating. And this stuff doesn't spike your BG?

Agave is sugar. It has a slightly lower Glycemic Index than cane sugar or honey I think because it has a bit more fructose than glucose compared to cane sugar.

It's not magic, it's just slightly slower to raise BG than sugar. YMMV of course. It's natural, which for me makes it better than many other sweeteners.

[Janlaton]

Think I'll stick to no sweetners. It's safer for me that way.:mad: