There are artificial sweeteners favored by the keto crowd because they have a low glycemic index (erythritol, for example, has a GI of 0), no calories, and they supposedly do nothing to affect your blood sugar (although there is the cephalic response to consider, in which the liver responds to sweet tastes by producing insulin, whether the sweetness is from real sugar or not). Erythritol is considered keto; so are monkfruit, inulin, and allulose. Monkfruit by itself apparently tastes sweet but really weird, so it's normally processed and mixed with erythritol, which means you get that "cooling" effect when you eat it (like when you ingest mint). Splenda, which I use, mainly because I bought a 1000-pack of it years ago and still have a ton of it, is considered verboten for keto-heads (sucralose = bad), but I use it, anyway.
In my pantry, I have erythritol and monkfruit (which is 75% erythritol, so it's almost the same thing). I was curious about allulose, so I bought some, and it arrived the other day. When you open the allulose bag (powdered form), you're greeted by a puff of vanilla, so it's obviously slightly flavored. Taste-wise, it tasted sweet, but not overpoweringly so. But here's the thing: when I made a cup of tea and dumped two heaping spoonfuls of allulose into the liquid, there was almost no sweetness at all. This is disappointing. Color me unimpressed with allulose. When I start making my own keto desserts, I won't be using it as my sweetener of choice.
Somewhere in my pantry, I also have a huge tub of powdered Stevia that I've been thinking about throwing away. The thing's been sitting in my cabinet for years. The stuff is horrible, but I see so many keto-heads who swear by it. I might just have a bad version of the sweetener; most keto folks use it in liquid form, with an eyedropper. Now that I'm on Coupang, perhaps I can buy some liquid Stevia and chuck the stuff I have. Maybe the liquid form is better.
So: I've got allulose now, but it feels like a sweetener of last resort.
This is powdered allulose? We have a bottle of allulose syrup, but it's actually 60% allulose and 40% oligosaccharides (올리고당). That is plenty sweet, but I wonder if it is the oligosaccharides that gives it most of its sweetness. They don't seem to be keto-friendly, though, at least as far as I can tell from a cursory search.
ReplyDeleteI try not to use the allulose syrup too much because oligosaccharides can cause intestinal difficulties (gas, bloating, diarrhea, etc.), and since that is my Achilles heel I figure it's best not to tempt fate.
Yeah, I'll correct the post to reflect that. It's Madhava brand powdered sweetener. Mostly allulose, with some chicory-root fiber and monkfruit extract added.
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