Sugar: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
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From Tales of the Cocktail on Tour Mexico City! Led by Claire Warner, Georgia Van Tiel, Nick Van Tiel and Jeffrey Kluger Presented by Belvedere
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Sugar: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- 3. CLAIRE SMITH-WARNER Head of Spirit Creation & Mixology, Belvedere Vodka @belvedereclaire JEFFREY KLUGER Senior Science Editor, Time Magazine @jeffreykluger GEORGIA VAN TIEL Health & Fitness Expert @georgiavantiel NICK VAN TIEL COCKTAIL GURU @nickvantiel INTRODUCING THE PANEL
- 8. King Stealth
- 9. Recent reduction by WHO
- 11. Dopamine
- 13. sweetease
- 15. addiction
- 19. 600,000 80% SUGAR CONTENT FOR YOUR FAVORITE FOODS
- 20. 56 Why are we fat?
- 21. WHY ARE WE FAT?
- 22. What is sugar
- 23. 50% Glucose 50% Fructose SUGAR (SUCROSE) AND HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (HFCS) SUCROSE
- 24. How Fructose is processedHOW FRUCTOSE IS PROCESSED INTERFERES WITH APPETITE CONTROL âLEAKY GUTâ VISCERAL OBESITY âFATTY LIVERâ LEADING TO CIRRHOSIS
- 25. WHAT THE FRUC?!
- 26. âCock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, SUGAR, water, and bittersâ BUT WHAT ABOUT COCKTAILS?
- 27. COULD WE ALSO BE PART OF THE PROBLEM?
- 28. COULD WE ALSO BE PART OF THE PROBLEM?
- 33. 1972
- 35. 1981
- 36. 1984
- 37. 2003
- 38. 2004
- 39. 2007
- 40. 2007
- 41. 2014
- 42. 2012
- 70. ? THE PRACTICAL PART: HOW SHOULD WE THINK ABOUT SUGAR IN THE BAR?
- 71. WHY DO WE USE SUGAR IN COCKTAILS?
- 72. WHY DO WE USE SUGAR IN COCKTAILS? ⢠Many of our favourite cocktails would be very sour without it! ⢠Because our palates are hardwired to detect sugar, it acts as a flavour enhancer to us ⢠In many cases sugar contributes to texture and mouth-feel. ⢠Sugar is often combined with acidic or sour elements as a way to amplify certain flavours found in the spirits that we use as the base for our cocktails
- 73. Is it realistic for us to be able to eliminate sugar from our cocktail programmes? PROBABLY NOTâŚ.
- 74. HOWEVER...WE CAN HELP! 1. Abstinence or avoidance of sugar altogether 2. Using less sugar and offering low-sugar alternatives for our guests 3. Using sugar but keeping it attached to the fibres, enzymes and vitamins that help our bodies deal with the sugar and process it in a way that is less harmful to us 4. Utilising sugar alternatives or sweeteners that are low in harmful fructose
- 75. ABSTINENCE, AVOIDANCE OF SUGAR ALTOGETHER
- 76. RUM & COKE, AKA THE âCUBAâ
- 77. THE GOOD NEWS
- 78. THE GOOD NEWS
- 81. USING LESS SUGAR STANDARD U.S. FORMULA 1.5 oz ž oz ž oz Spirit Sweet Sour
- 82. I.E > MARGARITA USING LESS SUGAR tequila triple sec lime juice 1.5 oz ž oz ž oz
- 83. HOW CAN WE USE LESS SUGAR? ALTERNATE FORMULA 2oz ½ oz ½ oz Spirit Sweet Sour 36% LESS SUGAR!
- 84. Some other ways to reduce the amount of sugar in cocktails: ⢠Use bitters or tinctures to add flavour to cocktails â some of these contain sugar but you can use much less because the flavours are so concentrated ⢠Use herbs, spices, and flavoured salts to add flavour and aroma, and also to enhance the flavours in the base spirit ⢠Make your own syrups, liqueurs and cordials rather than buy them â that way you can control the amount of sugar being added ⢠Use fruits, vegetables and extracts that are lower in sugar â i.e. pear instead of apple
- 86. USING SUGAR IN SMARTER WAYS
- 87. USING SUGAR IN SMARTER WAYS
- 89. GAME, SET, MATCHA ⢠30ml Belvedere ⢠80ml homemade almond and macadamia nut milk* ⢠90ml fresh coconut water ⢠½ date (make sure you take the pit out) ⢠½ pear, cored ⢠1 tsp macha tea powder ⢠4 mint leaves Blend with 2-3 ice cubes, pour over fresh ice into a sling glass and garnish with a pear fan and a cool straw. NOTE: you really need a Vitamix for this as the fibre of the pear is really tough to blend thoroughly.
- 90. HOMEMADE ALMOND AND MACADAMIA NUT MILK ⢠½ cup (50 grams) raw macadamia nuts ⢠1½ cups (150 grams) raw almonds ⢠1 quart filtered water ⢠1 date (make sure you take the pit out) ⢠Tools: cheesecloth or nut-milk bag, Vitamix or other blender, digital scale (optional) Combine the nuts, date and 1 cup of water in a covered container and soak overnight. Pour the nut mixture and the remaining water into a Vitamix or other blender. Blend for 30 seconds (if using a blender other than a Vitamix, increase blending time to 2 minutes). Strain through a nut-milk bag (available at many grocery stores) or 3-4 layers of cheesecloth. Yield: 1 liter
- 91. UTILISING SUGAR ALTERNATIVES, OR SWEETNERS THAT ARE LOW IN FRUCTOSE
- 92. SYNTHETIC ALTERNATIVES ⢠Aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet etc) ⢠Sucralose (Splenda) ⢠Saccharin (SweetâN Low etc) In general, we donât advocate using anything created in a science laboratory in cocktails, so lets leave these ones here.
- 93. ⢠Xylitol ⢠Sorbitol ⢠Maltitol ⢠Erythritol Sugar alcohols are difficult to obtain, and very tricky to work with in a bar scenario, however there are a small number of bars that are exploring these alternatives. SUGAR ALCOHOLS
- 94. SIMPLE FRUCTOSE ALTERNATIVES ⢠Jaggery / Panella ⢠Stevia ⢠Dextrose
- 95. DEXTROSE CITRUS SYRUP ⢠500g dextrose ⢠240g(250ml) water ⢠zest of 4 limes ⢠zest of 2 oranges Gently muddle the zests with the dextrose powder to get as much oil from the peel as possible but without extracting too much pith. Then add water and dissolve the dextrose by gently heating the mix. Strain. Yield: 1.1ltr
- 96. THYME FOR A CHANGE ⢠50ml Belvedere or Belvedere Citrus ⢠25ml Thyme Dextrose Citrus Sherbet Syrup ⢠20ml Lemon Juice ⢠2 dashes of Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters Shake, coupe, thyme garnish
- 97. SIMPLE FRUCTOSE ALTERNATIVES ⢠Jaggery / Panella ⢠Stevia ⢠Dextrose ⢠Rice Malt Syrup
- 98. THE POLISH PALOMA #2 ⢠45ml Belvedere Pink Grapefruit ⢠45ml homemade sugarfree grapefruit soda syrup* ⢠Top club soda Build over ice in a highball glass and garnish with a lime wedge. You can add more / less syrup to taste depending on how sweet you need it.
- 99. THE POLISH PALOMA #2 ⢠1-2 extra-large pink grapefruit ⢠4-5 lemons ⢠1 cup Rice Malt Syrup Hand-wash the fruit in warm water. Using a grater, zest the grapefruit and two of the lemons. Keep the zest refrigerated. Squeeze the juice from the fruit, making sure you have 1 cup of each grapefruit and lemon juice. In a small, non-reactive pan, add the juices and syrup (you should have 1 cup of each), stir to combine and slowly heat to around 85 degrees C, stirring often. Heat till syrup is dissolved and tiny white bubbles start to appear. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, uncovered. Add zests from earlier, you may need to pass them through a food processor if they are not fine enough. Add this to the cordial and stir. Refrigerate overnight, stirring once or twice and fine- strain into a clean glass jar. Keep refrigerated. NOTE: The amount of juice yielded may vary depending on your fruit. The key is to use equal parts of the three ingredients, plus the zest of juiced grapefruit and lemon.
- 101. SUMMARY
- 102. Personal Responsibility Access to information/availability of education: ⢠AWARENESS & CHOICE are Key ⢠What are WE doing to self regulate? ⢠How can we be part of the SOLUTION, not the PROBLEM?
- 103. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT Institute for Responsible Nutrition www.responsiblefoods.org World Health Organisation www.who.int David Gillespie www.davidgillespie.org
- 104. ⢠Sugar is a form of carbohydrate which is present naturally in a number of foods like fruit, vegetables, grains etc. In its natural form sugar is accompanied by vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fibres which help the body process sugar properly ⢠When sugar is refined, its is stripped of all benefits, which makes it difficult for the body to digest and absorb ⢠The more you eat, the more you crave. The more you eat, the more your crash, over and over again. ⢠5 ingredient rule, read labels and if there is a sweetener inthe first 5 ingredients look for another option ⢠Know your sugars! REMEMBERâŚ
- 105. Q&A
- 106. SUGAR: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? WHAT I HOPE YOUâLL TAKE FROM TODAY?
Editor's Notes
- Mary Poppins was a drug dealer. None of your run of the mill, class A boring stuff, not for Poppins. No, she was into something much harder
- âA Spoonful of Sugarâ is not a cheery ditty about housework; itâs a subliminal advertisement for one of the most highly addictive substances in the world.
- Poor Jane and Michael didnât stand a chance. And, if you believe todayâs media, they probably both later suffered from cancer, diabetes and the worst public affliction of all, obesity.
- Forget cocaine or heroin, sugar is being touted by the media as the stealth killer invading our bodies, clogging up our arteries, and generally being both sweet AND evil.
- The 21st century consumerâs growing sugar intake is undisputedly one of the prime causes of todayâs obesity epidemic and the recent reduction in the recommended consumption of added sugar by WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION generated a groundswell of negativity around the sweet stuff, an unusual predicament for a substances that is so universally adored.
- Sugar Pie Honey Bunchâ⌠It is no coincidence that we use words related to sugar to communicate affection
- Evolutionarily, sweetness was the signal to our ancestors that something was safe to eat as no sweet foods are acutely poisonous. So, we gravitated towards sweetness as a default. How many times do parents need to introduce a new food before a baby will accept it? Around 10-13 times. But, if that new food is sweet, how many times do you have to introduce it? Only once. Weâre born LOVING sugar. But why?
- Sugar or sucrose or a crystalline carbohydrate is a fast track energy source, but also releases dopamine in the brain, reinforcing our reward pathways and increasingly, scientists are comparing sugar to drugs that create a dependency, similar to alcohol or cocaine.
- While the brainâs reward system is complex and has many inputs, it can be reduced to the âhedonic pathwayâ. This pathway is where all our primal emotions, reproductive drive and the survival instinct are housed and expressed. These reward mechanisms have evolved to reinforce behaviours that are essential for the survival of the species: Such as sex for reproduction and the enjoyment of food so that you eat. So, In order to maintain eating as one of the most powerful urges in animal and human behaviour, evolution has also made it a rich source of pleasure and reward.
- Probably one of the best examples of the opiate-like effect of sugar is the product âSweet-Easeâ. This is a sugar solution into which hospitals dip pacifiers for new born babies undergoing circumcision, to reduce the pain of the procedure. If a sugar solution can provide enough of an anaesthetic for performing circumcision, you can begin to understand the powerful evolutionary effect that sugar has on us, as well as describe its ability to cause dependence and addiction.
- But of course we KNOW that a diet of Snicker bars and OREOS is far from a healthy one. The more sinister side of this debate does not focus on how much candy weâre eating, but rather how much sugar weâre eating unwittingly.
- Yoghurt, breakfast cereals, bread, ketchup, BBQ sauces, and counterintuitively diet foods, all contain a growing percentage of sugar, while FRUCTOSE, LACTOSE or GLUCOSE may be found in perceived healthy drinks ie smoothies and fruit juice and âhealthâ foods (dried fruit, salad dressing etc). But if youâre looking to cut down on sugar, surely you can just read the label and avoid it? Right? Sadly, its just not that easy.
- 1989 Sugar Association lobbied government to protect its âproprietary informationâ thereby allowing them to not detail the amount and types of added sugars.
- In 2012 there were around 600,000 items in the American Food supply and 80% contain ADDED sugar that is miscellaneously labelled, and some might argue deliberately misleading.
- Sugar is tricky to spot when looking at a nutritional label, and some might argue that this is due to the sugar industryâs reluctance to clearly communicate the quantities of sugars found in our food. SO, how can we prevent overindulgence if a) sugar is addictive and b) sugar is hidden? Â
- Ancel Keys vs Yudkin Low fat Introduction of HFCS (cheap sugar)
- Is there anything left to LOVE about sugar?
- What is Sugar? Sucrose is a combination of two monosaccharides; Fructose and Glucose. Glucose can be described as the building block of life. Every cell in our bodies requires it to function. So much so that if we donât eat glucose, our bodies produce it by a process of glucosis. Plants create glucose by photosynthesis and use it as energy to grow. As well as to create nectar to attract the little honey bees. Which is nice.
- But Fructose? Its the Voldemort of the dietary hit list: the sweet molecule in sugar. Fructose is never found alone in nature, it is always partnered with its more benign sister, glucose. Both have the same chemical composition, but they are very different. Unlike glucose, which can be metabolised by all organs, the liver is the primary site for fructose metabolism. The unique metabolism of fructose can induce each of the phenomena associated with metabolic syndrome.
- In essence, COULD WE BE THE modern day equivalent of Mary Poppins, prescribing a ½ oz of sugar to help the âmedicinesâ go down?
- Of course, the major difference between alcohol and sugar is alcoholâs intoxticating effects: the brain does not metabolise fructose. But the liverâs metabolism of frucotose is remarkably similar to that of alcohol. We know we must limit our alcohol consumption, or face the consequences. But sugar flies under the radar. No wonder Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have the highest rate of type 2 diabetes in the world. No alcohol, but theyâre drinking soft drinks like theyâre going out of fashion.
- So, sugar is addictive, damaging and we CANâT GET ENOUGH. Weâre hardwired to seek it out! Doesnât that mean there should be even more protection? Or, at the very least AWARENESS? Â
- Should WE as an industry, be doing more to protect our customers from not only alcohol over consumption, but of sugar over-consumption?
- Should WE as an industry, be doing more to protect our customers from not only alcohol over consumption, but of sugar over-consumption? Because if weâre not self-regulating⌠could Tales 2025 look like thisâŚ?
- --Sugar needs a friend--someone who recognizes its shortcomings and loves it in spite of them. And Iâm going to be that person. --Science journalism whole career --Time for 19 years --Learned: food news, like food, best taken in moderation. --Too much around; a lot of it not good for you.
- --Then alarm over the cholesterol in eggs --A single omelet a suicidal act --And now? The egg is back. --Cheap source of protein, just nor more than one/day  --Then: Atkins and its no-carbohydrates rule --Great idea until people missed their pasta. Â
- Â Â --Now: faddishness around gluten --Component of grain that is perfectly harmless for 93% people --Even products that never had gluten labeled gluten-free: At this rate weâll see ads for gluten free salt, gluten-free shoes --I responded to recently on Time.com this way. Here are just a few of the covers Time has devoted to food in the past few decades:
- --Fortunately, for everyone in this room, we were a premature in declaring the cocktail dead. --Of all foods, none has generated more storiesâand more argumentsâthan sugar. --Partly because sugar is big businessâwith big advertising budgets to encourage us to eat more. --To hear industry tell it in the 20th century, sugar not just OK for you, was practically health food..
- And their current website with its cloying slogan âSweet By Natureâ traffics in the idea that since sugar is a natural product itâs OK. Well tobacco is a natural product too. And the fermentation process was going on long before humans arrived, but that doesnât mean you canât wreck your health by drinking too much. School Nutrition Association had annual convention this week. Really an industry group fighting for sugar and junk food in schools
- -Now we do know better. --Obesity rates exploded in the US and Mexico at the same time high fructose corn syrup in everything from salad dressings to spaghetti sauces. --Farmland in Iowa and elsewhere now monoculture just to feed our sugar addiction. --Bad for environment, for soil, for other crops --Just the past year, a cluster of alarming studies --What our sugar habit is doing to usâand how weâre manipulated to ignore the dangers.
- --Yet fact remains: humans have eaten natural sugars for as long as weâve been a species --Been eating refined sugar for thousands of years. So is it really so bad for us? --The short answer: yes, it is. --As food manufacturing gets cheaper, portions get bigger. And so do we. --But problem not just sugar-related obesity. --Itâs also that when we talk about sugar addiction, we mean that term literally. --Functional magnetic resonance imaging shows, sugar acts on the nucleus acumbens, --The same brain region implicated in heroin and cocaine addiction. --And metabolic cycle sugars set in motion in the blood does lead to energy crash and craving for more.
- --Glucose, bodyâs preferred form of sugar, not as much of a problem. It gets burned relatively efficiently. --Fructose, on the other hand, mainlined straight to the liver where itâs metabolized into fat. --But better news hiding inside the bad news. --For starters, the "high" in high fructose is misleading --In sucrose, or table sugar, fructose-glucose ratio is 50-50. In high fructose corn syrup just 60-40. --Small difference can count --Same way plus-or-minus 100 calories a day in a 2,200 calorie diet can make difference in gaining and losing weight. --And 100 calories is a bit less than you get in a 12-oz., high-fructose can of soda. --What's more, sugar does some good. --Does give energy levels a big bump. --It pays to be mindful about how we look for sugar in products.
- --As Claire said: sugars can hide in confusing food labels. --Hereâs one: Sugar #2 ingredient. Read a few others. --And what is this dangerous food: blueberries. --Itâs not just labels that can be confusing. --One revealing study found that when you show people piĂąa colada and a screwdriver ask which has more sugar. --People say piĂąa but screwdriver because of OJ --Does pay to be mindful of bar mixers. --Canât have a lot of rum and coke and think that all that corn syrup is OK. --Ideally you're going to bar with moderation in mind. --For average personâconsumer and bartender alikeâkey is not to be caught up in the food-as-news cycle, --Not to approach your diet guided by absolutes.
- --But that means personal responsibility on both sides of the bar. --Up to bartenders and beverage industry to provide low-sugar alternatives and up to consumers to avail themselves of them --Important not just for health. --Want to avoid the day that sugar is regulated like other dangerous foods. --No one wants a future of no sugar/no fun cocktails. --Dry martini may be my drink of choice, but the world would be a poorer place without a sweet mojito on a very hot day.
- So, bearing all of this somewhat terrifying info in mind â how do we put this into practical terms in a bar scenario? Â First lets look at why we use sugar in cocktails and mixed drinks:
- Therefore, Â Is it realistic for us to be able to eliminate sugar from our cocktail programmes in order to offer safer and healthier drinks to our customers? Â Probably not.
- Changing peopleâs opinions and understanding of sugar and how it affects us is not going to be an overnight process â it may actually take generations to change peopleâs perceptions and their palateâs reliance on this sweet poison. Â However, there are many ways as bartenders and bar owners that we can mitigate some of the negative effects of sugar and minimize the harm that our delicious cocktails are potentially doing to our patrons. Â There are four main ways that we can get involved here: Â Abstinence or avoidance of sugar altogether Using less sugar and offering low-sugar alternatives for our guests Using sugar but keeping it attached to the fibres, enzymes and vitamins that help our bodies deal with the sugar and process it in a way that is less harmful to us Utilising sugar alternatives or sweeteners that are low in harmful fructose
- Abstinence or avoidance of sugar altogether  As we have seen today â sugar is hidden in many places in the food and drinks that we take for granted â often surprisingly in places that we think are âhealthyâ for us like fruit juice.  Iâm sure most people in this room are aware what the #1 selling alcoholic drink in Mexico is?  Rum and Coke aka the âCubaâ.
- *This chart from research done by Coca Cola in 2013 Â I wonder if anyone in the room can guess exactly how much sugar is in a typical serve of this particular drink? Anyone want to take a guess? Â RUM AND COKE DEMO Â There are 39g of sugar per 12oz can of Coca Cola. Assume you are using a light rum with no added sugar, and assume that with ice and rum, you are adding 6 oz of Coke per drink. That gives you just under 10 grams, or nearly 5 teaspoons of sugar per drink! Thatâs over half your daily allowance in 1 drink! Â Pretty scary right? Imagine having a big night out and finishing 5 or 6 of these drinks! Where do you think your hangover is coming from? More from the alcohol or more from the Sugar?!?!
- The good news is - there are in fact drinks that have very little or no sugar content which are still delicious, elegant and fun. Â A dry martini made with a super premium vodka like Belvedere (or gin for that matter) â be sure to use very little vermouth as this often does contain sugar but in many cases a âdryâ martini only has a very small whisper of vermouth added to the drink anyway. Finishing the cocktail with a twist of fresh lemon zest adds another sugar-free element in terms of aroma, which certainly contributes to the overall experience of the drink.
- A vodka (or gin) with soda with a fresh fruit garnish â when I say âsodaâ here I mean simply carbonated water or âclub sodaâ as it is sometimes known â not flavoured sodas which have a lot of added sugar and other chemicals. Again adding a wedge of fresh lemon or lime is adding aroma and citrus oils to the drink - there is minimal sugar being added from this garnish. Â In the case of both of these drinks it is imperative to use a premium vodka like Belvedere because: Â Much more care is taken during the distillation and rectification process to actually retain complex flavour from the raw ingredients â resulting in a clean but flavourful spirit with the character and mouth-feel needed to carry such a cocktail. Â Many vodkas on the market actually add sugar to the end product to trick the drinker into thinking that there is more flavour and texture than there actually is â super premium vodkas like Belvedere do not add sugar so be careful which brand you use.
- On that point â sometimes it is very difficult to ascertain which products have sugar added and which donât â there are over 56 different names for sugar which are commonly used in consumable goods, and in most countries it is not legally required to list additives on the label of a bottle of spirits. We certainly arenât here to name and shame and particular brands today but there is definitely some interesting reading to be had if you look up Systembolget and Alko Finland which are two government owned liquor distribution networks in Scandinavia who publish their tests on products that they sell â including the sugar content of the spirits that they distribute. Â
- Finally â many of you will have seen this chart or a number of similar ones â but remember as discussed, the mixer is where you are usually getting the majority of your sugar content in a typical mixed drink â so lets have a look at the sugar breakdown of a typical serve of non-alcoholic mixer: Â
- Using less sugar and offering low-sugar alternatives for our guests  Often when mixing cocktails we work off standard formulas or guides as to how our drinks are put together, and then we sub in or out particular ingredients to make our drinks unique.  For example, it is very common in the US for a cocktail recipe to be created in the following format:
- Given that by definition triple sec has more than 100g of added sugar per litre â that is a lot of sugar going into one drink. Even if we make a âTommyâsâ Margarita and sub the triple sec for agave nectar â sure agave nectar is derived from a natural product â but as we have seen earlier agave syrup contains 90% fructose so in actual fact that could be worse for us in terms of potential sugar damage than the original version with triple sec.  So how can we reduce the amount of sugar going into a typical cocktail?  Lets challenge the status quo and ask ourselves if we really need to follow that formula⌠Â
- If we have a well-made flavourful spirit that is bringing most of the flavour to the drink can we perhaps use this ratio instead? Â That doesnât sound like much of a difference but that is a 36% reduction in the amount of sugar you are adding to that particular drink â which would add up over the course of the night, if the customer is having multiple drinks. Â Â Â
- Some other ways to reduce the amount of sugar in cocktails: Â Use bitters or tinctures to add flavour to cocktails â some of these contain sugar but you can use much less because the flavours are so concentrated Use herbs, spices, and flavoured salts to add flavour and aroma, and also to enhance the flavours in the base spirit Make your own syrups, liqueurs and cordials rather than buy them â that way you can control the amount of sugar being added Use fruits, vegetables and extracts that are lower in sugar â i.e. pear instead of apple Â
- Â Weâve heard today from the other panellists that sugars exist naturally in many of the foods that we have been eating for centuries. Our bodies need some of these sugars for energy but our bodies also need a number of other âthingsâ accompanying that sugar to be able to break those sugars down in a way that is not harmful to us. Â As we now can understand â eating a whole, organic fresh piece of fruit with the skin, fibre, enzymes, vitamins and nutrients all intact and bound to one another gives our digestive system the tools that it needs to break down those sugars in a slow and controlled manner â turning them into fuel for our body to use while placing less stress on the liver and pancreas. Â Therefore we can apply the same school of thought to making cocktails. Â Lets have a quick look at this chart which places fruit on a sugar content vs fibre content axis: Â
- How can we give our customers a drink that contains the tasty flavours of fresh fruit, but also has the fibre and the other important elements to help their systems break down the sugars in a less harmful way?
- We can dust off this bad boy and make some delicious blended cocktails! Â I know full well that the faithful old Hamilton Beach or Vitamix hasnât had a place on in the modern cocktail bar for some time â and in many cases the moustachioed, flatcap and bowtie wearing hipster-tender of the modern speakeasy may even kick you out of their bar for asking for a blended cocktail â but today I am going to show you that you can in fact make some very tasty cocktails with this piece of apparatus
- There is of course fructose present in this cocktail but because it is accompanied by the natural dietary fibre of the fruit, it has a different metabolic effect and places less pressure on the liver.
- Utilising sugar alternatives or sweeteners that are low in fructose  It has certainly been my observation as someone who spends a lot of time in bars, that over the last few years there has been a growing demand for sugar-free cocktails â particularly among female patrons.  More often than not, the request from a group of girls asking for âsugar-free mojitosâ is greeted with a look of dismay from the bartender who tries to explain that without the addition of sugar this drink would be incredibly sour, and so âNo â actually you cannot have those mojitos without sugar.â  Wouldnât it be better if the bartender in this case could offer an alternative?  Later in the session I will give you guys a recipe for a fructose-free sugar syrup â which is infused with the oils of fresh citrus fruit so it actually works wonderfully in fresh cocktails where citrus and herbaceous flavours are also present.  In the case of a mojito I actually think this syrup works better than regular sugar syrupâŚ. but more on that soon!  Although the big sugar producing companies have worked hard to keep them out of the marketplace â there do in fact exist a number of sugar alternatives that we can use in cocktails in place of traditional table sugar.
- Although the big sugar producing companies have worked hard to keep them out of the marketplace â there do in fact exist a number of sugar alternatives that we can use in cocktails in place of traditional table sugar. Â Thanks to the increasing awareness of sugar related illness there has been a growing market for these sugar alternatives â however a lack of education on the positive and negative effects of many of these products means that people are often scared to switch over to these alternatives. Â Lets have a quick look at some of these sugar alternatives and then weâll discuss how to utilise them in the bar: Â Synthetic alternatives Aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet etc) â has been tenuously linked to cancer although most of the research is inconclusive. However there have been many well-documented side effects such as headaches, migraines and panic attacks. Has a very strange aftertaste which can easily spoil cocktails. Â Sucralose (Splenda) - 600 times sweeter than sucrose so in theory you need less of this stuff to do the required sweetening, however it does go through a chemical process called âselective chlorinationâ which sounds scary enough in itself to want to avoid it. Â Saccharin (SweetâN Low etc) â 400 times sweeter than sucrose, found in many processed foods and drinks â has a bitter and metallic aftertaste so also not ideal in cocktails. Â In general, we donât advocate using anything created in a science laboratory in cocktails, so lets leave these ones here. Â Also â the sweet FLAVOUR (of sugar) causes your body to release insulin â which burns sugar in your blood, so your sugar level dips and your body tells your brain that you need to replace it â so you then crave sugar. Hence the strong link between artificial sugar replacements and obesity > sugar replacements make you eat more real sugar, which makes you fat.
- Very confusingly named, these are sort-of a hybrid between a sugar molecule and an alcohol molecule, and are used often in the food industry. Generally they have little effect on the blood glucose or insulin levels in your body but due to the fact that they can ferment in your gut â they can cause a few stomach troubles if you have too much of this stuff. Â Some common sugar alcohols: Â Xylitol â present in certain berries, corn, mushrooms and oats. Tastes like sucrose but 1.6 times sweeter. Has a cooling effect on the mouth and is used a lot in sugar-free gum. Â Sorbitol â found primarily in stone fruits, used a lot in diet-sodas, sugar-free ice cream and mints. About half as sweet as sucrose. Â Maltitol and Erythritol are some additional but less commonly used sugar alcohols. Â Sugar alcohols are difficult to obtain, and very tricky to work with in a bar scenario, however there are a small number of bars that are exploring these alternatives.
- Simple fructose alternatives  Jaggery / Panella A sugar derivative from the sap of the palm tree, although it can also come from dehydrated sugar cane â it is one of the oldest forms of sugar and its production is not regulated so there are huge differences in sugar content as well as other compounds present, depending on where and how it is produced. Generally considered to have less fructose than sucrose does, however it is not all that different from regular sugar. Has a very rich caramel like flavour so it works nicely with dark spirits.  Stevia Stevia is a plant extract and is perfectly natural when you purchase from a health food store as a dietary supplement. Generally leaves a woody, slightly aniseed aftertaste -although everyoneâs palate processes this flavour differently so it is tough to use consistently in drinks.  Dextrose Dextrose is the commercial name for Glucose, which we by now should recognise as a form of energy which our body requires to function and it can be metabolised by any organ in our body. Because Dextrose does not contain fructose it does not put pressure on the liver or pancreas. Less sweet than regular sugar but still definitely sweet enough to use in cocktails.  Here is the recipe for a fructose-free syrup that I mentioned before, and actually a really tasty recipe to use it in as well:  Â
- Rice malt syrup A blend of complex carbohydrates made from fermented cooked rice. Comprised of maltose and glucose, it is fructose-free and the sugars are slow releasing so this doesnât put as much pressure on your liver and pancreas as regular sugar syrup does. Also, you need very little of it to achieve sweetness. Â In my experience, rice malt syrup is something that can be used instead of traditional sugar syrup, and as long as it is combined with other flavours it can be a really useful alternative. Â This is a drink I created in homage to the wonderful Paloma â in this case I made my own fructose-free grapefruit soda to replace the traditional âSquirtâ which contains around 20 grams of sugar per serving (half a can): Â Â
- Not all of these alternatives are going to work in cocktails, and for anyone in the room that has experimented with some of these â youâll know that in many cases they have an odd taste that although is âsweetâ â the flavour and texture is definitely different to that of traditional sugar and therefore can be off-putting to some people. Â
- Conclusion  At the end of the day although we have a long road ahead of us â as the people who our customers trust to give them high quality food and drink in return for their hard-earned money â it is our responsibility to help them understand what they are imbibing and how it can potentially affect their health.  In order for this industry to be sustainable in the long term, it is up to us to help our customers make informed decisions and give them a range of options including healthier, low sugar or sugar free alternatives.
- Questions? Have answers ready for: Â Agave â low GI but processing techniques result in 75% or more fructose content! Honey â consists of dextrose and fructose, fairly high GI especially if processed. Conventional processing destroys much of honeys natural benefits, but raw honey does contain a lot of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, amino acids and enzymes Inverted sugar syrup â similar to HFCS in that the sucrose is split by an inversion process. The result is a higher perceived sweetness and more stability at temperature hence used often by bakers and pastry chefs High fructose corn syrup â produced from corn starch, manufacturing process deliberately converts a certain percentage of glucose into fructose. HFCS generally comes in 55% and 42% varieties