Using fruit as a healthy substitute in cooking

Being an avid user of Twitter I tend to be logged on to the site all day every day.  I find it a fascinating way to keep up with the goings on in the world.  During a regular day of being nosey and seeing what everyone had to shout about I noticed a tweet that took my interest.  It mentioned that fruit can be used as a substitute for certain ingredients in baking.  This struck a particular chord with me because here at Simply Nectar we know only too well that fruit can be used instead of sugar.  Simply Nectar drinks don’t contain any refined sugars.  If the drinks need sweetening at all we just add a dash of grape juice.  That is all they need.   Knowing this I was then intrigued to find out more about other ways fruit can be used to sweeten products and what else it can replace.  My curiosity encouraged me to delve deeper into the subject and this is what I found out.

Fruit can be used to replace artificial sugars and sweeteners in most recipes.  You can swap about half a cup of fruit for one cup of sugar.  It can be used in all forms too – from liquid to solid.  Fruit juice – such as Simply Nectar (of course!) – can be used to add sweetness to food.  If you want to juice your own fruit then you can obviously do this but make sure you use the fruit pulp as well as the juice because this can thicken as well as sweeten.  Another thick liquid you can use is apple sauce.  This can be used as a healthy replacement to butter and oil as it has similar properties to these ingredients.  It allows the finished product to retain its moisture so deducting oil or butter from the recipe won’t dry it out.

Image courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Purees are also a good way to add sweetness and the trusty apple can be used once again.  An apple puree will work especially well in many baked goods.  Pear and prune puree can also work well as they can replace a significant amount of sugar in cake mixtures in particular.  You can even play around with sweet vegetable purees like pumpkin, sweet potato or butternut squash.  They all add nutritional benefits.  You could try using the purees with spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg.   You can make your own puree or sauce by simmering one cup of water with around a quarter of a cup of fruit for about an hour.

Image courtesy of Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As well as pureeing the fruit, you can use overripe fruits such as pears, bananas, figs and mangoes.  If you drain off the excess juice from these fruits then you can usually use an equal ratio of fruit to sugar.  Overripe fruit doesn’t just have to be added to recipes either.  Why not mash it up to form a paste which can then be used as a topping.  Smother it on toast, bagels or muffins instead of jam or chocolate spread.

Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Another option is to use the zest of a lemon, orange or lime to add sweetness and enhance the fruitiness of a dish.  Dried fruits also work well.  Try fruits such as plums, apricots, raisins and cranberries.  When fruit is dried it retains its natural sugars and so can provide bursts of sweetness if used in baking.  Take caution though.  Dried fruit is very dense so it needs to be used in small quantities in particular recipes, otherwise it may ruin the end product.  It may sink to the bottom of the mixture or not get distributed equally. 



Image courtesy of Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So there we have it; the proof that fruit can be used in lots of ways and can be used to replace many ingredients.  We all for getting rid of added sugar in food and drinks and now you can help us.  Stop including artificial sugars and sweeteners in your recipes and start using fruit.  It’s pure, natural goodness and by the sounds of it it’s also very easy to use.  Give it a try and see for yourself.

Simply fruit,

Simply Nectar

No sugar warnings needed for Simply Nectar

The results of a British survey are blazoned across the news today because they show that consumers consistently underestimate the amount of sugar contained in milkshakes, smoothies and some fruit juices.
This means that people are consuming more calories per day than they realise.  In fact, the research carried out by the University of Glasgow also suggests that the average person in the UK consumes almost 3,150 calories through non alcoholic liquid intake.  This equates to almost 450 calories a day.

 

The survey asked more than 2,000 Britons to estimate how many teaspoons of sugar were in a typical serving of a selection of drinks.   The research showed that the participants “significantly misjudged” the levels found in milkshakes, smoothies and some fruit juices.

Amazingly, pomegranate juice contained nearly 18 teaspoons more sugar in a serving than people realised.   Participants guessed four teaspoons when it actually contains 22.  Pure apple juice had four more teaspoons than people thought and a chocolate milkshake had 7.5 teaspoons more.  Consumers guessed it contained six when actually it contains more than 13.5 teaspoons of sugar. Serving sizes varied.

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Participants were also asked to estimate how many teaspoons of sugar were in fizzy drinks but they actually overestimated the amount.  This goes to show that consumers are not aware by the levels of sugar in any soft drinks, which could be down to being misinformed.

The worse part of this story is that certain soft drinks could be adding to obesity levels because half of the participants who admitted to drinking three or more sugary drinks in a day said they did not compensate by reducing the calorie intake of their food.

UK guidelines recommend that added sugars – those used to sweeten food, fizzy drinks, and fruit juices – should not make up more than 10 per cent of the total energy we get from food. This is around 50g a day.

Our answer to this problem is to drink Simply Nectar!  Sorry, we don’t mean to blow our own trumpet but look at the facts about us:

• Simply Nectar drinks contain pure fruit
• They are free from pesticides, colours and refined sugars
• If the drinks do need sweetening at all only natural grape juice is used – definitely no sugar!
• The fruit is sourced locally to the production site in Provence, south of France, and it is organic where possible
• What’s more, our drinks are made in an ethical fashion.  In fact, the production site is almost self sufficient.  For example, any fruit leftovers are turned into a hard matter and fed to livestock.  The water used to clean the juicing machinery gets filtered and purified and is also fed to livestock
  

We would love to try and educate the nation on sugar levels in soft drinks but that could take us a while.  So at the moment we’ll just give out a big clue: GO FOR SIMPLY NECTAR! 

So there we have it…simple!

Simply sugarfree.

Simply Nectar

(Main story from PressAssociation)