First, a question for you, have you ever cooked with or used sorghum? Sorghum is fairly new to me as I began using it last year. I have been meaning to write about it for some time now, and when I happened upon a friend’s blog mentioning beer made from sorghum, it jogged my noggin. (The beer is pretty good too:)

Sorghum is among the largest cereal grass crops in the world (along with wheat, oats, and barley). It is widely grown and used in Africa and it is used like any other grain in baking and cooking (basically, though it is gluten free).

However, what I want to talk about is sweet sorghum from which we get sorghum syrup. Yum… syrup. Sorghum syrup is made from sorghum cane (the stalks) of the sweet sorghum plant (a different variety than grain sorghum). The stalk is pressed for the juice (just like pressing sugar cane). Then the syrup is usually cooked down to concentrate the flavors and packaged for sale. You may have to do a bit of searching to find some, luckily Nashville’s Whole Foods Market carries sorghum syrup from a local producer (Muddy Pond Sorghum Mill) so that has been nice.

Four things I especially like about sorghum syrup:

1. Sorghum syrup does not need to be refrigerated and will not mold like maple syrup. It might crystallize but it can just be warmed up to liquefy (think honey)

2. Sorghum syrup not only contains several other trace minerals but most notably, healthy amounts of iron, calcium, and potassium.

3. Sorghum syrup is high in antioxidants (The syrup I am getting has an ORAC of 1700). Seriously, a syrup that is high in antioxidants, that gets a ‘helloo’.

4. It is considerably cheaper than maple syrup. (A quart of maple syrup might cost you $15-20 while a quart of sorghum syrup is $8-12).

Sorghum syrup has more of a fruity flavor than maple syrup, which, sounds kind of obvious as, of course maple syrup has a “mapley” flavor… it tastes like the tree, which I have always loved, heh heh (note, that was not a “ha” or a “hee”, it was a “heh heh”). I have mainly used sorghum syrup over spelt pancakes and waffles like these spelt belgians:

Sometimes I have used the syrup in a smoothie and I have yet to use it in baking… but I shall… oh yes, I shall. And yes, honestly, it did take me some time to get accustomed to its taste, but that is true of most things that have never been tasted. So, consider sorghum syrup as another weapon in your healthy sweetner arsenal, along with raw honey, maple syrup, and unrefined cane sugar (ok, maybe stevia, agave, and xylitol too… maybe).
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As a side note, I found this study interesting as it noted the antioxidant values of alternatives to refined sugar.
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So in case you hadn’t heard I thought I would let you know that new diabetes cases are up about 90 percent. Yeah, that’s right… 90 percent. Reuters reported it here.

And in case you didn’t know non-alcoholic fatty liver disease leads to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Check out this article. Diets high in fructose (especially with refined forms like high-fructose corn syrup) lead to fatty liver disease. Being that about 80 percent of things in the typical grocery store use high-fructose corn syrup… well that should simplify your grocery shopping!

I think it’s amazing to watch the body’s reaction to refined and unrefined products. For example, whenever I have refined sugar I notice a marked terrible feeling. Ha. Almost every time that I have refined sugar I regret it. My body digests and responds so much better with unrefined sugar. Like Rapadura:

 

Rapadura by Rapunzel¬†is the best that I have seen for high quality organic, unrefined sugar. Sucanat is good as well and still has the original molasses intact but it is processed differently. Buying “raw” sugar is better than refined, and I notice that I handle it better, but when sugar still has that crystal look to it then it is still more processed than I prefer it.

Buying unrefined sugar is better for your health as it retains trace vitamins and minerals like¬†iron, calcium, vitamin B6, potassium and chromium, which helps balance blood sugar.¬†Refined sugars do not retain theses vitamins and minerals. Also, real sugar is not white. Most people are just used to seeing and buying heavily processed and refined sugar. Really the major thing here is the insulin swings. As I just mentioned, having the minerals remain in the sugar (like chromium) greatly aid in the body’s ability to control and balance blood sugar. Some studies have shown that up to 98% of chromium is removed from refined sugars and flours.¬†

So if you are going to enjoy sweet things and are going to use cane sugar, I highly recommend using unrefined Sucanat or Rapadura. Your body will thank you… and you can feel a little less guilty.

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Related Posts:

High Fructose Corn Syrup – Yikes

Ha… what a title.

Check out this article at Food Quality News.com. It is talking about the dangers of aspartame.

Notice how it says “Despite strong concerns being raised from some quarters over the sweetener, both the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have not changed their guidelines regarding the safety of the ingredient or intake advice”.

So, a word of wisdom. Don’t trust the government for the safety of your food or what you should or should not eat. The government says aspartame is safe and raw milk is unsafe. Loco.

Wow… (I start a lot of posts and messages with wow). I just read a bit from Natural News. It is right here if you want to check it out. It talks about a recent study where mice were fed a diet high in high fructose corn syrup. The attempted to simulate the diet that many Americans live on.

To their surprise (not mine) it only took four weeks for signs of major health problems to surface. I imagine I will be discussing this topic frequently as HFCS is in so many things that are manufactured as ‘food’ in the US.

There is nothing positive about high fructose corn syrup. If you have a sweet tooth use something else that is whole and unrefined. Corn syrup is a very processed product. It is manufactured. I have been to Cargill and tasted the product firsthand. Oh it is so nasty that I get upset just thinking about it.

The thing that bothers me the most is all of the deception and if not deception then ignorance that surrounds the product. You really do not need to see all the clinical trials or be a health guru. All you need to do is look at what God has made and say that is good. Many times instead of being good stewards of the things He has given us we squander them or corrupt them into something terrible for us. So regardless of all the studies and ‘science’ all you need to do is use the common sense that God gave you and to what has been healthy and has sustained people for thousands of years.

So have raw honey. Have organic maple syrup. Have stevia. Have whole unrefined cane juice. Of course when you eat sugar it should be in moderate amounts as all things should be done in balance. If you are not healthy then you should limit your sugars and focus on foods that, in some way or another, extraordinarily promote life and health in your body.