 Agave Nectar
Raw, Certified Organic
Agave Nectar is:
* Low glycemic index sweetener: will not over stimulate the production
of insulin or greatly raise blood sugar
* 75% sweeter than sugar: fructose is 42 percent sweeter to the human
brain than granulated sugar, less is needed to achieve the same level of
sweetness
* Completely natural: no chemicals are used during the processing, only
natural fermentation and simple filtering
* Completely raw: no heat is used during processing
* Safe for everybody: including children and the elderly
* Great for baking and cooking: as well as raw dishes and has been used
this way for thousands of years by the Mexican people
* Does not contain any chemicals, toxins, or preservatives
* Certified Organic
Quart:
List Price: $16.50 + S&H
Gallon:
List Price: $44.00 + S&H
How to use Agave Nectar
When converting recipes from white sugar to agave nectar, you use about
75% less agave nectar than the amount of table sugar requested. This
means that ¼ cup of agave nectar should be used for every 1 cup of table
sugar in a recipe. In addition, you need to lessen your liquid
ingredients by ¼ cup.
When making either cakes or cookies, first mix the agave with the fat or
the liquid. Mix it thoroughly with the other ingredients. If this is not
done, a soggy layer will form on the top of the baked product. Cakes and
cookies are a little trickier. Sometimes they require you to have just a
little bit of sugar and only a portion of the sugar can be substituted
with agave. If you have a recipe that calls for a liquid sweetener like
honey, then you will have no problems using agave nectar instead.
Like foods made with honey, agave sweetened backed goods will brown
faster than foods made with white sugar. So when you bake products made
with agave, set the oven temperature 25 degrees F lower than indicated
in the recipe. Baking time will need to be extended slightly. Check with
a tooth pick to be sure it is done. Agave nectar can be drizzled on hot
cereal, toast, or fruit. It can be used to sweeten fresh lemons into
lemonade (see recipe below) or sweeten your herbal teas. It can be used
just as you use honey or maple syrup.
Salad Dressings
Blend agave with vinegar, oil and spices such as you see in the glaze
below. The sweet dressings have more sweetener and the tart dressings
have more vinegar. When you make your dressing at home, you can make it
with as much or as little oil as you would like.
Italian dressing is simply vinegar with a sweetener (sugar and water for
most grocery store dressings, honey or agave with no water if you make
it at home because you are health minded) mixed with oil and Italian
seasoning.
French dressing contains slightly more sweetener, a little less oil,
tomato paste, and slightly different spices. Even commercial dressings
vary in their spices from brand to brand. If you make it at home, at
least you won’t be eating propylene glycol alginate, high fructose corn
syrup (the first ingredient on the ingredients label), or soybean oil!
Poppy seed dressing is sweet like French dressing, but does not have the
tomato paste. Unlike the Italian dressing, it generally has poppy seeds
and mustard flour in place of the Italian spices. Even a health food
store poppy seed dressing usually contains soy or canola oil, sugar, and
white vinegar. If you make it yourself, it will be healthier.
All dressings contain the base of vinegar, oil, and a liquid sweetener.
The variation comes from the spices selected and other additions such as
tomato paste, blue cheese, or buttermilk. It wasn’t too many years ago
that all salad dressings were made in the home. Today it is almost a
forgotten art.
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