Whistling in the Dark

A quick fact.

Posted on 2007.04.02 at 22:29

Weds and I saw sugar-free honey tonight.

Sugar. Free. Honey.

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Comments:

indigoskynet at 2007-04-03 02:35 (UTC) (Link)

...

I...

I can't decide between my "huh?" icon, my "omgwtfbbq" icon, my "ooookaaaayyy" icon or my "blink blink" icon.

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b_zedan at 2007-04-03 02:39 (UTC) (Link)

Weird. I had to go look it up, and it appears that it's from bees fed on stevia herbal plant leaves. Or it's not actual honey and is just a sugar-free syrup.

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weds at 2007-04-03 02:53 (UTC) (Link)

It specifically said imitation, and wasn't expensive enough to involve stevia.

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b_zedan at 2007-04-03 02:55 (UTC) (Link)

It makes sense that it exists for a lot of reasons, but since honey is a white sugar substitute as it is, it's just weird.

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fmphoenixhawk at 2007-04-03 02:44 (UTC) (Link)

Yeah, it's weird. Tastes kind of bad too. (My babysitter when I was in 2nd grade was diabetic, but a honey freak. Woman had 30 jars of this shit.)

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z_gryphon at 2007-04-03 03:05 (UTC) (Link)

But how does it slather? That's what's really important here.

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fmphoenixhawk at 2007-04-04 00:58 (UTC) (Link)

Like honey that's been sitting too long.

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scifantasy at 2007-04-03 02:50 (UTC) (Link)

Not to play "can you top this?" but I've heard about sugar free peeps. What are they made of?

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dvandom at 2007-04-03 03:00 (UTC) (Link)

Most sugar-free candies and sweets use sugar alcohols, like Maltitol or Xylitol (in fact, if an ingredient on the list ends in -itol, it's probably a sugar alcohol). They're made by processing starches, and may simply be listed as Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolases or something like that on packaging. Anywhere from 70-90 percent as sweet as sucrose, sugar alcohols are digested more slowly by the body, and also make for bad bacteria food. So they're not sugar in terms of tooth decay, and for some diets they don't really count as sugar either.

However, if you're diabetic, they count for about as much as half to two-thirds as much as the same mass of sucrose. More slowly digested doesn't mean not digested. Also, because they're more slowly digested, eating too much can lead to diarrhea.

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5eh at 2007-04-03 04:03 (UTC) (Link)

...like the man said...they make you poop funny...guess they should be called...I can't write it.

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blackbyrd2 at 2007-04-03 15:03 (UTC) (Link)

Hahahahahaha!

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z_gryphon at 2007-04-03 02:51 (UTC) (Link)

File next to fat-free half-n-half. (How can half-n-half be fat-free? The distinction between one half and the other is fat content!)

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dvandom at 2007-04-03 03:01 (UTC) (Link)

Half-n-half is also about texture and taste. So if you use a starchy gel gunk, you can get a half-n-half feel (more or less) without the half that is fat.

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magentamom at 2007-04-03 04:17 (UTC) (Link)

I get what you're saying, and have abandoned the fat-free half-n-half in an effort to choose more natural ingredients. But I will honestly say that using the faux stuff in place of whole milk worked absolutely as advertised. So much better than skim milk for cooking. I have pretty much compromised on 2%, but I have to say that flavor-wise I miss the fake shit.

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chef_troy at 2007-04-03 03:51 (UTC) (Link)

For the love of sucrose, don't buy it.

Resist, Eric. I tried that stuff once while on Atkins, just out of horrified curiosity, and it does NOT taste like honey at ALL. It tasted vaguely like pureed bees mixed with rancid cinnamon. Plus, it uses maltitol syrup, and I don't know if you've danced the maltitol quickstep but it's NOT something you want to overdose on.

I just bought some blue agave nectar on a whim. It isn't sugar-free, but it is a low-glycemic-index item, so it's absorbed slowly and doesn't make your blood sugar spike (I'm a type 2 diabetic, so that matters to me). It isn't quite as sweet as honey but it has an intriguing (albeit subtle) flavor.

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no_relation at 2007-04-03 04:16 (UTC) (Link)

Re: For the love of sucrose, don't buy it.

Plus, it's made of the stuff that makes tequila. So, it's still evil, but the good evil, like bad puns, not the bad evil, like Hello Kitty.

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usagijer at 2007-04-03 13:17 (UTC) (Link)

Re: For the love of sucrose, don't buy it.

yep, I've been using blue agave nectar in my tea the past few months. I dunno if it's keeping my sugar levels from swinging (used to have nasty lows before the metformin), but it's tasty and about the same price as honey.

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chorus at 2007-04-03 04:15 (UTC) (Link)

No.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

NO.

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rustmon at 2007-04-03 04:16 (UTC) (Link)

uh.....

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magentamom at 2007-04-03 04:20 (UTC) (Link)

My inclination is to say that is wrong. However, given that we have long since accepted the production of sugar-free sugar, I suppose I am being pissy. I, BTW, still use the real damned sugar in my iced tea. Although I no longer have faith that even the sugar is sugar.

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onalark at 2007-04-03 05:55 (UTC) (Link)

And people wonder why the bees are dying out....

There's also sugar-free maple syrup. My diabetic friend uses it all the time. I think I'd rather just eat my pancakes without, thanks.

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archangelbeth at 2007-04-03 11:26 (UTC) (Link)

Bees on diets?

It's too early. My brain is all woobly.

I'm glad that he didn't post this 2 days ago.

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dansr at 2007-04-03 12:24 (UTC) (Link)

OK....

That's umm... OK, that's odd and stuff but I'm not totally shocked considering the food trends....

The big question: did you taste it (or buy it) and if so, does it suck?

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