What Role Does Sugar Play in Your Cooking?

Sugar increases cholesterol. But, sugar can be used in a restricted manner without affecting the taste of the food. How to prepare food using less sugar without affecting the taste is discussed in this article.

Sweet is very difficult to resist. But, bitterness in sweet is that it increases cholesterol level in the blood. Then, sugar the sweetener, has to be reduced. But this makes the dish bland. But, the dessert can be made tastier with some adjustments in the use of sugar. In other words, one has to understand the role of sugar so that it can appropriately be used.

Normally, when foods are baked with sugar, it changes the volume and texture and color of the recipe. To effectively balance all these, substitutes could be used. Here are some suggestions.

1. While preparing fruit dessert use of granulated sugar can be reduced. This can be done through use of fruit extracts. Because, fruits have fructose which has intense flavors. Similarly lactose present in milk also has intense flavors. In this case one can use fruit extract which are natural sweetener so that granulated sugar can be reduced considerably.
2. Sugar substitutes can reduce use of sugar. But, the sugar substitutes are best suited for cold recipes. But, it is not suited for hot recipes because when the sugar substitutes are heated, they loose the sweetness and the food would become tasteless. To overcome this problem, the sugar and the sugar substitute can be added half and half or at appropriate ratio. By this, it would be possible to reduce the use of sugar.
3. The other way to reduce sugar is by use flavor enhancers like Lemon and Orange Zest along with sugar. In this combination, the quantity of sugar can be reduced appropriately so that the flavor of the recipe would enhance considerably. Similarly, vanilla and nut flavorings, Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg could all be used which are known to add more sweetness to the recipe.
4. Another way is to top the sugar baked recipe with fruits etc. The user, soon after consuming fruits will taste the sugar baked food. Another way is to spread cinnamon.
5. In few recipes without sugar the dough does not spread evenly. Example is Cookie where by baking with sugar the cookies spread evenly. In this case, use of fruit juice will ensure use of less granulated sugar. The method is to heat the fruit juice to 1/3 of its original volume and add this to the recipe.
6. Muffins and cupcakes can be heated in small tins so that their height is increased with less sugar.