Lucid Food_ Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life - Louisa Shafia [30]
Nothing warms a cold kitchen like a sweet treat baking in the oven, and sharing a homemade dessert over the holidays feels warm and celebratory. Here, you’ll learn about sweeteners like barley malt and maple sugar and why they’re a better choice for the planet than white sugar. In winter, we crave extra calories, and that usually means more animal products. We’ll look at the environmental effects of eating animals and how meat eaters can stay true to their environmental ideals by making adjustments in their diets and shopping habits.
Earth-Friendly Alternatives to White Sugar
It’s widely acknowledged that we eat too much processed sugar, and that it plays a major role in such health problems as diabetes, obesity, and attention deficit disorder. What’s not as well known are the environmental consequences of our love affair with white sugar.
The harmful practices of sugar production include the discharge of polluted wastewater, the high use of pesticides, and the clearing of wilderness to build plantations. Toxic chemical runoff from sugar plantations threatens the coral of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and sugar production in the Florida Everglades is largely responsible for the destruction of native plants.
It may take a while for sugar industry practices to catch up with our green expectations. In the meantime, here are some sweeteners with unique flavors and properties that are produced without depleting the earth. Try using these in combination with processed sugar or on their own to make delicious desserts that you can eat in good conscience.
A note on using liquid sweeteners: It’s easier to measure them if you grease the measuring cup or spoon. Or, if oil or butter is called for in the recipe, measure those first, and then use the same cup for the sweetener. To loosen up a thick sweetener, place the bottle on a warm spot on the stove, or pour the liquid into a small pot and heat it briefly over a low flame.
BARLEY MALT SYRUP
This sweetener made from fermented barley is thick and dark, with a mineral-like taste. It is delicious baked into bread and is a traditional ingredient in bagels, giving them their unique flavor and crust color. Use it in place of molasses in gingerbread or spice cakes.
Best use: Baked into bread, gingerbread cake, and gingersnaps; cooked into baked beans.
BROWN RICE SYRUP
This caramel-like syrup is made from fermented brown rice. It has a butterscotch flavor that is not overly sweet. In baked goods it produces a crispy texture, so use it in granola or crisp cookies. It can replace corn syrup in desserts like pecan pie.
Best use: Over pancakes; tossed with fresh fruit; baked in cookies, crunch topping, or granola; in gooey dessert fillings.
DRIED FRUIT PURÉE
Delicious purée can be made from any dried fruit. To soften the fruit, simply place 2 cups of dried fruit in a bowl and add 2 cups of boiling water. Cover with a plate and soak for an hour. You can also soak the fruit in room-temperature water overnight in the refrigerator. Strain out the water and purée the fruit in a food processor.
Best use: Baked into cakes; as a fruit filling in desserts like hamantash pastry, or spread between cake layers; as an accompaniment to a cheese platter.
FRUIT JUICE
Many juices, such as orange, apple, and prune, are naturally sweet. Buy juices ready-made, or press your own using a juicing machine. Juice is a superior ingredient in cocktails like sangria, where it asserts its unique character, and from childhood we know that juice frozen in ice trays makes for a perfect popsicle—no sugar added.
Best use: As a sweetener in cocktails; as a poaching liquid for fruit; in pancake batter, salad dressing, and grill marinade.
HONEY
Honey is a potent sweetener whose flavor is determined by which plants the honeybees pollinate, so