• Glycyrrhizin – An extract from the licorice root, it is 50 to 100 times sweeter than sucrose and is used only in confections.
• Dihydrochalcones – Obtained from citrus peel, these compounds are several hundred times sweeter than sucrose, with a slow taste onset and a lingering aftertaste.
• L-sugars – The chemical mirror image of natural sugars, these are not metabolized by body enzymes and are noncariogenic.
• Stevioside – derived from the leaves of the South African plant Stevia rebaudiana, it is 300 times sweeter than sucrose.
• Thaumatin – An extract of the fruit of a West African plant, Thaumatococcus danielli, it is one of the sweetest substances known – 1,600 times sweeter than sucrose. It has a licorice like taste when used in high concentrations, is very stable to heat and acid, and is used in chewing gums.

Acesulface-K was discovered in 1967 and, like the other artificial sweeteners, was stumbled upon by accident. Sold as Sunette, Acesulfame-K was FDA-approved in 1988 for use in tabletop sweeteners, dry beverage mixes, and chewing gum. It is 130 times sweeter than sucrose and is stable to heating and cooling, but it has a bitter aftertaste like that of saccharin. An ADI of 9 mg per kilogram of body weight has been established, but the FDA nevertheless recommends no more than 15 mg, which is equivalent to 20 diet sodas or 10 sweetener packets.

The difference in recommendations results from the use of two different NOELs to determine safety. NOEL stands for No-Observed-Effect Level which is the level or dose at which an additive is fed to laboratory animals without any negative side effects.

Like saccharin, aspartame was discovered by accident. In 1965, James Schlatter was doing research on ulcer drugs when he licked his finger to pick up a piece of paper and noticed that the finger tasted sweet. He realized that the sweetness came from an earlier spill in the laboratory. What Schlatter discovered was a substance that is 180 times sweeter than sucrose. Aspartame derives its sweetness from the synthetic combination of two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. The amino acid content of aspartame contains 4 calories (kcal) per gram, but the number of calories (kcal) is insignificant because so little is needed to produce intense sweetness.

FDA approved in 1981, aspartame is now sold as NutraSweet, Spoonful, and Equal. Spoonful combines aspartame and maltodextrin, a nonsweet bulking agent derived from cornstarch, which provides 4 calories (kcal) per gram. Equal is a blend of dextrose, maltodextrin, and aspartame. In the United States, the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for NutraSweet has been set at 50 mg per kilogram (23 mg per pound) of body weight. Since there are approximately 125 mg of aspartame in a diet drink, the daily limit for a 130-pound (59-kg) adult is 24 diet sodas.

As with saccharin, several research studies have questioned the safety of aspartame, and there does appear to be a small subgroup in the population that is sensitive to one or more of its break-down products (aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol). Common complaints among this sub-population include headaches, dizziness, mood changes, and nausea. In addition, research suggests a possible increased risk of brain tumors in rats. Although these side effects are controversial, there is no question that aspartame should not be consumed by individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic disease afflicting one out of every 15,000 infants. Those with this condition lack the enzyme needed to metabolize phenylalanine. Anyone afflicted with PKU must avoid all food sources of phenylalanine, including aspartame, milk, and meat. For that reason, food products containing aspartame as an additive must carry the following warning: “Phenylketonutrics: Contains Phenylalanine.”

Aspartame does not have the bitter aftertaste of saccharin, but it has its own drawback. With exposure to heat or acids its sweetness is lost, and therefore it cannot be used in baked goods.

Saccharin was discovered as a sweetener in 1878 by Constantin Fahlberg. The researcher noticed that his dinner roll tasted strangely sweet and traced it back to a saccharin substance he had accidentally spilled on his hands while working in his university research lab. Saccharin is now available as acid saccharin, sodium saccharin, and calcium saccharin. It is 500 times sweeter than sucrose, contains no calories (kcal), and can be used in a variety of products, including baked or processed foods. Saccharin’s major drawback, at least for some people, is its bitter aftertaste, which can be masked only partially by blending it with other sweeteners.

The controversy over saccharin’s safety peaked when researches in a Canadian study reported an increased incidence of bladder cancer in rats fed with very high amounts of saccharin (5 to 7.5 percent of the diet), the human equivalent of drinking at least 800 diet sodas a day. Responding to that study, the FDA proposed a ban on saccharin in 1977. When letters of protest poured in to Congress, a congressional moratorium was placed on the FDA ban, along with the requirement that all saccharin-containing products carry a public health warning. That moratorium was extended several times before the FDA officially withdrew its proposed ban. The Office of Technology Assessment, a research arm of Congress that attempts to review scientific matters objectively, concluded that saccharin is a potential cause of cancer in humans, although it is among the weakest carcinogens ever detected. The FDA established an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 2.5 mg per kilogram of body weight, equivalent to 147 mg for a 130-pound adult, or 205 mg for a 180-pound adult. A packet of Sweet-n-Low contains 30 mg of saccharin; a diet soft drink averages 125 mg.

Despite the controversy over the safety of alternative sweeteners, they continue to be in demand by diabetics, people watching their weight, and individuals trying to prevent tooth decay. The food industry attempts to satisfy the market by providing a wide variety of foods containing one or more of the FDA-approved alternative sweeteners.

In descending order, the most common foods sold to consumers that contain alternative sweeteners are diet soft drinks, tabletop sweeteners, pudding, gelatin, yogurt, frozen desserts, powdered drinks, cakes, cookies, jams, jellies, and candy.

One drawback of alternative sweeteners is that they do not provide the important functional characteristics of sugar: bulking, binding, texturing, and fermenting. However, certain compounds can be added to foods to compensate for the lost characteristic of bulking. These include cellulose, maltodextrin (also used for its binding property), the sugar alcohols, and poly-dextrose. Poly- dextrose provides a texture similar to sugar, with only 1 calorie (kcal) per gram, and is currently approved for use in frozen dairy desserts, baked goods and mixes, confections and frostings, hard and soft candy, chewing gum, gelatins, puddings and fillings, and salad dressings.

One drawback of sugar alcohols in dietetic foods is that they are more slowly absorbed from the small intestine than other sugars, which can lead to diarrhea, abdominal pain, and gas. For this reason, consumption of food products containing over 30 grams of sorbitol is not recommended, and only limited quantities of xylitol are allowed in special dietary foods.

Invert sugar is available only in clear, liquid form and is sweeter than granulated sugar. This type of sugar resists crystallization and is commonly used by professional confectioners who need a sugar that yields a smooth, melt-in-the-mouth texture.

Invert sugar is made commercially by dissolving sucrose in water, heating the solution, and adding an acid such as cream of tartar, or an invertase enzyme such as sucrase, which hydrolyzes the sucrose into two equal portions of glucose and fructose. This process is called inversion. The use of cream of tartar or sucrase inhibits crystallization. In addition, the acidity of cream of tartar (tartaric acid) has the added benefit of preventing the natural decomposition of monosaccharides into bitter, brown-colored substances, which occurs when they are exposed to hard water or any other alkaline source. The amount of cream of tartar added depends upon the percentage of invert sugar concentration desired.

The confectionery industry uses invert sugar to develop the soft, fluid center of certain chocolates.

Native Americans were the first to collect the sap from maple trees and boil it into a smooth, tasty syrup. Long ago, sap was harvested by drilling holes into a maple tree, inserting a spout, and catching the fluid in a bucket positioned under the spout. Newer methods eliminate the buckets, instead utilizing a network of plastic pipelines attached to the trees. The pipeline carries the sap, a clear, almost tasteless, water-like liquid, directly to the sugar house, where it is boiled down. Sap is collected in the late winter and early spring during the few-weeks when the days are relatively warm, but the nights are still cold. Vermont, New Hampshire, northern New York, and parts of Canada, where the dramatic rise and fall in spring temperatures trigger the flowing of the sap, are ideal for maple syrup harvesting.

The flavor and color of maple syrup develop during the boiling of the initially colorless sap. Government standards specify that maple syrup must contain at least 65.5 percent sugar among its other ingredients, such as acids and salts. Maple syrup is graded and sold by color and ranges from light amber, or Fancy, to the darkest color, known as Commercial. The darker the color, the more pronounced the flavor. The lightest colored syrups have the most delicate flavors.

Since it takes about 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup, most “maple syrup” sold today is blended with corn syrup and/or cane sugar syrup. Many companies add artificial maple flavorings to foods, but real maple syrup has a unique flavor and smoothness not duplicated by substitutes. Pure or blended maple syrup is commonly poured over pancakes, waffles, and French toast or added as an ingredient in maple butter, cream, and candy.

Maple sugar is a product of maple syrup. It is made by further boiling the syrup until most of the water evaporates and the sugar crystallizes out of the syrup. About 8 pounds of sugar are produced from 1 gallon of maple syrup.

Molasses is the thick, yellow to dark brown liquid by-product of the juice of sugar cane or beets. The liquid is repeatedly boiled, but for the end product to be called molasses, it must contain no more than 75 percent water and 5 percent mineral ash. Most of the sugar in molasses is sucrose, which render the product darker with each boiling. The syrup’s ultimate color determines its grade. Blackstrap molasses, the most concentrated in syrup and minerals, is the darkest in color, most bitter, and is used primarily for industrial purposes and cattle feed, although it is available for home consumption. Most commercial grades of molasses are actually blends of different types of molasses.

Molasses is used both in food preparation and in the making of rum. Its main use is in baking, where it enhances the flavor of breads, cakes, and cookies. A few other foods that incorporate molasses are baked beans, glazes for hams and sweet potatoes, cookies, and candies such as toffees and caramels. Fermenting molasses yields rum, an alcoholic beverage that is distilled and generally aged for five to seven years. Quicker aging periods of one to four years are used for rapidly fermented light rums.

Before sugar from cane became available, the world depended primarily on honey as a sweetener. Bees collect the thin, watery nectar of flowers and, during the flight back to their hive, convert it through enzymatic action into fructose and glucose molecules. The bees deposit the nectar in honeycombs, where most of the water evaporates to create a thick, sweetened syrup, which is further flavored with enzymes added by the bees. It takes 2 million flowers to produce enough nectar to make 1 pound of honey, and the average worker bee makes only 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its entire lifetime.

The flavor and color of the honey depend on the type of flower visited by the bees. There are over 300 varieties of honey, the most popular being alfalfa and clover. Honeys are blended by the bees as they collect nectar from an assortment of flowers. Normally, honey is a golden amber, but the darker the color, the stronger the flavor. For example, Australian eucalyptus honey has a reddish-brown color and a strong, tangy flavor. Acacia honey, in contrast, is almost clear and has a very delicate flavor and aroma.

Honey typically consists of sugars other than sucrose: fructose (40 percent), glucose (35 percent), sucrose (2 percent), and traces of other carbohydrates. To protect the consumer from honey that has been extended by the addition of sucrose, the FDA limits commercial honey to no more than 8 percent sucrose. Over 180 substances, including beeswax, minerals, and water (18 percent), are found in honey. Clostridium botulinum spores are also often present in honey and pose a hazard to children under 1 year of age, whose systems are not yet able to handle the spores as do those of older children and adults.

Honey was originally sold in the comb, but now it is generally extracted by processors by cutting the comb on one side and releasing the honey in a centrifuge. Honey can also be collected by crushing the combs and straining out the thick fluid. The extracted honey is heated to 140°F (60°C) for 30 minutes to destroy most microorganisms, then filtered and packaged in airtight containers. Some small producers sell unfiltered honey as well as comb honey. Prior to packaging, honey may be processed into various forms. Whipped or creamed honey has had some of the fructose removed, resulting in a thicker consistency. Dried granular honey, is used in baked products, confections, and dry mixes.

Regardless of the form of honey, its naturally high sugar content prevents the growth of bacteria; therefore, honey can remain shelved for years without spoiling. Stored for long periods of time, however, it can harden as its sugar precipitates into crystals. If this occurs, it can be softened by warming the jar in hot water for an hour, or setting the opened jar in the microwave on low defrost.

Honey can be substituted for table sugar in recipes if a few guidelines are followed -

• In baked products, no more than half the granulated sugar should be replaced with honey.
• Use 1 part honey for every 1.25 parts sugar.
• Reduce the liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup because honey is largely water.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for every cup of honey to reduce the acidity and weight of honey.

Honey has a more pronounced flavor than sugar, and this will affect the final flavor of the product. it also has a tendency to increase the browning of baked products. Adding 1/8 of a teaspoon of baking soda allows even browning; reducing oven temperatures by 25° helps prevent over-browning. The stickiness of measuring honey can be minimized by coating the inside of a measuring cup with water or a very thin layer of vegetable oil before measuring.