Re: Rapadura Alternative

[Guest guest]

From: <<I want to make the Orange Marmalade and Fruit Chutney's in NT but

I am having trouble finding Rapadura (I am in Australia). What would be a

suitable alternative? Honey? Maple Syrup? What about Palm Sugar (found in Asian

Grocery Stores)? Is this a suitable sugar alternative?>>

---- I use palm sugar [easy to find here in London]... it is awkward to use as

it comes in little 'cakes' which are hard to break or grate... it has a smoky

flavour which might not be a suitable [taste wise] replacement in various

dishes... guess you can experiment and see if you like the results.

Dedy

[Guest guest]

>I want to make the Orange Marmalade and Fruit Chutney's in NT but I

>am having trouble finding Rapadura (I am in Australia). What would

>be a suitable alternative? Honey? Maple Syrup?

>

>What about Palm Sugar (found in Asian Grocery Stores)? Is this a

>suitable sugar alternative?

Personally I think any sugar that is less refined is better. Honey

and maple syrup are great for my family. Just about anything

sweet works in chutney (if you start out with sweet fruit, like

plums, you don't really need sugar at all). I haven't tried palm

sugar myself, haven't seen it!

However, when we've made stuff with plain ol' white sugar

it hasn't had any great impact on our health .. if the

dessert is full of OTHER good stuff, and your diet is full

of other good stuff, the nutritional difference between

" complete " sugar and " white " sugar isn't that much of

an impact. Most of our " sweet " desserts don't use as much

of any sweetener as they used to.

-- Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

> Hi,

>

> I want to make the Orange Marmalade and Fruit Chutney's in NT but I

> am having trouble finding Rapadura (I am in Australia). What would

> be a suitable alternative? Honey? Maple Syrup?

>

> What about Palm Sugar (found in Asian Grocery Stores)? Is this a

> suitable sugar alternative?

How about golden syrup - not as strong as treacle and molasses, but

not as refined as table sugar?

Cheers,

Tas'.

[Guest guest]

Heidi-

>Just about anything

>sweet works in chutney (if you start out with sweet fruit, like

>plums, you don't really need sugar at all).

From a fermentation perspective (and NT chutneys are fermented, right?) I

have to sound a note of caution with honey. I haven't tried chutney, but

I've noticed that my pickled salmon fails when I use a really good raw

honey (like YS Organic). I guess it's the antimicrobial properties of the

honey in action. I plan to try heating some lesser honey beforehand next

time I make pickled salmon.

-

[Guest guest]

> >Just about anything

>>sweet works in chutney (if you start out with sweet fruit, like

>>plums, you don't really need sugar at all).

>

> From a fermentation perspective (and NT chutneys are fermented, right?) I

>have to sound a note of caution with honey. I haven't tried chutney, but

>I've noticed that my pickled salmon fails when I use a really good raw

>honey (like YS Organic). I guess it's the antimicrobial properties of the

>honey in action. I plan to try heating some lesser honey beforehand next

>time I make pickled salmon.

:

I agree there! I was not thinking of fermented chutneys ... the ones

my family likes are just vinegar/fruit kinds of things but we

don't eat them all that much (for fermented stuff we do kimchi).

Honey creates very SLOW fermentations ... I made mead once and it

didn't ever ferment dry, but it fermented for MONTHS (most wines

take less than one month). It doesn't seem to matter if it is raw

or not ... for beers we boiled everything. Though raw honey is said

to be much more antimicrobial (microphages, maybe?).

-- Heidi Jean