This list of unrefined sweeteners includes all natural,
unrefined, or low-processed
sweeteners.
Sweeteners are usually made from the fruit or sap of plants, but can also be made from any other part of the plant, or all of it. Some sweeteners are made from starch, with the use of
enzymes. Sweeteners made by animals, especially insects, are put in their own section as they can come from more than one part of plants.
From sap
The
sap of some species is concentrated to make sweeteners, usually through
drying or
boiling.
The sweet
resin of the
sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) was considered by
John Muir to be better than maple sugar.[7]
A sugary extract from
manna ash that contains the sugar mannose and the sugar alcohol
mannitol.
From roots
The juice extracted from the
tuberous roots of certain plants is, much like sap, concentrated to make sweeteners, usually through drying or boiling.
Sugar beet syrup (Zuckerrübensirup in German) is made from the tuberous roots of the
sugar beet (Beta vulgaris).[8]Sugar beet molasses, a by-product of the processing to make refined sugar, also exists but is mainly used for animal feed.[9]
Yacón syrup is made from the tuberous roots of
yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius).[10]
The
starchyseeds of certain plants are transformed into sweeteners by using the
enzymes formed during
germination or from
bacterian cultures. Some sweeteners made with starch are quite refined and made by degrading purified starch with enzymes, such as
corn syrup.
^Johnston, James F. W.; Arthur H. Church (1880) [1880].
The Chemistry of Common Life. D. Appleton and company. p.
198. Retrieved 2008-06-01. The Chemistry of Common Life James F. Johnston.
^Kallio, Heikki; Tuija Teerinen; Seija Ahtonen; Meri Suihko; Reino R. Linko (1989). "Composition and Properties of Birch Syrup (Betula pubescens)". J. Agric. Food Chem. 37: 51–54.
doi:
10.1021/jf00085a012. [dead link]
^Lock, Charles George Warnford; George William Wigner; Robert Henry Harl (2007-10-22) [1882].
Sugar Growing and Refining. E. & F. N. Spon. pp. 408–409. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
^Manrique, I.; A. Párraga; M. Hermann (2005).
"Yacon syrup: Principles and processing"(PDF). Series: Conservación y Uso de la Biodiversidad de Raíces y Tubérculos Andinos: Una Década de Investigación Para el Desarrollo (1993-2003). 8B: 31p. Retrieved 2008-04-27.