Agave Nectar Health | Is Agave Nectar Healthy Or Not?

July 5, 2010 By 2 Comments



Agave Nectar Health

Agave nectar health is the topic of endless, heated discussions, and it seems like there is no quick end in sight. A few health experts have taken it upon themselves to “enlighten” the public about the “truth” on agave nectar. The biggest American producer, Madhava, has responded with clear facts…but the fight continues. If you are interested in the details of this low-glycemic war of the words, please see my page on this site: Agave Myths And Rumors.

I am no doctor or licensed nutritionist (I’m a chef!), so I can’t make any definite statements about agave nectar health. Neither is there an all-encompassing answer to the question, is agave nectar healthy? But I can share with you what I’ve experienced over the past 6 years, when selling and cooking with this great natural sweetener.

  • During my years as a farmers market vendor selling my Agasweet brand flavored agave syrup, I had hundreds of regular customers – many of them diabetics – who were very happy with my product. They actually shared with me positive reports on agave nectar health.

As a chef with a healthy body, however, I am more excited about the following qualities:

  • As agave tends to bring out the flavors of any foods you combine it with, I love to add a bit to soups and stews, sauces, bean dishes, corn bread, wheat breads, sandwiches, cheese dips, and much, much more, where normally sugar is not a recipe ingredient.
  • It tastes much better than simple syrup in cocktails.
  • It never gives me a sugar rush, because of its low-glycemic index rating and because I use it in moderation.
  • Moderation is easy with agave nectar – it’s 1.4 times sweeter than sugar!
  • Even on top of mustard and ketchup – a squeeze of my syrup brightens all the flavors of any hot dog or bratwurst favorites.
  • Pancakes come alive with butter and agave!
  • Poached fish, a delicate lemon beurre blanc, and a shot of our natural sweetener – heaven!
  • Carrots glazed with agave nectar…so good it almost made a vegetarian out of this meat and potatoes chef.
  • The list goes on and on, and I will write about many more fabulous recipe ideas on this blog.

So, yes, it’s important to know the basics about agave nectar health benefits. But it’s also good to sit back and relax, and say: a teaspoon of natural plant food can’t possibly be worse than the empty calories of refined sugar!

And agave nectar tastes so much better!

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Baking With Agave Nectar – Chocolate Chip Cookies

June 23, 2010 By 8 Comments



Chocolate Chip Cookies

Baking with agave nectar (instead of granulated sugar) is as easy as pie, if you adjust to a few simple facts.

  • Agave is 1.4 times sweeter than sugar
  • It adds additional liquid to the recipe
  • It browns quicker than a recipe with sugar
  • It also makes the batter a bit stickier

Let’s look at a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe and see what we need to change if we want to bake it with our natural sweetener.

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

First, we want to replace the 1 1/2 cups of refined sugar, of course. I recommend using 1 cup (it’s sweeter than sugar, remember?) of amber agave to compensate a little for the loss of the brown sugar flavor.

Secondly, we need to re-thicken the batter because of the extra liquid from the agave syrup. So, let’s increase the flour to 2 1/2 cups.

Next, turn down the oven temperature by 25 degrees. Cookies are normally baked at 375 degrees F, but since agave sweetened baked goods brown faster, we want to bake them in a slightly “slower” oven.

And finally, make sure your cookie pans are lined with parchment paper and sprayed well.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe With Agave Nectar

1 cup amber agave nectar
2 sticks butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

I’m sure you know the procedure for mixing a cookie dough, but just in case…

1. Beat the agave, butter, eggs and vanilla by hand or in an electric mixer until creamy and fluffy.

2. Sift together the flour, soda, and salt, and blend it thoroughly with the creamed mix.

3. Fold the chocolate chips and optional nuts into the batter.

4. Bake it off at whatever size you like. (I prefer 8-inch cookies. But, I’m a glutton!) Check your oven after 8 minutes or so. It shouldn’t take much longer than 8-10 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Photo Credit. Thanks!

Note: Baking cookies with agave nectar will result in a softer, moister end product.

One last tip: If you want to avoid all white sugar in your diet, use unsweetened or malt-sweetened chocolate chips!

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Agave Nectar: Cooking Tips For A Surprise Gourmet Condiment

June 11, 2010 By 2 Comments



Agave Nectar For Savory Dishes

Agave nectar may be normally used to replace refined sugar in recipes, so you’ll end up with a healthier version of the dish. But there is another interesting aspect to the use of agave in our culinary adventures.

Agave syrup is a wonderful surprise addition as a gourmet condiment!

Consider this: Whenever we enjoy a savory meal, our taste buds react to salty, sour and bitter. (There’s also umami — learn more about it here!) Most of the time, we won’t find anything sweet in a savory recipe. But as good chefs know, only when all our senses of taste are stimulated at the same time — that’s when the real flavor explosion happens in our mouth. So they add a little sugar to soups and sauces, roasts and vegetables, and so on. Now, we can do better than that, using agave sweetener as a flavor enhancer but also as a gourmet condiment.

How To Enhance Savory Breakfast Foods With Agave Nectar

  • Drizzle over breakfast sausage, bacon, or ham
  • Stir a spoonful of agave nectar into a peppery gravy
  • Mix a little bit of the syrup with your hash browns before pan-frying
  • Glaze a breakfast pork chop after it’s cooked
  • Serve as a dipping sauce for potato pancakes with onion and horseradish
  • Tacos and migas are great with a touch of sweet!

Agave Nectar Helps To Create Perfect Sandwiches For Lunch

  • Make a sandwich filling with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, avocado, lunch meat and cheese and then top it off with a few “lines” of agave sweetener. Outstanding!

How To Impress Your Dinner Guests

  • Brush a grilled chicken breast with a nice glaze
  • Add a touch of sweet to any fish preparation
  • Serve a sweet dip with fried or boiled shrimp
  • Complete any roast or even braised meats with a moderate amount of agave — either as a drizzle over the cooked item, or as an ingredient of the sauce

These are just a few basic tips. Once you have started experimenting with adding agave nectar to your familiar recipes, you will get inspired to try all kinds of new ways to enhance your culinary creations. And your guests will love and admire you for that.

Agave nectar is usually sold in squeeze bottles. So, as the saying goes: Just a simple squeeze or two make a gourmet chef out of you!

Agave Nectar - Gourmet Condiment

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