I recently ordered my first bag of erythritol. I would like some feedback from those of you who have been using it.

One concern, the label lists 15g carbs per tablespoon. How many should actually be counted?

Maggie~~
What impact has erythritol had on your blood sugar?

Take care~
Susan


LCE Member since 01/02

I'm glad you posted this. I've been wanting to order some myself but have held back since I don't know too much about it.

Beth (aka Fuelmanswife)
http://www.marykay.com/bethsimmons

This is from a post I made to the old forum:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I've written a number of times that I react to sugar alcohols not very differently than I do to sugar. I must now amend that to read "most sugar alcohols."

This all started when, (already in maintenance) I first ate an Endulge chocolate bar. I had this deja vu feeling, which reminded me of how I felt prior to starting this way of eating. I noticed that there was a significant amount of maltitol in it, first ingredient, as a matter of fact. (True for most lc chocolate bars.) Next time I "Endulged," I put my glucometer to work and found that I had a 38 pt rise in blood sugar at 30 minutes. I have avoided all sugar alcohols since.

Several months ago, I became aware of a new, allegedly different form of sugar alcohol called Erythritol. Eventually I got to looking into the product and there did seem to be some differences between it an other sugar alcohols. Main difference? It has zero calories. All the other sugar alcohols have calories. Only pure sucralose, cyclamate, aspartame, et al can claim zero calories. (In most forms they do have some calories, from the sugary fillers that need to be added to make them usable so you have to count some carbs from the filler. In products such as syrups, soft drinks and jello, however, they have zero calories and can be counted as zero carbs.)

BTW, I've self-tested the sucraolse sweetened syrups and get no blood glucose reaction to them at, 30, 60 and 120 minutes. Splenda packets and granular give me a reaction, but not too bad - I use them in moderation.

By way of comparison, sugar, maltitol and erythritol have the following values:

1 tsp. of sugar, weighs 4 grams, has 4 gm carb & 15calories.
1 tsp. of maltitol, weighs 4 grams, has 4 gm carb & 8.5 calories
1 tsp. of erythritol, weighs 4 grams, has 4 gm carb & 0 calories

(the other sugar alcohols are the same weight and carbs and have calorie values from 7 - 10 per tsp.)

So I finally bought some Erythritol and it's been sitting in my cabinet for over a month, now. Today I tested it. I tested it the way I test any suspect item. With a home based mini-GTT (Glucose tolerance test) , ingesting the stuff and then doing blood glucose readings at 30 minutes, 1 hour and 2 hours. In this test, I prepared 50 gms of Erythritol (that is about 4 Tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon) by adding enough water to dissolve it. My results:

Time: BG Action:

3 pm 94 (drank - well, gagged down - erythritol solution)
3:30 93
4:00 92
5:00 93 (celebrated with some porterhouse & an eggplant/zucchini/onion dish)


All I can say is I'll be damned! I really didn't expect this result. This stuff has got the same texture (I mean the same -crunch followed by melt) as sugar and, although it's only 70% as sweet, you couldn't prove that by me. Of course it's been quite a number of years since I actually tasted real sugar.

I think I'll go dip a strawberry in it for dessert.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Based on what I've learned since then and based on my blood sugar reaction (absent in small amounts) I count it as .5 gms per tablespoon, or 8 gms per cup. That would have made my test amount (a bit more than a quarter of a cup) about 2 gms - an amount I wouldn't expect to have much effect on my blood sugar anyway. I realize it's somewhat arbitrary, but I felt I needed to hang some kind of number on it. One of the things that led to this was a batch of chocolate fudge I made with it. I was in a mood (TOM) and pigged out and within about an hour, I ate a whole batch that was intended to be 4 or more servings. (Well, it tasted SO MUCH like the real thing and I've got this chocolate problem - and add any other exuse you want... ) Anyway, there was a whole cup of that stuff in it and I finally DID manage to get a blood glucose reaction. It was actually pretty modest, but higher than I would have expected for just the cocoa/cream component of the fudge. Thus, the need for a number - some kind of number, that I could count.

The two things about working with this stuff that come right to mind are:

1. It has a coolness to it. Not a taste, a sensation of coolness without a taste. I wouldn't use it as a table sweetener - although mixed half & half with pourable splenda, it's acceptable. Depending on what you're using it in - you may not notice it at all. In baking, it's wonderful, since it replaces the structure that you lose when you lose sugar.

2. It has a very, very low candy point. It crystalizes at a very low temp. As a result of this, and because it's only 70% as sweet as sugar, AND because I now have that FANTASTIC Zero Carb Syrup base, I use it to replace sugar as follows: For every cup of sugar a recipe would call for, I use 1/4 cup erythritol and 1 teaspoon of zero carb syrup. The small amount of the erythritol gives sufficient structure and the zero carb makes it nice and sweet with NO funny aftertaste which I usually get using packet or pourable splenda in larger amounts - hey, my cranberry sauce set up just as it used to when I used all sugar in the recipe and was out of this world.

Whew.

That's my current state of information on erythritol.

Oh, yeah. BTW, even though it DOESN'T effect my blood sugar to any great degree, it ALSO DOESN'T give me any intestinal symptoms. That's another way it differs from other sugar alcohols.

HTH

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!

OK Maggie, you've got my attention. Now, where do you buy your Zero Carb Syrup Base? And your erythritol?

I did a google search for the syrup base and came up with the locarber.com site that sells for $17.99 per 8oz. bottle. (Link: http://www.locarber.com/store/index.php?&prodID=zcs-001)

Or do you have a better place?

Mada
210/201/140
Re-started LC 9/1/03

"No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office." ~George Bernard Shaw

Mada, that's where we're getting our Zero Carb Syrup Base! Check out the wheat protein isolate.

Maggie, thank you for the insight on your BG. BTW, where did you order your erythritol? Does your bag say 15g carbs per tablespoon?

Take care~
Susan


LCE Member since 01/02


MAGGIE~
Just saw your reply regarding net-carbs!

[This message was edited by Kumus on 11-28-03 at 10:47 AM.]

I've ordered it from netrition and from globalsweet.com . They both say 15 gms per TB, more or less. The label on the Global Polyols canister says 4 per tsp., but that's a rounding down deal, there's some slosh when you're converting a measurement of volume (teaspoon) to one of dry weight (gram).

Remember, the rules say that sugar alcohols have to be counted as carbs in nutrition labels (which is a GOOD thing, and less misleading than the hyped up "2 net carbs" you see on the front label of so many lc products that are packed with stuff like maltitol) and one TB of erythritol weighs 15 gms and that's 15 gms of a sugar alcohol, so it's - by law - 15 gms of carbs.

Sorry if I was a little tedious about my personal blood glucose, but that's how I make decisions for myself and it's about the only way I can explain why I might make a decision that seems weird on its face.

BTW, if you dig a bit on the globalsweet site, you'll find a ton of information on erythritol and how it differs from other sugar alcohols.

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!

FUDGE recipe??! (licking chops....)

That IS on here someplace then, huh?

I NEEDS me some fudge........

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

Great information! Thanks Maggie & Kumus. I started avoiding anything with Maltitol in it about a month ago, it's just not worth it. But the syrup base & the erythritol sound like I need to check them out.

Hope everyone had a great Holiday!

Betty
265/201/155
Started 7/15/02

Here's a link to info from the maker

http://www.eridex.com/html/nutrition.html

Susan -

The cooling effect is wonderful for making minty things.

I've tried doing caramel but have had no luck.

Maggie, have you done caramel?

You ratio for subbing sugar sounds great. I have some zero carb concentrate on the way so I can't wait to try it.

Member since 2001
http://www.ilovelowcarb.com
Size 24(start lowfat)/Size 18(start LC)/Size 14/Size 8

I haven't tried real caramel candy yet, since I haven't got a complete handle on this crytalization issue. I did, however, brown some of the erythritol in a pyrex baking dish (with a sprinkle of water, in the microwave), so that I could make a flan which called for it. As I prepared the custard to pour into the baking dish, the erythritol cooled and crystalized, with many micro-cracks, to such a point that it looked opaque. I went ahead anyway. After the custard part was done cooking in a water bath, the erythritol had "re-melted" into the clear golden brown syrup that was exactly what I wanted, so that when I flipped the flan onto a serving dish, it ran over the sides. It was very good.

Char, hang in there sister. I'm working on a better fudge. My first experiment (the one I pigged out on) was not quite perfect. Although, obviously fine for my purposes at the time. It was an adaptation of a recipe from my Settlement Cookbook. The thing is, this stuff seems to go right past the soft ball stage without passing go, so to speak. The final product was very ... well, crystal-ly. Since then, I've found that using less (and using with other sweeteners) gets a less crunchy result. My next try (sometime when I feel like I can stretch a little) will be this:

1/2 cup erythritol
3/4 tsp. zero carb
1/2 cup cream
1/3 cup cocoa
dash of salt
1 TB unsalted butter
1 TB daVinci vanilla

I'll cook everything except the butter and DaVinci over a low heat, stirring, till about 225 degrees (that's lower than the usual soft-ball stage of 234 that I went to last time). Then I'll toss in the butter and DaVinci and cool, without stirring, until it's lukewarm, then beat the heck out of it and pour into something to cool completely. Mind you, this is a THEORY! Based on prior experience, I'm thinkin it might work out ok, but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe, I'm going too far in the other direction and it won't set up. I don't know.

C'mon adventurous low carbers! Experiment & let's develop something that's REALLY fudge, not just reminiscent. I think with these two products, it can be done.

.... then all we'll have to do is figure out how NOT to be making it every day.

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!

Maggie, I have some powdered Xylitol - have you messed with that stuff at all, blood-sugar wise or cooking wise??

I'm all hot 'n bothered to go play in the kitchen now!

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

LOL!

You guys are crackin' me up!

Maggie, I plan on trying that as soon as I get my zero carb syrup! If I happen to try it before you, I'll let you all know how it comes out.



Member since 2001
http://www.ilovelowcarb.com
Size 24(start lowfat)/Size 18(start LC)/Size 14/Size 8

Weelllllll - I couldn't stand it. I trotted right off to the kitchen to "speriment" with the fudge!

And I must say - it is DIVINE!

I used your recipe, Maggie, with the following changes:

1/2 cup erythritol
3/4 tsp. NF Vanilla liquid Splenda base (I have the 0 Carb Syrup too but thought the vanilla on this might lend itself well....)
1/2 cup cream
1/3 cup cocoa
1 T. regular butter (didn't have unsalted!)
1 T. DaVinci chocolate syrup
Few drops real vanilla extract
Small handful broken pecans

Cooked all except the butter, DV, and vanilla in the microwave (the ONLY way I cook candy!) - 2 minutes, stirred well, 1 minute, stirred well, 1 minute, stirred well, 45 seconds - soft ball! (Your MW mileage may vary - mine is older and 700 watts.)

Added the butter, DV and vanilla, and let sit as long as I could stand it. I kept moving the bowl around on the counter to a cool spot every few minutes. (Patience, I ain't got none of!) When it was cool enough to touch the bottom (and I used an 8 quart Pyrex batter bowl, BTW) I beat in the butter and stuff. When it started to stiffen up just a bit, I stirred in the nuts, then poured it into a buttered 3 cup disposable ZipLoc plastic container. And INTO the fridge she went!

Well, DH and I just tried it. Now, he is NOT a big chocolate fan - but he thought this was great! It set up perfectly. Not too hard, not too soft. Not grainy. It DOES still have a very mild "cooling" effect, DH didn't remark on it, maybe it's just because I KNOW the erythritol does that!

Anyway this is a keeper, IMHO! Thanks, Maggie girl!

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

Now if someone comes up with a divinity........

I'll be forever greatful!

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

No clue on divinity and no experience with xylitol.

Other than the erythritol, I've tested maltitol, lactitol, sorbitol and glycerine - all "no"s for me.

Char, I'm so glad the fudge came out good for you! I'll try my microwave the next time. It'll probably go even faster for me. I had to get a new one a few weeks ago and it's 1100 watts. HOLY COW! What a switch from my old one! It's a whole new learning experience.

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!