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Coconut sugar is one of the primary sweeteners I use in my home for baking. Other common names include palm sugar, coconut palm sugar, and coconut syrup. The reason I love it is because it’s not only delicious but also healthy and sustainable for our planet.
Made from the sap of cut flower buds from the coconut palm, coconut sugar, and coconut nectar are a source of minerals, vitamin C, B vitamins, and some amino acids. Coconut sugar has been used as a traditional sweetener for thousands of years in South and South-East Asia.
How Does Coconut Sugar Compare with Cane Sugar?
Sweeteners derived from cane sugar can overly stress the pancreas as the glycemic index of these sweeteners is high compared with coconut sugar. Even maple syrup has a rather high glycemic index in comparison.
The glycemic index (GI) is the rate of how fast blood sugar levels rise after eating a particular type of food. A high GI means that the food is rapidly absorbed by the body, spiking the blood sugar causing the pancreas to release large amounts of insulin. A low GI indicates a food that is more slowly absorbed, thereby preventing that health-damaging insulin spike.
The glycemic index of a food can be reduced by eating healthy fats along with the sweetener of choice. Hence, traditional desserts such as cream and fruit, cookies made with butter, and flan (eggs, sugar, whole milk). However, for some with blood sugar issues, this is not enough to prevent problems with insulin.
Here is the glycemic index of many common sweeteners on the market (higher GI = higher blood sugar spike).
Stevia 0
Monk fruit 0
Yacon Syrup 1
Xylitol 7
Agave 15-30
Date Sugar and Syrup 20
Brown Rice Syrup (traditionally made) 25
Coconut Sugar/Nectar 30
Palm Jaggery 35
Raw Honey 35-58
Malted Barley 40
Sucanat 43
Organic Sugar 47
Maple Syrup 54
Blackstrap Molasses 54
Evaporated Cane Juice 55
Raw Sugar (Turbinado) 65
Corn Syrup 75
White Sugar 80
High Fructose Corn Syrup 87
Brown Rice Syrup (industrialized) 98
Glucose 100
Low GI vs High GI Sweeteners
After looking at this chart, you may be thinking, “Xylitol and agave have a very low glycemic index. Why not use those?”
The problem is that xylitol and agave nectar are both very highly processed. It’s not just the glycemic index that comes into play when selecting a sweetener, but how it is made that needs to also be considered.
What about stevia and brown rice syrup? Those are both good options, but practically speaking, they don’t work well for all baking situations.
Palm sugar is much more versatile and is easily substituted for cane sugar in baking recipes 1:1. Thus, I find it a practical as well as a healthy choice. It is sweet with no coconut flavor. Hence, there is no risk of drastically altering the flavor of a dish.
The ideal coconut sugar has been made using low temperature processing that involves evaporation of the sap from the coconut blossoms into crystals. Evaporation temperature is about 100F for an hour or two. As a result of this low temperature, enzymes remain intact.
Some coconut sugar manufacturers boil the nectar down to crystallize it, so check labels carefully or contact the manufacturer first if you desire raw coconut sugar.
Of course, moderation is key as with the use of all natural sweeteners – even coconut sugar. No more than 3 TBL per day (or 5% of total calories) or even a natural sweetener is a good rule of thumb.
Why Coconut Sugar is Good for the Environment
Unfortunately, misinformation about the sustainability of coconut and palm sugar has been making the rounds on the internet to the massive detriment of those earnestly seeking healthier sweeteners.
The article primarily responsible for promoting the notion that coconut sugar is unsustainable insists that coconut trees cannot produce both coconut palm sugar (derived from the nectar of the coconut blossom) and coconuts simultaneously. Moreover, the article states that the increasing popularity of palm sugar will cause the price of products like coconut oil, coconut flour, and shredded coconut to skyrocket because low-income coconut tree farmers will choose to use their trees to produce coconut sugar instead of mature coconuts.
Only the rich able to afford healthy and beneficial fats from coconuts because a growing number of consumers enjoy and use coconut sugar and coconut nectar?
Hardly!
Coconut Tree Tapping: The Reality vs the Hype
There are numerous, reputable sources that insist that the negative press about coconut sugar has completely missed the mark. Tapping a coconut tree for its sap is a century-old tradition. It does not harm the tree or impact the tree’s ability to produce coconuts.
Coconut palm trees are in high abundance throughout the world, most of which are not even being used for either sap or coconuts! They are a sustainable resource ready and available to be used!
There is no evidence that sap production is overtaking or even threatening coconut production. Coconut oil exports are booming from the Philippines, a top coconut oil exporter. Shipments for the first seven months of 2010 surpassed those for the entire 12 months in 2009. A slump in exports due to bad weather in 2011 (not rising coconut palm sugar sales) was followed by an expected rebound in 2012 of 12.3% for coconut oil and 21% for copra (dried coconut meat).
World Bank: Coconut Palm Sugar IS Sustainable
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the World Bank reports that coconut palm sweeteners are the single most sustainable sweetener in the world!
The reason is that coconut palms are a tree crop which benefits the environment ecologically. Their cultivation restores damaged soil requiring very little water in the process. In addition, coconut palms produce more sugar per acre than sugar cane (50-75% more). At the same time, they use less than 20% of the soil nutrients and water for that high level of production.
Besides the World Bank, the Philippines at the Davao Research Center demonstrated that it is possible to produce sap for making coconut palm sugar as well as coconuts from the same tree. All that needs to be done is to tap the coconut sap in the first half of the coconut blossoms. Then, allow the remaining half of the blossoms to develop into mature, 12-month coconuts. This method for tapping both sap and coconuts from the same tree yields 5-7 times higher productivity than traditional methods.
Trees Tapped for Palm Sugar Live a Long Time
Moreover, once a coconut tree is tapped, sap continues to flow for the next 2 decades or so. This is highly sustainable and obviously supportive of the tree itself else it would die.
The fact is that coconut oil and coconut sugar are both Traditional Foods. It isn’t a choice of one over the other as they have completely different purposes in the kitchen. Both are used and enjoyed in my home and there isn’t any reason why both shouldn’t be in yours too.
Learn More About Healthy Sweeteners
If you are seeking coconut sugar that is raw and also sustainable, click here for the brand I use in my home and feel very good about.
If you wish to learn more about healthy sweeteners, check out the linked article for an in depth video discussing the alternatives.
Sources
University of Sydney Glycemic Index Database
High Fructose Cane Syrup and Sugar
Coconut Palm Sugar Sustainability
The Many Shades of Palm Oil
FAO: Towards a more diversified and sustainable agriculture
Setting the Record Straight: Coconut Sap vs Oil Production
Coconut oil exports soar
More Information
Agave Nectar Alternative
Avoid the Sugar Alcohols to Protect Gut Health
I really like the taste of coconut sugar. It’s got nice caramel undertones. I wonder why Tropical Traditions really doesn’t want people buying it?
Good news because I LOVE coconut sugar. But I did not know that it is the same as palm sugar. I have bought the koolaid on palm sugar without doing the work because there is so much work and research to do on so much. It gets overwhelming.
I’ve avoided coconut sugar for years because of the Tropical Traditions article you linked to. I’ve been purchasing my coconut oil from them for years as well. Why on earth would they post such misinformation? What would the motivation be? They seem to have an excellent reputation. If this is true, wouldn’t they benefit by participating in the sales of coconut sugar since they’re highly involved in (almost) all things coconut? Very strange. Not sure what to think.
Since Tropical Traditions is the ONLY place on the internet with this position (that I could find) and many other reputable sources which do not sell coconut products (hence have no vested interest) say the information they have put out is dead wrong, I would suggest that Tropical Traditions is whistling in the wind on this one.
I’m buying coconut sugar, will continue to buy and am ignoring the arm waving.
Do we stop eating meat because of some unsustainable CAFO’s? Of course not. We buy from sustainable grassbased farmers. Coconut sugar is health and traditional and not buying it is silly when there are plenty of sustainable options out there.
Hi Sarah, and all. Unfortunately Sarah, I have to agree with Alisa and those who state this practice is NOT SUSTAINABLE. Tropical Traditions is not the only site/blog/report stating the consequences of this practice. Since your blog incorporates the word “economist”, I assume the intricacies of this practice are significant to your research and articles. Tropical Traditions is the first one that comes up when doing a search, so I implore you and everyone else to do a more comprehensive search. I know first hand that any Coconut Palm that is trained to produce sap will not produce coconuts. Considering this product is gaining widespread attention, IT WILL CAUSE AN INCREASE IN THE PRODUCT PRICE POINT OF ALL OTHER COCONUT PRODUCTS (i.e. Coconut Oil, Milk, shredded, ect). You also must consider the over-all picture: How much of a carbon footprint is created simply to transport it to the U.S. and to he various states? Probably a lot more than if it were to come from an organic cane sugar plantation in the U.S. How much of an economical impact will this have on organic cane sugar plantations in the U.S? How will this economic impact than coincidentally impact every other organic food product produced in the U.S? I will agree with everyone who states our current food system has many faults and issues, but if we all simply stop buying products made in the U.S….our economy will eventually fail all-together. Also keep in mind, if distributors such as Walmart are selling this product, they more than likely have a hand in how it is manufactured. Small operations could not possibly supply the demand to such distributors. Which means it ultimately is also at the discretion of the same practices products made in the U.S. are. I’m in no way trying to endorse U.S. products, just posing the question as to what would a more sustainable practice.
Every single food on this earth is being produced somewhere unsustainably. What do we do, stop eating altogether?
Do we stop eating a healthy, traditional food like coconut sugar produced for centuries in a very sustainable manner because some are doing it wrong? No. We buy from those doing it right and encourage the traditional, sustainable practice of tapping a coconut palm for its nectar with our food dollars.
I would encourage you not to essentially indicate that some of your readers foolish and narrow-minded if they are simply coming to a different conclusion than you. People need to know the facts, which you have certainly provided some here, and do their own research and come to the conclusions that’s best for them. There are things that I am passionate about and have done the research on and when others have also done the research but come to a different conclusion, so be it.
If it comes down to carbon footprint, maybe that is a big enough issue for some people to avoid it, so let them avoid it.
Karrie and Chris, If carbon footprints are an issue for you, consider the cultivation of both the Coconut Palm and Sugar Cane not only the shipping. I’m no expert on either but don’t Palms grow and produce for 20 to 30 years while cane is harvested only 3 or 4 times before it needs to be replanted? Tilling and planting add a lot to a carbon footprint. More than half of cane is still harvested by hand which requires burning the field first. This adds a huge amount of carbon to the environment. When considering carbon footprints we can’t just look at the distance an item is shipped. In addition there is very little cane grown in the US so what we buy is probably traveling as far as Coconut sugar.
While it’s valuable to have this conversation, it seems imprudent to damn an entire tradition (that of the centuries old production of coconut goods) because of the unscrupulous practices of a few bad actors (e.g. Bumitama Gunajaya Agro (BGA), the palm oil company mentioned in the article Alisa references below). Their alleged practices are extremely disturbing, as is the agency supposedly monitoring them (the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO). Rather than condemn an entire tradition, it seems to me the best way to respond is to: first, do the proper due diligence (research into these unscrupulous companies and the middlemen who distribute their products–possibly mass distribution companies like Walmart, as Chris suggests) and then second, use the power of social media to disseminate factual information about these bad guys who truly do NOT employ sustainable practices. We the consumers, as always, are in control here.
Chris you bring up a number of important issues that do need to be discussed. Since you are concerned about the price of coconut products, as an economist you know that the market will establish the price of any given good. If the price goes up “too high” for us the consumers, then as you know, demand will go down. As demand goes down while supply is still up, prices must in turn go down. The irrefutable law of supply and demand. Again, we the consumers establish the prices.
Late to the discussion, but I’d like to point out to Marcel that “we the consumers” are generally well-off, First World denizens who have no problem tolerating an increase in prices on these luxury items (and yes, having sweetened foods is a luxury compared to what much of the world eats). However, the native peoples who often can’t eat their traditional diet because the rest of the world has jumped on a fad are left to starve or adapt.
Quinoa comes to mind. Sure, it’s a wonderful food, and health-food adherents must be overjoyed to find it available at Sam’s club in 25-lb bags. But the natives of Bolivia and Peru et al are getting screwed. Farmers who once planted SUSTAINABLY (IOW, rotated their crops and left grassland for Llama grazing) have opted for a nice short-term paycheck and stopped rotating, going monoculture in their planting, aping the factory farms of the US in order to keep up with world demand.
With diminishing grazing available for llamas, there’s less natural fertilizer to be had. So again, the people in the highlands have to resort to non-traditional methods to keep up with demands. But We the Consumers don’t particularly care, since it means we can get cheap quinoa.
However, as long as worldwide demand remains high, the price remains good for the farmer; he can sell it to a broker and make good money. Who then suffers? The people who’ve been eating quinoa for thousands of years – they can’t afford the new prices. What was once a traditional staple food for millennia has to be set aside for cheaper offerings. And by far the cheapest foods in the world come from US corn.
So while health-conscious rich folks (and seriously, if you’re reading this on your iPhone or your laptop and not at a public library, you’re one of us rich folk), can pat themselves on the back for discovering such a wonderful traditional food, they ignore whose tradition it was, and are blind to the destruction of the tradition itself.
So then we come to Coconut Sugar. Yes, it’s awesome, and used as a substitute for HFCS or refined sugar can be beneficial to the individual who makes the switch. But it’s most definitely NOT a traditional food, as there is no tradition for its extraction and manufacture in populations that have relied on the coconut for food. Its extraction causes at the very least a diminished coconut production over the lifetime of the plant, and possibly a complete cessation. If the fad catches on, as others have said, prices on every coconut product (regardless of sustainability) will go up.
We the Consumers can choose whether or not to pay the inflated prices, and have heaps of organic sweeteners in our fair-trade lattes and on our whole-grain breakfast cereals and in our small-batch baked goods, but the humans who rely on coconuts have no choice in the matter; they’re not Consumers, they’re simply people. And in the global economy, people don’t matter.
most cities and small towns are already implementing it and they don’t even realize what it is. the plan was to implement it on the local level under the name of ICLEI (something like that). Its all about “Sustainable growth”. They plan to take over ALL the farm land and have us in the cities in stack houses.
Love this stuff!
The UN does use such buzzwords, and it is up to us people to be not gullible in such things. If we know their goals, we will know how to outmaneuver them in their game so we can achieve our own goals.
Alisa, where is your info on this? A link? Interested in reading up on this.
Amanda Pantella Coleman since you were asking lol
I’ve been using coconut sugar for about five? months now. It is the only natural sweetener I’ve found to be tolerable in my morning coffee along with a spoonful of coconut oil. I’m ecstatic to say that my husband just noticed that Wal-Mart is now carrying the brand pictured here which is my choice as well. For less $$ than at Top Food & Drug. And I’m off artificial sweeteners now!
Anything with palm in it is killing the planet, is non sustainable and is destroying wildlife habitat and cruelly murdering orangutans and elephants. Please do not buy ANYTHING with palm in it.
Is it possible for you to show us some data on this? Where is this happening?