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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’m not fully convinced yet either but I appreciate the references given here. I also messaged TT asking for their references for their article and they sent me the same message they sent to Jocelyn. So I replied again saying I had already read their article and am looking for the references they used to create it. (No reply from them yet.) Surely they realize how much weight their argument will lose when people are asking for references and they have none to provide?
So I am still officially undecided for now. I don’t find that “they are just whistling to the wind” a reasonable enough answer considering how they could be making more money if they were to start selling coconut sugar.
Having said all of that, I just got my first coconut sugar yesterday from Nutiva to try. I’ll be nice and confused as I eat whatever I make with it though ;D
Here’s their response:
“Our source is the owner and founder of Tropical Traditions, and Mt. Banahaw Health Products Corp. who supplies our coconut oil, and who is Filipino, grew up on a coconut plantation in the largest coconut producing province in the Philippines, and has her degree in nutrition. Mt. Banahaw Health Products Corp. also works closely with the universities and departments of agriculture in the Philippines in developing our products.
Coconut sugar is not a traditional product, but a new one, much like agave, and there are no standards for its production. Trees dedicated to coconut sugar traditionally are used for making lambanog, a hard liquor. This is common knowledge from those who live in the Philippines.
Hope this helps and have a great day!”
I have a friend with family in the Philippines, so I’m going to get their take on this. 🙂
Very interesting. Thanks for posting this, Karrie. Still can’t wrap my mind around why TT would be so vocally anti-coconut sugar if it were in fact a traditional, sustainable product which they could sell? I mean beyond the alleged hand waving and wind whistling…although I’m not really certain what those things mean. If they could profit from it, and it was in line with their ethics of sustainability, why wouldn’t they?? Obviously there are companies whose opinions differ here. The question is why? I’m not convinced Sarah is the “authority” here, as it seems she was already wrong on a fact or two. I’d be interested to hear what your friends’ family has to say.
Well that’s not helpful. I’ve read their response numerous times, and I’m not someone who typically has a problem with reading comprehension. Oh well. Thanks for playing! 🙂
Hey Sarah will you do a video on creme brulee made with coconut sugar?
Exactly, apart of the price (in UK this coconut sugar is more expensive than the most expensive local honey), this is exactly what makes me not buy it… I wish there was more maple syrup, or any other tree syrup, here in UK 🙂
I’m still not decided… Probably it is the price as well that puts me off – here in UK a small 8oz packet costs around 6 dollars, which is more expensive than local honey and local honey is very expensive…
They also act as if the Philippines are the only place on earth with coconut palms. They are all over the world and coconut product exports are increasing, not decreasing .. why don’t they produce some facts that actually check out?
What they “say” has no evidence to back it up. In fact, it is dead wrong .. coconut palms can and do produce BOTH sap and coconuts.
Tropical Traditions is whistling in the wind on this one. Do we stop eating meat because of unsustainable CAFO’s? Of course not. We buy from sustainable grassbased farmers. Coconut sugar is healthy and traditional and not buying it is silly when there are plenty of sustainable options out there and there is NO evidence of what Tropical Traditions is claiming.
I agree with you too Jocelyn, you did good research, thanks for sharing.
Totally agree. If people really want to make serious changes that really ARE killing the planet and everything in it, put an end to using plastics! I bet the people complaining about sustainability nonsense all have plastic wrap and ziploc bags in their kitchens.