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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 have a cake recipe I quit making due to the sugar in it and would like to substitute this sugar so I can take this cake to our church dinners. I assumed the sugar was made from GMO beets or sugar cane and haven’t baked a cake in several years. Could I use coconut flour instead of all purpose flour for my cake?
You can use 1/3 coconut flour with Millet flour or (try buckwheat and oat)
This blog seems to serve more as an exercise for you to validate your own lifestyle choices instead of acting as a forum for discussions around the topics you write about. When anyone disagrees with you, you automatically call them narrow-minded or wrong. You seem to focus more on rhetoric than fact checking and when people call you out, you become defensive and resort to straw men tactics to avoid facing the truth.
You should just start keeping a traditional PRIVATE journal if all you are after is a means to validate your own opinions, and all you want is to be convinced that the lifestyle choices you make are good for everyone.
Many people comment on your articles and you seem to be the most stubborn “economist” I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
I have found this to be true Sebastian. Even modification of a point earns ire. In my case, Miss Sara’s husband joined in intimidation attempts. I have also learned that a promise to contact you and work together never happens either. Even though nutrition and fitness is the mutual commonality. I initially came to her defense when I learned of this blog over a dental thing…….. only to land in the doghouse when I politely pointed out a truth in later postings.
This being the case, I have learned to just read, verify and glean anything I can to be of use to help my family and also to be a service and a free ministry to others. And so we just read…..
Agree! Do comments get deleted here? I cannot find some of mine… nothing disrespectful, just disputing some facts and asking questions. And pointing out that many of these “suggestions” for better health are far too expensive for most of us, especially coconut sugar at $12 per pound! I get 5lb bags of regular white sugar for $2 because that is what I have easy access to and can afford. Tired of trying to be convinced that “in the long run the extra cost is worth it” when I am simply seeking healthier, yet more cost effective options.The limited budget is here and now and very real and money does not grow on trees. I may actually stop following these alternative wellness sites altogether because I get so frustrated with people’s inability to comprehend another person’s situation or viewpoint. I have yet to find any good suggestions on how to fit this lifestyle into my budget. I was referred to this site because I am secular and so many other sites are Christian based and a bit God heavy, but I have been very disappointed. Guess I’m joining the “just reading” group and am giving up on trying to probe for more realistic info.
Pam, many health items are expensive but to not discuss which are the healthiest options because they are expensive does no one any good. I, like most of the people I know who want to learn more about what is best for our bodies make decisions as to which items are most important to change in our lives with the funds we have. Slowly I’ve learned ways to cut costs in other areas of our lives (such as making almost all of our household cleaning items) in order to purchase a higher quality of food. At first it seems overwhelming but just make small changes to start and slowly add others as time goes on.
Well I guess you can use your money on cheap bad foods and the expensive Dr. bills that go along with it or invest in your health and spend a few dollars more.
Very politely stated SoCalGT and thankyou.
Miss Deborah, not so much. Perhaps those with few financial concerns are unable to walk in the mocc’s of those that have been brutalized by this economy and the monsters that control it. Heaven forbid that folk learn who these monsters are and actually help do something about it. Rather, in talmudic fashion its better to show no empathy.
It clearly and quite plainly is NOT “a few dollars more.” If it were, the prior comments would not have been made pointing this truth out. I think that SoCalGT has a better approach of encouragement AND community where we share our hard earned and learned tidbits with our community so that ALL may be moved ahead.
It looks like TT has found that they can make more products from coconuts than they can from coconut flowers. It also sounds like coconut sap could sustainably be reserved for trees too old to make coconuts. It sounds logical that you could go back and forth from one year to the next but either you get coconuts or sacrifice the flowers.
Getting coconuts and sap from the same tree the same year is more like breastfeeding triplet toddlers when you are pregnant. If there is not an unnaturally extreme amount of nutrients being pumped into that mama (tree) that would lead to a shorter life of the tree and/or not being really great in any particular market (one of those kids or mama will be malnourished if she doesn’t have some help). Choosing sounds like a wise sustainable practice.
There is a difference between sustaining your village on both and sustaining the world on both.
I never heard of this. Thanks for the info.
Tropical Traditions refutes this, just FYI.
“As retailers in the U.S. and elsewhere also cash in on this new demand, sadly, the other side of the story is not being told. What no one is warning consumers about is that coconut palm trees cannot produce both coconuts and coconut palm sugar! When the sap used to make coconut palm sugar is collected from the coconut palm tree, from the flower bud that will eventually form a coconut, that tree can no longer produce coconuts! Think about that for a minute. No coconuts = no coconut oil, no dried coconut, no coconut flour. Is coconut sugar worth giving up these other valued products that come from the coconut?? Some claim that if a coconut palm tree is producing coconut sugar, which means that it cannot produce coconuts at the same time, that it can still be converted back to producing coconuts at a later time. However, in Marianita’s experience in growing up in a coconut producing community, she has never seen this happen, and we have not seen any studies that have been conducted published anywhere to back up this claim.”
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/coconut_palm_sugar.htm
I just wanted to say thank you for posting this. I will spare you my entire story here, but basically a couple of months ago we went gluten and casein free. We have seen some very important behavioral changes in our son since that. Anyway, since then, I have read the main (beginning part) of Nourishing Traditions. So, I have been trying to implement parts of it (one thing at a time). I have been making all of our bread since we switched to GFCF, honestly you kind of have to if you want anything that doesn’t taste like cardboard. Since I read NT though, I have been disturbed by the 3 TBSP of brown sugar in the bread. I was at Bob’s Red Mill this afternoon (major plus that I live in Portland Oregon and can go shop the bulk bins at Bob’s anytime I want) and was intrigued by some organic coconut sugar that they had. I bought a little baggie and put it in my bread. I was just getting online to research if it was a good option, and there was your post right at the top, like a gift!! 🙂
I discovered your site yesterday through YouTube searches and watched A LOT of your tutorial videos. I am so visual, so it was wonderful to see some of the things that I have been wanting to start in a video!!
Thank you again, Blessings!!!
You’re very welcome. 🙂
Well we can agree this has been a waste of time! LOL Take care.
Oh forgot to say thank you! For saying I have in extraordinary mind!!!!! Many people minds tend to think logically and also spatially…. Never knew that made us special. Everybody’s mind thinks a certain way that’s just my way. Oh and it doesn’t take a Ph. D to see it 😉 it’s all good just know I need more solid answers and definitely need the evidence to totally believe. Not saying I don’t believe what you were giving it just means I need to do some more personal research….
Well if you can’t see it then I will be sitting here for ever trying to explain it and you still won’t see it that is what I meant by a waste of time…… I can however explain this one qite quick that has nothing to do with the contradictions…. He used can, may, could, etc all the way through his reply to you which also implies he is UNSURE….