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Honey, Agave Nectar, Corn Syrup - interchangeability and effect on heat

Hopefully this turns into an open discussion on the interchangeability of sweeteners in hot sauces, used as a binding agent or for tweaking flavor.
 
Recently I have come up with a solid model for my scorpion sauces, which include 100g of a sweetener.  My first batch I used agave nectar.  When I ran out, I switched to honey, also using 100g.
 
What I found that was the batch with the agave nectar was hotter than the one with honey.  While the taste wasn't too far off, due to the relatively low percentage of the sweetener in ratio to the other ingredients, I was surprised at this effect.  I have not tried corn syrup or sugar.
 
Some health food sites http://newhope360.com/blog/agave-nectar-named-top-5-worst-sweetener"]like this one linked here[/url] show using a sweetener like corn syrup, agave, and sugar is somewhat frowned upon.  Not as bad as chemicals like sucralose or aspartame, but some diabetics have issues with agave and corn syrup, etc.
 
Honey has some positive and beneficial nutritional and medical properties.  You can read more about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_honey"]by clicking here[/url]
 
 
So what experiences have you had with sweeteners?  Have you ever tried substituting one sweetener for another in a batch?  Did you notice a heat change?
 
Corn syrup is often frowned upon by consumers for the whole political corn thing.  I've never used corn syrup, honey, or agave for sweeteners in sauces.  Only white sugar and brown sugar. 
 
I thought agave was better for diabetics because it's "low glycemic index" or something???  Just looked at the bottle I have and it says "absorbs slowly, preventing spikes in blood sugars. 25% sweeter than sugar." 
 
For general processing I'd probably steer away from agave because of the cost unless it's a limited run specialty something.  Honey is hard to deal with.  I used it in some salad dressings I used to make.  It sets up, then you have to melt it...and I think now you have to put a warning on the label "not to be consumed by children under 1 year old"  (like any kid under 1 will be sucking on scorpion sauces  :rolleyes:) :lol:
 
This doesn't answer your question about interchangeability though.  Don't have any experience with that. 
 
Kalitarios said:
Recently I have come up with a solid model for my scorpion sauces, which include 100g of a sweetener. 
 
They are definitely not interchangable by measurement, they all have different levels of sucrose or fructose. Agave says on the bottle "1.4 the sweetness of white sugar." Add to that they all taste different.
 
You'll just have to experiment, because they are not interchangable.
 
HFCS is frowned upon because they convert glucose to fructose in the lab. "Corn syrup" itself is not frowned upon, but it is not considered a sweetener because it is about half glucose half fructose. You can use this as a thickener or to make something syrupy without adding a lot of sweetness.
 
Honey has a pretty strong flavor profile. Maple syrup as well. Would you put honey on pancakes and maple syrup in your tea? Maybe, but they would be totally different.
 
You also have brown sugar, molasses, evaporated cane juice, brown rice syrup... and the list goes on. None interchangable. You have to experiment and TASTE. That may cost you a few bucks but don't rely on the Internet, you have to taste them in your sauce and get the right measurement.
 
Kalitarios said:
What I found that was the batch with the agave nectar was hotter than the one with honey.  While the taste wasn't too far off, due to the relatively low percentage of the sweetener in ratio to the other ingredients, I was surprised at this effect.  I have not tried corn syrup or sugar.
 
That could be your imagination, or the batch. Do a blind taste test. You may end up calling the other one hotter, and back and forth. If one is hotter than the other 5 times in a row in a blind taste test from the same batch, then yes, something made it hotter.

The best way to go about this is have a reason for using a particular sweetener. Once you know what they taste like, you will reach for the brown sugar and molasses for BBQ, the honey for fruit, the agave for Mexican, the brown rice syrup for Asian, etc. Or maybe you will like agave in them all. But taste them, and come up with your own reasons. The same way you come up with other flavors.
 
RedNeck Chili head said:
I have heard of using canned peaches and it sounds like it would be a great balence for a sauce. :rolleyes: 
most canned peaches are canned in a heavy sugar syrup, so that would assuredly work to sweeten and slightly thicken a sauce, assuming you left the peach puree in your sauce, the only problem would be your sauce would be kinda peachy! Maybe this would be great for a peach bhut, or peach habanero sauce. Though myself, I'm partial to hotter less sweet sauces as a general rule, though I will say sometimes in lieu of bbq sauce a 7pot or scorpion mango sauce really goes well on mesquite smoked ribs!
 
chile_freak said:
 Maybe this would be great for a peach bhut, or peach habanero sauce. 
whoa!  crazy that I find this topic today after spending a few hours mixing up a peach habanero sauce yesterday!  I did not use peaches in heavy syrup, that would be far too sweet for my tastes.
 
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