9
of
9
people found the following review helpful
Good product, with some reservations for baking,
December 13, 2008
By
Kate McMurry
from Virginia
This product tastes good and iHerb has a very good price for it. However, it is important to note that this product is not 100% calorie free, as the product label seems to claim. The front of the label states says that this product contains ".9 carbs per serving, which can only mean that SlimSweet contains "slightly less than one gram of carbohydrates per serving." There is a very good reason that a serving of this product has been sized so that it contains slightly less than a gram of carb per serving: legally, if a serving of a processed food contains less than a gram of either fat, protein or carbohydrates, for whichever of them that is less than a gram, the manufacturer is not required to report its calories. This, however, is the unvarnished truth about carbohydrates, any carbohydrates: in all times and places, they have 4 calories per gram. Even sugar alcohols and fiber officially have 4 calories per gram, even though they are counted as 0 calories by people on low-carb diets because the body can't digest them. For SlimSweet, then, a 1/5 teaspoon serving with .9 gram of carb means it contains not 0 calories, but 3.6 calories. That's not so bad if all you are doing is drinking tea or coffee and using a couple servings a day. But what if you want to bake with it? If so, you need to look at the larger picture: 1 tablespoon equals 15 servings (5 servings per teaspoon times three teaspoons per tablespoon), or 54 calories, and a cup of SlimSweet, which equals 16 tablespoons, is a whopping 864 calories. It's crucial to remember that if you choose to bake with this product and factor it in accordingly when you do your calorie count.
The second thing to remember in baking with this sweetener is that you will have to experiment to see for yourself if. to your personal taste, lo han guo lives up to the oft-repeated claim that, like stevia, it is 200-300 times as sweet as table sugar. In my experience, this is not true with either sweetener. Per my taste, SlimSweet is, maybe, 5 times as sweet as table sugar (and may be why the manufacturer's lists a serving size of 1/5 teaspoon, because a serving size of table sugar is 1 teaspoon). Per my taste, stevia is, at best, 8 times as sweet as table sugar, because I use 1/8 teaspoon for tea or coffee where I might have used 1 teaspoon of table sugar. Translated for baking, I would use about 1/3 cup of SlimSweet (lo han guo) for 1 cup of table sugar and about 1/8 cup of stevia for 1 cup of table sugar.
There are several advantages to baking with SlimSweet (lo han guo) vs. stevia. SlimSweet is granulated to have the same texture as table sugar and it has no bitter aftertaste, which stevia can have if you use more than a tiny amount. Even knowing this, you will need to experiment if you want to bake with this product. For example, when I made a batch of chocolate cookies, I substituted 2/3 C. of SlimSweet and 1/2 tsp. stevia for 2 cups of table sugar and the cookies should have been sickeningly sweet, but they were not. They tasted just about as sweet as table-sugar-sweetened cookies. Their texture was also off. They were supposed to be chewy cookies, but they had the texture of ginger snaps. I believe this is because of some important chemical-reaction issues that come up when using this product or stevia as a sugar substitute in baking recipes: (1) table sugar reacts very differently with all the other ingredients in the baking recipe than various sugar substitutes, including lo han guo; (2) depending on how much sweeter than table sugar your sweetening agent is, you will use relatively less volume of it than you would of table sugar, which will require you to adjust the amount of liquid you use and the baking time and temperature you use.
Finally, you might want to know that Dr. Marcus Laux recommended lo han guo in his January 2007 health newsletter as a good sugar substitute, along with stevia, xylitol, sucanat, inulin, agave nectar/syrup, and rice, barley and brown rice malt syrups.
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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7
of
7
people found the following review helpful
Great stuff - valuable addition to my kitchen,
March 02, 2008
From Great Britain
This stuff tastes delicious. Zero aftertaste. I am on a zero sugar diet for medical reasons and have struggled on and off with Stevia (NuNaturals brand is, by the way, the best tasting stevia out there and I've tried them all.) I still have a place in my cupboard for Stevia - but am overjoyed that Slim Sweet is available through iherb because if I now use the two together I have a 100% natural product with a great "sweetness profile"
Stevia is known to be a bit difficult in terms of a tendancy towards bitter aftertaste. It is not as yummy or rounded as Lo Han - aka Slim Sweet - but I like to use some of both in my general diet as I'm hedging all my bets, health wise.
I have noticed how things which in one decade we are assured in 100% safe for us - quite often shows up in later decades to have health disadvantages. I am not saying this is the case with either Lo Han or Stevia, but by using both I get great versatility and also great flavor.
I even bake using a mix of the two (and add a little bit of glycerin to give the baked goods some moisture which they lose without sugar). Slim Sweet highly recommended - has a faint taste a little like caramel or brown sugar - so an added bonus.
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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4
of
4
people found the following review helpful
best sweetener yet!,
March 13, 2006
From Kentucky
Slimsweet is the first product I've tried with Luo han and I must say the flavor is great with no after taste. The taste is closer to brown sugar or caramel than sugar. Excellent product and price!!
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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3
of
3
people found the following review helpful
slimsweet,
February 23, 2008
From Alaska
I love this product ,it almost has a slight honey flavor to it. I baked a low carb cheesecake with it , it was wonderful. No aftertaste!
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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2
of
2
people found the following review helpful
Great taste,
April 19, 2006
I tried it...taste much better than Stevia. Your price is the best on net.
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claims from this review.
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1
of
1
people found the following review helpful
best non. cal sweetener,
July 12, 2006
Best taste, best price of non cal sweeteners.
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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1
of
1
people found the following review helpful
SlimSweet,
November 24, 2006
From Kansas
This produce is great - is sweet without the aftertaste. A little goes a long way. Is heat friendly.
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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1
of
1
people found the following review helpful
Great Product!,
January 24, 2007
By
Donna Hodach-Price
from Wisconsin
This product has an excellent "clean" taste, is heat stable, works exceptionally well in blends with other sweeteners and of course, you offer this product at a great price.
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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1
of
1
people found the following review helpful
Slimsweet,
April 17, 2008
From Great Britain
All fine and cheaper than I have got it before
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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1
of
1
people found the following review helpful
Lo Han is Best Tasting of All of the Natural, No-Cal Sweetners,
June 28, 2008
From California
I give this product a big thumbs up because it tastes sweet, slightly maple-ish with no weird Xylitol coolness. I keep this one pound canister in my fridge to discourage caking, which works pretty well, and I use it mainly in coffee. I will admit that it is expensive since you do have to use almost the same amount as sugar to get the desired sweetness, but I do not care. This product tastes great, it is natural, it has virtually no calories and doesn't spike your blood sugar levels. Amazing! I am going to try Life Solutions Liquid Lo Han next for comparison.
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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1
of
1
people found the following review helpful
Sweetener,
July 09, 2008
From Pennsylvania
Best no-calorie sweetener around. No aftertaste! It really tastes like sugar.
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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1
of
1
people found the following review helpful
Lo Han sweetener,
August 14, 2008
From California
Great alternative sweetner, doesn't make things super sweet, but enhances the flavor and removes bitterness.
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical
claims from this review.
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