Palm sugar findings

So, I'm glad you asked that question- it made me want to look it up! I actually hadn't really heard of palm sugar. I read a couple articles, and interestingly enough, according to what I read, it seems to be a good substitute for refined sugar, and even superior in some ways than a few other sweeteners. Apparently, palm sugar is also known as "coconut sugar" because it comes from the blossoms of coconut trees.

Palm sugar contains the following vitamins & minerals (see superfoods website cited below):

• Zinc
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B6)
• Vit C

Although it sounds like a health food, it's still somewhat refined (which makes me wonder how many of the vitamins still remain after the processing). It's not raw, although neither are agave and stevia. On the glycemic index, it's 35, whereas honey is 55-60, and cane sugar is 68!!* So palm sugar has lower glucose content than some of the other sweeteners! (although according to Summertomato--see website #3 below--the glucose content may be low, some studies may have found high levels of sucrose in palm sugar. So, its glycemic index may be higher than is reported because the source that reported it was a company that was selling palm sugar).

As for the important stuff-- the flavor-- apparently, it has a caramel, rich sort of taste, similar to brown sugar. Sounds good to me! I'm not entirely sure of all the potential drawbacks, I only read a couple articles. But it sounds like it has promise as a good sweetener option. And though it has less glucose than some other sweeteners, it probably shouldn't be eaten for breakfast, lunch & dinner :) I'm still going to read more on the subject, and as with many sweeteners, there is so much that everyone is still learning. Oh, and all brands of palm sugar aren't created equal. See the third website listed below for a recommendation of what to look for in purchasing palm sugar. Apparently, some companies put fillers of white sugar into their "palm sugar," so beware!

In my opinion, the moral of the story is this-- we do what we can with the knowledge we have right now, and improve as we learn more. For now, there are a few discrepancies as to the actual glucose content of palm sugar, so be on the lookout for new studies reporting its glycemic index. In the mean time, we know it's less processed than refined sugar, and it sounds like it tastes good!

Don't know if this helps, but it was interesting for me to learn!!

See:
*http://www.naturalnews.com/028996_palm_sugar_natural_sweetener.html
**http://www.superfoods-for-superhealth.com/coconut-sugar.html
***http://summertomato.com/is-coconut-palm-sugar-a-healthy-sugar-substitute/