Coconut Sugar: What Are the Benefits?
Blog post by Lindsay Mustard
Sugar, it’s a hot topic at the moment, and for good reason. In today’s blog post, we are going to be talking about the why they type of sugar found in your chocolate bar is important, how coconut sugar is made and what to look for when shopping for your chocolate. It’s a lot, but we’ll power through with chocolate in hand!
The Sugary Breakdown
Let’s start with a quick comparison. Say you pick up your favorite brand of chocolate, the average bar size is 100 grams with a serving size being roughly 40 grams. Any guesses how many grams of sugar are in the whole bar? Try a whopping 37-40 grams of sugar! Most people will consume a full chocolate bar in one sitting because of the combination of the creamy melt in your mouth feel, the fat and the sugar trio that leads them to wanting more.
While the dark chocolate version is better than their milk chocolate bar, which contains between 50-60 grams of sugar, less is more in this case. Now pick up a cane sugar-free Zazubean dark chocolate bar: The Buff bar containing 90% cacao packs as little as 7 grams of sugar for the entire bar! That is roughly one fifth of the amount of sugar, compared to the other brands.
Zazubean’s BUFF (90% cacao, vegan strong dark chocolate)
Coconut Sugar 101
Coconut sugar is a plant-based, anti-inflammatory sweetener, that has a low-glycemic index, meaning our bodies absorb the sugars at a slower rate. It is also rich in amino acids that help to support our metabolism, B Vitamins, and is rich in various vitamins and minerals such as iron, zinc, calcium and potassium. Because of its rich sources of potassium, magnesium and sodium, coconut sugar is a fantastic electrolyte that helps to regulate our body’s water content, heart, nerve and muscle functions. Coconut sugar also contains Vitamin C, which is known for supporting our immune system and maintaining healthy joints and skin.
Lastly, as we could list endless benefits of coconut sugar, coconut sugar contains 25 percent less sucrose than table sugar. That means the other 25 percent is composed of nutrients, fiber and other nutrients. In other words, not all sugars are created equally!
How Is Coconut Sugar Harvested?
Coconut sugar is made from the sap of the coconut palm trees that can be found in across the United States, Caribbean, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East. The cut is made on the spadix of the tree, in other words, the whole head of a coconut flower, occurring at the end of the stem. This allows them to access the nectar from the tree’s flower-bud stem. Once the sap is completely drained, it will then be heated in a wok until all of the moisture content has been evaporated. Coconut sap is about 80% water when it first drains out. Next, they mix the sap with water, boil it into a syrup, and allow it to dry and crystallize. Afterward, they break the dried sap apart to create sugar granules that resemble regular table or cane sugar.
Careful What Brand of Chocolate You Buy!
Thankfully, there are brands like Zazubean that sets the standards for superior, healthier dark chocolate. Zazubean offers a range of milk, vegan milk, white and dark chocolate. All of which are vegan (with the exception of the milk chocolate), ethically sourced and fairly traded. Their Coconut Sugar line of chocolates is sweetened of course with coconut sugar, that is fairly traded and ethically sourced from Indonesia, which serves as a healthy alternative to sugar eliciting a lower blood sugar response in the body and metabolizing at a slower rate compared to white sugar.
They have taken dark chocolate to the next level by adding Superfoods like maca, mint, dried raspberries, nuts, turmeric and orange to elevate their flavors and nutritional offerings. This combination makes their chocolate the ultimate nutritional powerhouse as it keeps cacao’s antioxidant properties intact, infuses them with superfoods, making their chocolate the perfect dessert, snack or midday pick me up when you’re having a bad day.