Question from LR
Hi Debra
In the section on sweetners in your book Home Safe Home you talk about thermogenic sweetners derived from Lo Han, but I haven’t seen Lo Han mentioned on Sweet Savvy. Can you tell me more about Lo Han? And how does it compare to Stevia?
I love your site and look forward to getting those recipes every week. Thanks so much!
Debra’s Answer
When I wrote about lo han in Home Safe Home, it was before I started experimenting with actually using the sweeteners, which turned into Sweet Savvy. So it was “theoretical”.
Using lo han turned out to be not very practical.
There are several commercial products made with lo han and other ingredients. One mixed it with corn fructose, which I didn’t want to use, another was mixed with a sugar I wasn’t sure of. The best one I’ve found is SweetFiber, which combines lo han with inulin, but I haven’t tried it. They promise three packets a day will help you lose weight.
Regardless, I later learned that the lo han in this type of product is very processed and uses solvents to extract only the sweet portion of the fruit. So this is not in a “whole fruit” form. [I just want to note, since you asked about stevia, that white stevia powder and liquid stevia are also highly processed and not whole foods. The best way to consume stevia is to eat the leaves off the bush or make tea from the dried leaves.]
In Asia, where lo han is more widely used, it is not in this refined form. Lo han fruit is sold fresh and as a dried fruit powder for medicinal purposes, and included in teas. So you may be able to get this whole dried lo han and try it in a beverage.
Here is a good article that has lots more info on lo han, if you wanted to use it for any of it’s medicinal purposes. I don’t see that it really is a viable sweetener for use beyond sweetening tea (but fine to use for that purpose).
