Question from kitti
Hey thanks for putting up this excellent site – its just about the only one I’ve been able to find so far on homemade sweeteners. I’ve got low blood sugar, so i’m looking for an inexpensive sugar-alternative, to help me regulate that.
I’d like to learn to make Rice syrup, without the glucose (barley), but I’m not sure if its a good process for a home cook? Apparently the Japanese used to use Koji enzymes (which i think they also use in sake) which is some kind of mold(?) that breaks down the sugars. Unfortunately I havn’t found alot of good information on this subject as of yet. I like the idea of Rice syrup because its a complex sugar which breaks down more effectively than white sugar.
Your apple syrup recipe looks awesome – easy and inexpensive! But what is its shelf life? Should you keep it in the fridge or is it safe to store in a pantry? And (assuming one buys an apple concentrate without added sugar) how much better is this stuff than white sugar/fructose corn syrups?
I suppose you could make the same stuff with any other concentrated fruit juice?
If you know of any other good recipes or references I can look into, please post it.
Keep up the great work!!
Debra’s Answer
I think that making rice syrup is probably a long and laborious process–not that one shouldn’t do long and laborous processes, but it probably requires some “art” as well.
Apple syrup is easy to make. I don’t know the shelf life. I would keep it in the fridge. I’ve kept some in the fridge for weeks (like over a month) and it was fine. I would probably make an amount you would use in a month, not gallons.
You could make fruit syrup with any fruit juice. You could even start with fresh fruit juice instead of concentrate, it would just take longer to cook down.
Apple syrup is the only natural syrup I know of that a home cook could make. I suppose if you had access to maple sap you could boil that down, or you could evaporate cane juice if you had a sugar cane press and access to fresh sugar cane.
