Have you ever used agave nectar instead of honey? I recently discovered it in our health food store. It has a lower glycemic index than honey and works just as well. I have used it in place of honey in your recipes.
Agave (pronounced 'uh-GAH-vay') nectar is produced from several species of agave, desert plants native to the Americas, known as "maguey" in Mexico. (The blue maguey is used to make both tequila and mescal.) Not surprisingly, agave is an important crop in Mexico. Just before they send up their huge flower stalks, these plants store a lot of energy in their cores in the form of a sweet-tasting carbohydrate called inulin. Agave nectar is produced by expressing the juice from the agave core, then filtering and heating it and treating it with enzymes to convert the inulin to sugars.
As you've noted, agave nectar is a natural sweetener that ranks relatively low on the glycemic load scale. It is sold in health food stores and online and has been growing in popularity in recent years. Although it provides as many calories as sucrose (table sugar), it is sweeter, so you can use less of it - say one-quarter of a cup to substitute for one cup of sugar in recipes. I like the taste of agave nectar and have started using it in my kitchen, as well as trying products that contain it.
A 2006 review of the scientific literature on agave published in HerbClip™, on the website of the American Botanical Council, concluded that it is safe to use agave in the amounts usually found in foods and beverages, but the reviewers cautioned that pregnant women should avoid it because some species (more than 200 have been identified) contain anordin and dinordin, steroids with contraceptive effects that could lead to miscarriage. I think this is a very low risk. I am more concerned about the sustainability of agave as a food source, because demand may soon exceed supply.
Andrew Weil, M.D.
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译文:
龙舌兰油有好处吗?
你有无曾经试过用龙舌兰油来代替蜂蜜?最近,我在我们健康食品商店发现了它.它的甘油指数比蜂蜜较低和功能一样.我已经用它代替了你处方中的蜂蜜.
龙舌兰(发单'uh-GAH-vay')油产自多种龙舌兰,是美国天然的沙漠植物,在墨西哥以"maguey"为人所知.(蓝色的龙舌兰通常会制造成蒸馏酒和麦斯卡尔酒).毫不惊讶,它是墨西哥重要的作物.过去,他们会长出巨大的花柄,这些植物以碳水化合物的形式储存非常多的能量在它们的果核中,被称为菊粉.龙舌兰果核快速制成汁便是龙舌兰油,然后,对菊粉进行过滤加热和酶转换,形成糖.
正如你所知,龙舌兰油是血糖含量较低的天然甜料.它在健康食品商店,网上店出售,并且近年来逐渐受到欢迎.虽然它所含的卡路里成份与蔗糖相同,但是它较甜,所以,用量可以很少,处方杯中,四分之一的龙舌兰油可以代替一杯糖.我喜欢龙舌兰油的味道,并已经在厨房中用到它,也开始在食物中用到它.
在2006年,一篇关于龙舌兰油的科学文章在HerbClip&trade发表,在美国植物委员会的网页里,总结出在所有食物和饮料中发现的龙舌兰总数是安全食用的,但警告怀孕的妇女应该避免食用它们因为一些植物中(有200多种已被认名)含有anordin 和 dinordin,带避孕功能的类固醇,可能会导致流产. 我认为这是非常低风险的.我更为关心将龙舌兰作为食物原料的持续发展,因为需要很快会供不应求.