"Gary" > wrote in message ...
> Julie Bove wrote:
>>
>> "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
>> >
>> > If you Google "fruit juice for sweetener" they show that concentrate
>> > is usually used. That gets rid of the water and leaves the sugar
>> > behind.
>>
>> Thanks!
>
> Question for you. If you avoid real sugar and substitute Splenda, why
> would you want this juice sugar? Refined sugar is mostly made from
> sugar beets in the US. That's a vegetable/fruit. Or you could buy a
> bag of pure cane sugar...that should be acceptable to your vegan
> preference.

I did use Splenda and it was fine. But I just don't really want to use it.
No real reason why. Most sugar is not vegan. I have read that you can buy
vegan sugar but I've never seen it. Reasons why I don't wantto use sugar is
that it is high in carbs. Yes, fruit juice is high in carbs too but the
pies that I tasted that use it had a less sweet taste and that was more to
my liking. I am not a vegan but I do have to avoid dairy and eggs. The no
sugar added pies I have seen in the stores almost always contain one of both
of those. I did put a very light sprinking of sugar (perhaps 3/4 t.) on the
top of the pie for crunch. The top also did not have a full crust. I used
little triangles of the pastry to put across the top in a creative fashion,
mostly because as I said...I don't do crusts well and the remaining pastry
was left in a shape that looked like I could easily cut it into triangles.
Heh.
>
> Not telling you what you should do...I'm just wondering why so many
> here seem to hate or avoid using a bit of refined sugar, yet they will
> substitute another simple sugar for recipes.

Mainly I just don't buy much sugar. When I had to do a total cupboard
cleanout due to those bugs, I bought a little packet of raw sugar. It's a
little more coarse than regular sugar and has a slightly brownish tinge.
The packet contains maybe 8 oz. I never opened it. Until now. And chances
are, I will wind up tossing most of it at some point, unused. We just don't
eat a lot of sweets here.

I also don't do a lot of baking any more. But when I do, I try to use
natural things that provide sweetness. Such as dates. The vegan apple
fritters that I made used dates whizzed with water for sweetness. I learned
to use this technique when I was on the raw vegan diet and it is a taste
that I like. I would never pop a whole date in my mouth because that is
just too sweet form me. Not even if it was stuffed with peanut butter. But
when used in a carrot cake or fritter, it just leaves the end result with a
wholesome taste that I like.

I do use the brown sugar Splenda blend for some things. I use a small
amount in baked apples and I use it in my baked beans.

I am not really anti-sugar but... I just don't have a real taste for it and
I never used it when Angela was little so she never developed much of a
taste for it either. She does like some things that I don't like. Like ice
cream, Oreos, Newman O's, even marshmallows. I guess I just prefer for us
to use things that have the most nutritional value when I can. And if I can
sweeten something with dates, rather than sugar then we are getting whatever
nutrients that are in the dates. Because while sugar does provide calories,
it is otherwise nutritionally void. Hmmm... Perhaps I can make a pie with
dates! I know the taste would work well with apples. But would it work
with berries?