[Sca-cooks] Brown rice syrup?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Feb 25, 2007, at 12:04 PM, Caointiarn wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message -----
>> I can highly recommend polydextrose combined with Splenda
>> (polydextrose provides the bulk and mouth feel, but doesn't taste
>> very sweet) for both syrups and baking. You can even caramelize it...
>> Adamantius
>
> How does an ordinary mortal find this polydextrose?  Friendly  
> neighborhood
> grocery?  Health Food store?
> An intrigued Caointiarn

It's probably more of a weird-industrial-ingredient-store thing than  
a health-food-store thing, but you can get it from the Honeyville  
Grain people at

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/

Basically the stuff is a carb so complex that your body treats it as  
fiber, but it looks and behaves a lot like granulated sugar. You  
still generally need an artificial sweetener, but when used together,  
it's probably the best substitute out there for sugar for baking and  
syrups. It does tend to clump up a bit in the presence of moisture,  
which makes it ideal for syrups and a little tricky for some baking  
applications, but if you mix it thoroughly with the dry ingredients  
first, that's not generally a problem.

It's also alleged to be good for ice creams and such, but I haven't  
tried it.

The site I mentioned says there is a consumption level whereby it may  
have a laxative effect on some people (after all, it's chemically  
close to dietary fiber), but it states that that level is something  
like 90 grams, which is not a little bit. Three ounces of 100% bran  
flakes will probably have the same effect ;-). So, unless you plan to  
eat three ounces of the stuff with a spoon, or plan to replace the  
cane sugar in what would otherwise be a potentially dangerously  
abusive diet anyway (i.e. eating half a cheesecake and feeling  
virtuous because you're dieting) with "healthy" options, this  
probably won't be an issue.

I'm not a diabetic and don't consistently pursue the really-low-carb  
thing, but I do like to avoid the highly-concentrated sugars and  
starches because I hate that Thanksgiving-day coma effect. For years  
I just thought football was the most boring thing in the world. I  
still think that, but now realize that that wasn't what was making me  
sleepy.

Adamantius



"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread, you have to say, let them eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04