Sweet or Spicy? What’s Your Flavor?

Answering consumers’ demand for more natural, organic sweetening products, Wholesome Sweeteners recently unveiled a new line of organic blue agave syrups in four flavors — cinnamon, maple, strawberry and vanilla.

The products made their debut this month at Wholesome Sweeteners’ trade show booth at the Natural Food Expo West in Anaheim, California.

Consumer Marketing Manager Karen Stevenson expects the line to be a hit in the marketplace. “Agave is our fastest growing product type. It’s really unprecedented,” she says.

What’s responsible for the growth? “As consumers become more aware of new sweetener options, they’re more willing to try them,” Stevenson says. “It used to be that we only had conventional white and brown sugars to choose from. Now there are new sweeteners that combine in new, wonderful ways.”

Part of the appeal of agave is that it’s organic and has a low glycemic index, which is a measure of how quickly a body adjusts to sugars. High-glycemic food causes blood sugar to spike. Low-glycemic food gives a body energy, but more slowly. “It’s a slow burn vs. a fast burn,” explains Stevenson.

And like sugar, agave has versatility. This flavored line, for example, can be used to top waffles, pancakes or desserts, in oatmeal, as marinades, in coffee, or in homemade salad dressings.

To make agave, the core of the plant is first harvested then crushed. Juices are collected and filtered then hydrolyzed very slowly. To convert the agave juice into a nectar that our bodies can digest, Wholesome exposes it to low heat over a long period of time to create “raw” agave syrup, or brings the heat up faster to create regular (or “light”) agave. Raw agave is less filtered and has a slightly more complex flavor profile.

Within Wholesome’s new line, three flavors — strawberry, maple and cinnamon — are raw, while vanilla is light.

Stevenson says she’s been experimenting with the new line in her own kitchen, “and they’re so much fun. I made maple oatmeal scones and some ricotta fritters with vanilla agave that were so good they were dangerous to have in the house. I’m delighted to see how versatile they are.”