While sweet festivals are synonymous with celebration in India, the awareness of health and wellness is fast growing, and people seek alternatives to refined sugar. Be it ladoos, halwa, or mithai, traditional Indian festive delicacies conventionally contain loads of sugar. Natural sweeteners offer the same delicious experience as any other sweetener, adding nutritional value to your favorite sweets. If you've ever felt a little guilty indulging in sweet treats during festivals, this might be the alternative you need: rich flavours and added minerals, among other health benefits like lower glycaemic index. From traditional jaggery to the latest fad coconut sugar, natural sweeteners are slowly gaining popularity across homes in India. Let's look at some of these natural sweeteners that would help adorn your festive sweets without a compromise on taste or health.
Natural Sweeteners to Use for Festive Delights
Jaggery
Jaggery is one of the oldest natural sweeteners in use in Indian kitchens. Prepared from either sugarcane juice or date palm sap, jaggery is rich in iron, potassium, and magnesium, making it much healthier than refined sugar. Jaggery is used in traditional sweets such as gur ke ladoo, chikki, and kheer added with jaggery. With its deep, caramel-like flavor, jaggery doesn't only impart sweetness but enhances the richness of the festive treats. It finds wide applications during winters because of its warming action.
Coconut Sugar
Coconut sugar comes from the sap of coconut palm trees and tends to be on a high as far as the natural sweeteners are concerned. It has a low GI compared to refined sugar, resulting in a slower rise in blood sugar levels. In the preparation of Indian sweets, it can replace sugar in various sweet items such as halwa, barfi, and cakes. Its mild caramel flavor just blends into the dessert. Therefore, this variety is good for health-conscious people who cannot resist festive treats entirely.
Honey
Honey is a smart natural sweetener used for thousands of years not only for its taste but for medicinal purposes, too. In India, honey is being put to ample use in festival sweets such as 'shahi tukda' and 'phirni'. Honey, unlike refined sugar, is full of antioxidants, enzymes, and all those important nutrients that help in building immunity. However, it needs to be dealt with in such a way that it is not heated to very high temperatures, as it can lose its beneficial properties. Use it over cooled desserts to give a touch of natural sweetness to it.
Date Syrup
Dates form a staple part of the diet of most Indian homes, especially during festivals. Date syrup is extracted from pressed dates and is one of the finest options for refined sugar. It is rich in fiber, iron, and antioxidants; hence, it is healthy too. The date syrup finds its application in sweets like ladoos, modaks, or even for topping pancakes or yogurt-based desserts. Its richness, fruitfully sweet, blends with different types of Indian festive dishes, making it a universally usable sweetener.
Stevia
Stevia is a nonsynthetic, plant-derived sweetener that has gained momentum of late, especially among diabetics and people who would want to cut down on sugar consumption. It contains zero calories compared to other sweeteners and is, therefore, one of the perfect options for people seeking weight management. Stevia is extremely sweeter than sugar; it has a unique taste which works in a lot of dishes, be it low-calorie kheer or fruit salads and even mithais. Stevia-based products are available in the Indian market, mainly to satiate the urge for sweets with minimal guilt.