Low-Calorie Sweeteners
There are plenty of sugar substitutes on the market, but could any of them actually work as well as ordinary sugar?
We tested six types of sugar substitutes and have yet to find one that's a universal stand-in for the white stuff.
AGAVE SYRUP
Natural sweetener made from the evaporated sap of the Mexican agave plant.
BRAND NAME: Madhava Agave Nectar
PERFORMANCE: About 1.5 times sweeter than sugar. Ideal for sweetening beverages, as it dissolves easily and has a relatively neutral taste. Not good for baking. Cookies were bready, cakes had a chewy layer of agave stuck in the pan.
Erythritol
Crystallized form of the sugar alcohol erythritol.
BRAND NAME: Organic Zero
PERFORMANCE: Terrific in beverages. Baking was another story: Sugar cookies turned out crumbly; cakes and muffins were chewy.
Granulated Sucralose
Sweetener derived from sucrose plus chlorine.
BRAND NAME: Splenda
PERFORMANCE: Perfectly acceptable in drinks, cobbler, and fruit-pie filling. But sugar cookies were overly soft and cakey and lacked sweetness.
Granulated Sucralose Blend
Mix of granulated sucralose and granulated sugar.
BRAND NAME: Splenda
PERFORMANCE: Drinks, cobbler, and fruit-pie filling all tasted fine. Sugar cookies had surprisingly decent texture but exhibited slight “artificial” aftertaste.
”Lite” Corn Syrup
Blend of glucose and sucralose.
BRAND NAME: Karo
PERFORMANCE: Sugar cookies and pecan bars had decent texture but exhibited slight “artificial” aftertaste.
Saccharin
Sweetener derived from petroleum.
BRAND NAME: Sweet ‘N Low
PERFORMANCE: Harsh, metallic aftertaste in drinks and baked goods. Sugar cookies were crumbly, and cakes and muffins were chewy. One upside: the metallic taste was less noticeable in fruit-pie fillings.
Stevia
Natural, calorie-free sweetener extracted from the leaves of the stevia plant (a sunflower cousin).
BRAND NAME: Truvia
PERFORMANCE: Mouth-puckering bitterness in beverages as well as in baked goods. Produced sugar cookies that were dry and crumbly rather than soft and chewy.