Lucuma - Artificial Sweetener May Be the Smartest Sugar Swap Yet (AOL)

[mccoy]

@desertshores

To avoid these additives, I buy pure stevia powder

That’s me now! I find stevia very good in some drinks, less so in others like coffee, but as another poster was writing, to tell the truth, coffee should be drunk with no sweetener whatsoever.

[mccoy]

@AustraliaLongevity

I’m likely going to use stevia most of the time but something with a little carbohydrates like lucuma would be nice every now and then.

Tonight I tried to mix a little low-fat milk into the lucuma powder until I had a moderately thick slurry. It was pretty good, but after I added the tiniest bit of pure cacao powder, then it turned into excellence.

[AustraliaLongevity]

If nothing else I imagine it will go well in my nightly yogurt.

@desertshores

Stevia is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar, so most stevia-based sweeteners include fillers like maltodextrin, erythritol, and others to make them easier to use. To avoid these additives, I buy pure stevia powder and transfer it to a salt shaker

You get more stevia per $ by getting the pure extract vs those watered down erythritol/stevia mixes anyway, but they sell big bags of the erythritol mixed garbage for cheap labelled as “stevia” so people don’t realize what they’re buying.

[AustraliaLongevity]

Reporting back on lucuma. Doesn’t work in coffee at all. As I feared, it was gritty and it all sank to the bottom of the glass. Perhaps if I incorporated into milk heated for a latte/cappuccino it would be a different story. Additionally, it has a tart berry like flavor that doesn’t suit coffee for me at all.

It IS delicious when mixed in yogurt though, so it’s not a loss for me. It’s actually quite delicious.

I wonder what else it would go well with? I could imagine it going well with smoothies but I don’t really make those anymore.

[mccoy]

In my opinion, Lucuma cannot be defined as a sweetener, but rather a natural and healthy thickener with a sweetish, full flavour. Good when you feel like something denser than milk, for example.
So far, the best combination was with kefir and bitter cacao powder. Milk is OK, full-fat yogurt was better without, maybe good with fat-free yogurt.

[AustraliaLongevity]

Sort of tastes like acai berry.

[mccoy]

As a result of this discussion, now I’m eating far less sweeteners. I only take a little erythritol rather than the previous 30-50 grams per day. Plus I take some stevia and some honey. And some sweeteners in commercial drinks. Once you stop using many sweeteners, the taste tends to adjust to it. Being liberal in their use tends to saturate the receptors of sweetnes, evidently.