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somersweet

10K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  kthull 
#1 ·
Ok, my wife's onto the next new thing for her and this time it's called Somersweet. Anyone use it before? It's a sugar substitute endorsed (created?) by Suzanne Somers. Supposedly better for you than Splenda because it's not chemically altered and claims to have no aftertaste/no calories. It's roughly 5 times as strong as regular sugar and the book that came with it even claims you can caramelize it like regular sugar.

I haven't begun playing with it yet, so I thought I'd see if any of you have used it.

Thanks!
 
#3 ·
I'm a skeptic too and I'm the one with a container in the kitchen. There's even a brulee recipe that uses it. Problem is, the picture shows the top with all these little blackened bubbles...not the nicely browned caramelization I'm used to seeing.

That picture is what made me want to ask before using the stuff. My wife putting it in coffee is one thing. Me spending the time and ingredients is another.

I suppose if nobody's used it, I'll retreat to the kitchen and let you all know what I discover.
 
#5 ·
It's expensive, though I don't know if it can be bought on a wholesale account. A 150g container costs $14.95. A case of 8 goes for around $50, reducing the cost quite a bit. But it is 'five times sweeter than sugar' so technically you're getting more for the cost. Still has to be waaay more than real sugar, but it's for weight loss, so there's the upside.

I'll grab the container and post the conversion chart on the can. I'll try to dig up a link too.
 
#6 ·
Oops, I need to clarify on prices. You get two cans for $14.95. Of course, you have to pay shipping, but supposedly this will be in stores soon.

You can find it in the product section at www.suzannesomers.com or try this link:
http://www.suzannesomers.com/Somersi...sweet_new1.asp

The can has the following equivalents (SomerSweet to sugar):
1/4 t = 1 t
3/4 t = 1 T
2 1/2 t = 1/4 c
1 T = 1/3 c
5 t = 1/2 c
3 T = 1 c
 
#7 ·
Few questions, what are the long term health studies on this stuff? What changes occor when boiled, broiled, frozen. What is this stuff made of and how much has to be done to it to get this end product?
I hope it doesn't turn out like the Hank-a-sizer.
 
#8 ·
First, let me say that I am no advocate of this stuff...just seeing if anyone has used it.

However, since M Brown raised the question, I thought I'd do some searching.

One of UN-natural ingredients is known as Ace-K. After filtering through quite a bit of conflicting information out there, here's a little of what I gleaned:

and

Though in Suzanne Somers claims the product uses a "botanical" Ace-K. Something about feeding the Ace-K to plants and then extracting it back out.

All this just goes to support my skepticism. But back to my original question...anyone use the stuff?
 
#13 ·
Well, so far so good. I made a caramel sauce tonight with the somersweet and it actually lives up to its promise. It caramelized nicely, though it took considerably longer than with regular sugar. And it had to be cooked down quite a bit after adding the cream.

Incidentally, following the recipe in the book that came with it, all you'd get is a caramel cream. Thankfully, I've made my fair share of caramel sauces.

Cheesecake is in the oven now, so I'll let you know tomorrow how that turns out.
 
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