Pinenut Torte with Date Sugar & Honey
There’s a “new” natural sweetener in town — at least, in U.S. towns — and her name is Date Sugar.
The term “sugar” is only used to describe form and functionality in this case, however, rather than what the item is, which is simply dehydrated and ground-up dates. (Likewise, palm sugar is boiled-down and dried-out sap from a palm tree; coconut sugar is boiled-down sap from coconut blossoms.) Even in their fresh state, dates are so sweet — they can be as much as 50% fructose/glucose — that they make fantastic “sugar.” Dried, they’re even better (with a wonderfully concentrated flavor), and thanks to their high natural sugar content, they store for long periods of time.
You can find date sugar at health-food/natural-food stores, right alongside the sucanat and unrefined honeys and maple syrups. It’s a great alternative for refined sugar when you’re making fruit-based desserts or Indian/Asian/African sauces. (Many people in those regions of the world use sweeteners made from sap or sweet starches like tubers or roots; tapioca syrup, for example, is another interesting alternative.) Date sugar also works well in hearty cakes and pies such as the Pinenut Torte pictured above. It isn’t as sweet as refined sugar, however, so don’t expect an identical outcome…plus, of course, the dates present flavor as well as sweetness, which is why they work especially well in baked goods featuring fellow warm-weather ingredients (think banana bread and coconut muffins). In the Middle East and northern Africa, dates (and date sugar) are also paired with savory dishes. And date sugar is ideal for sprinkling on top of ice cream (either dairy-based or coconut-milk-based) and bananas.
So, the next time you’re searching for a different natural sweetener to try, bring home a bag of date sugar! (I transfer mine to a glass jar for easy storage and dispensing.) Not only is the flavor sure to tease your tongue, just inhaling the heady scent of the dates will make you think you’re on a sunny Mediterranean island.
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