Limeade Made with Palm Sugar

You tap a maple, you get maple syrup. You cut into the flower buds of a palm tree, you get palm nectar that you can cook down into palm sugar. (Specifically, you can tap sugar date palms, sago palms, and coconut palms.) If you let the palm sugar dry out and go from a semi-liquid to a hard block, you can grind it up to create granulated palm or coconut sugar.

Typically, the term “palm” sugar refers to the sap tapped from sugar palm and sago trees, while “coconut” sugar indicates that the source was a coconut palm tree…but often the terms are confused and/or used interchangeably. No matter which palm was tapped, though, these natural sweeteners taste absolutely lovely. And seeing as palm sugar isn’t processed into send-your-blood-sugar-rocketing, over-the-top sugar oblivion, palm sugar also imparts flavor along with its pleasant not-too-sweet sweetness.

Palm sugar in its semi-liquid form dissolves easily in hot and cold liquids and is my favorite sweetener for hot chocolate. Granulated coconut sugar is perfect to sprinkle onto fruit, desserts, or ice cream…or to whisk into quick breads and muffins in place of refined white sugar. To me, the semi-solid palm sugar has a slightly stronger and more unique flavor than the granulated coconut sugar.

Coconut nectar is another lush sweetener and is more free-flowing than semi-solid palm sugar. That’s because the nectar is the liquid that initially wells up out of the cut flower; the darker, semi-solid palm sugar is created by boiling down that nectar. Again, I prefer the deeper-tasting palm sugar. (It somehow reminds me of candy corn!) And because it’s so flavorfully sweet, I find that I use a lot less of it. When I make hot chocolate, for example, I either use a full tablespoon of maple syrup or a half tablespoon of palm sugar.

Whichever you’re looking for, you’ll find these palm-sourced sweeteners in the baking section of well-stocked natural foods/health foods stores and sometimes in mainstream stores. Since palm sugar — also called “jaggery” in Indian cuisine — is used extensively in Southeast Asia, you might also find the palm sugar nestled into the Asian section.

Fresh Limeade with Palm Sugar

To make this refreshing and decidedly tropical drink, pour the juice of 1 lime into a tall glass. Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 T. palm sugar, stirring well to dissolve the palm sugar. Add 4 ice cubes and top it off with water. Stir again. (This would make an excellent base for a rum or tequila cocktail, by the way.)

Enjoy!

PB&C (Peanut Butter & Cocoa)

Who doesn’t like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?  Peanut butter and chocolate just go together.  But I guarantee that once you make your own PB&C in solid form or smoothie/shake form, you won’t ever want to go back to the prepackaged kind.  The homemade variety tastes better, it’s a whole lot better for your health, AND you probably already have the ingredients for it on hand.

In the interest of brevity, I’ll just put it this way:

Milk Chocolate, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Milk Non-Fat, Milk Fat, Lactose, Soy Lecithin, PGPR, Emulsifiers, Peanut(s), Dextrose, Salt, TBHQ (off the Reese’s label)

OR

Whole milk , 100% peanut butter, cocoa powder, maple syrup (out of your own blender).

Seriously, you gotta try making your own!  I swear you’ll never want a commercial PB&C again.

Liquid PB&C

Blend 1 cup whole milk (preferably from grass-fed cows, like Calder’s or Organic Valley), 1 T. 100% peanut butter, 1 T. cocoa powder, and 1 T. maple syrup (preferably Grade B) until smooth.  Enjoy!

Traditional PB&C

Dunk a square of dark chocolate (at least 70%; I go for 90%) in 100% peanut butter.  Enjoy!