I will be making some medieval Persian flavored drink syrups in the next few weeks, and I’d like to make one without sugar. The original recipe involves making a simple syrup by boiling two parts sugar to one part water, then adding in some fruit or herbs, boiling that for a bit, and at the end putting in some vinegar. Lasts months with no refrigeration and you mix it back an ounce to a cup of water and you get period Gatorade only all natural.
I wanted to see if I could do something similar with Stevia or Splenda or another non-aspartame no-sugar blend. How would I do that? I’m thinking boil the flavor in water then add the sweet at the end. It woulnd’t preserve like sugar, but then I’m hoping to sell out! How much sweetener should I use?
Splenda comes in a large bag that can be measured unit-for-unit like sugar. So if the recipe needs a cup of sugar, a cup of that Splenda will be about the same sweetness. (They achieve this by “puffing it up” with corn starch and empty space). If you’re using cups at a time, this is preferable to lots of tiny packets, anyway.
And, yes, it should work just fine for your purposes. Just don’t expect it to work in an application like sorbet, where the sugar concentration is necessary to get anything other than a giant, flavored ice cube.
Double-check the label when you buy Splenda - certain types are “cut” with some sugar. I think they’re called “sugar blend.”
Stevia tends to have an herbal flavor, to a greater or lesser degree depending on I which one you buy. You may want to buy small amounts - or go to different coffee shops that have varieties of stevia available to sweeten with - and sample first before buying a lot of one brand.
You can use alcohol + stevia/spenda, while it won’t give you the sorbet texture it will soften it enough to use a spoon to dig into it.
I think in the end you’re just going to have to taste it and adjust as necessary till you find the right recipe.
I suppose you thought of this, but adding artifical sweeteners is going to somewhat undermine the “all natural” side to your drink.
Sugar in high concentration is what gives a liquid its syrup thickness and texture.
I have never tries splenda, but I guess this means experimentation is in order.
(This is why diet soda from a fountain is so annoying. To make up for the lack of thickness from sugar, they add a foaming agent to give the same bubbly behaviour, but the bubbles don’t break down as fast as with sugar-thckened water.)
I have never been in favor of nonsugar sekanjabin, we have played with it for about 10 years.
One of the things about sekanjabin/jalab syrups is that the sugar is hygroscopic and acts as a preservative. Unless you aim to keep it refrigerated it will spoil in about 2 weeks [average time unless hot canned in ball jars or equivalent.]
Stevia is at least closer to natural, since people have been using it for a long time as a sweetener, and the stuff in packets is extracted from leaves by drying and crystallization methods.
I have found a recipe for a stevia simple syrup made by soaking the leaves in water for 24 hours. You don’t get more natural than plant and water.
Stevia LEAF is quite bitter. Some Stevia extracts are also bitter. And since it is the “new thing” when it comes to sweeteners, they are expensive. It will take experimentation to find what works for you.
You might just create the herbal solution, and set out packets of sweetener, to let people sweeten their drinks to their own taste.
~VOW
Remember: During each night of the cycle of the full moon, brew nine leaves and you’ll get a special guest.
I don’t recommend using artificial sweeteners when making historical food, but as long as everyone in your camp knows there’s no real reason not to. I’ve tried making them with Splenda but the results were pretty nasty.
If you lower the amount of water and use more vinegar the no-sugar syrups will have a longer shelf life.
Which source are you using that calls for water? Al-Samarqandt? The Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century makes “Syrup of Simple Sekanjabin (Oxymel)” without water.
If you want “all natural” why don’t you use sugar alcohols like maltilol, erythritol or xylitol? They are not disgusting like pure stevia. (I don’t consider stevia a good sugar substitute at all). They are easily obtainable in most health food stores and come in a form that looks like sugar. These are the same substitutes that are used in candies for diabetics. The “cooling” effect that makes them unsuitable for certain dry baked goods would not be an issue for a beverage.