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My Top Six Ingredients

by Liz Bygrave

Below is a list of the ingredients I use most often in my sweet recipes. I use them all loads and love them all. Here’s why:

Xylitol
With a glycaemic index (GI) of just 7 (for comparison that of sugar is 68), xylitol is, in my opinion, a great alternative to sugar. It’s spelled with either an ‘x’ or a ‘z’. It looks and tastes just like sugar, the only difference being that it tastes slightly more ‘refreshing’ than sugar).  But it has only 60% of the calories, and the low glycemic index (GI) means that it is broken down slowly in the body, thus avoiding stress on the pancreas and blood sugar.  In addition, its molecular structure means that bacteria can’t grow in it, so it won’t cause tooth decay and most candida sufferers should be able to eat it.

Xylitol is made in our own bodies and is present in a variety of fruit and veg.  It  was discovered about 100 years ago in Scandinavia when uses for the left over products of the paper industry were being researched. Xylitol was originally made from birch bark, and sometimes still is, though nowadays it is more commonly manufactured from corn husks.

It can be used as a direct replacement for sugar, weight for weight, though some people find it a bit sweeter than sugar so watch out for that when you try it.  The only recipes it can’t be used for are bread (as yeast won’t rise in it) and any recipe that requires the sweetener to caramelise.

Xylitol is my favourite sweetener and I really recommend trying it. You can get it from most health food shops nowadays and also from many supermarkets. For UK readers Sainsbury’s, for instance, stock it in their health food section and Waitrose in their sweetener section. It is also available online.  If you visit www.perfectsweet.co.uk and send them an email with your postcode, they will tell you your nearest stockists.  For more information, read my article on xylitol on this site. (This also tells you more about the glycemic index.)

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Agave Syrup
This is a medium GI natural sweetener, made from the same plant as tequila.  It is reminiscent of golden syrup in taste and texture and is a versatile sweetener. Agave is a fructose, and fructose is normally only one step up in healthfulness from sugar. However, because agave syrup has a medium glycemic index (40) it is seen as being more healthy than other fructose sweeteners.  Agave syrup hails from Mexico and is available from most health food shops (though if you eat raw food you will have to order the raw version specially from the internet).

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Coconut Oil
Coconut oil gives a soft silky texture to recipes and is good for binding ingredients together. As a saturated fat, coconut oil has had a bad press over the years, but many nutritional experts now regard it as a very health-giving food.

One reason is that is high in something called medium-chain fatty acids, which are said to be more likely to be used for energy than laid down as fat.  Some claim that coconut oil can even raise metabolism, thus actually aiding weight loss.

When taken internally, coconut oil is also said to have anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.

I use coconut oil extensively in my chocolate truffles, my cheesecakes & mousses, and to bind pie crusts together. (For instance, it’s a vital ingredient in the Lemon Cheesecake recipe you get if you sign up to the newsletter.)

Note: the term ‘coconut oil’ is generally used interchangeably with ‘coconut butter’. At room temperature coconut oil is solid and white. As it warms it quickly becomes liquid and transparent. Some people use the term coconut oil to refer to the liquid and coconut butter to refer to the solid. I just tend to call it coconut oil. (Update 11/08: however, just to confuse things, there is now a new product, available in the US only at present, called ‘coconut butter’, which is made from the whole coconut flesh not just the fat.)

It’s important to get good quality coconut oil. For instance, the oil I sell at my workshops is from a company called Tree Harvest - they have an individual relationship with their supplier in The Philippines which ensures a very high quality oil (as well as fair working conditions and profits) and they also don’t use monkeys in the harvesting of the coconuts. As a general rule, the more you pay the better the quality of the oil, though coconut oil is coming down in price. In the UK, if you pay around £10 per 500g you are generally going to get a decent quality oil.

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Raw Chocolate Powder
This fine powder is a key and versatile ingredient in most of my chocolate recipes.  At least 4 x higher in antioxidants than even the darkest of dark chocolate, it is also high in feel good mood-enhancing factors such as PEA and anandamide.

I use raw chocolate in preference to processed cocoa powder (even organic cocoa is heavily cooked and processed). However, I do appreciate that not everyone wants to use, or has access to, raw chocolate powder, so most of my chocolate recipes can also be made with normal cocoa powder. If you're going to use cocoa powder, make sure that it's sugar free.

For more information on raw chocolate, read my article on this site: Raw Chocolate: A Beginner’s Guide.

Raw chocolate is available in some health food shops in the UK. It is easier to get it on the internet (and I also sell it at my workshops). Click here to buy from the Sweet Sensations shop.


Raw Cacao Butter
This raw version of cocoa butter is a superior quality, beautifully textured ingredient that I use a lot in my chocolate recipes.  It is of course also used in commercial chocolate recipes, and in cosmetics, but the quality is nowhere near that of raw chocolate.  

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Lucuma
The dried powder of a Peruvian fruit, lucuma is Peru’s most popular flavour of ice cream, and perhaps one of their best kept secrets! It has a rich, warm butterscotch flavour and adds a biscuity shortbread-like taste to recipes, and a rich depth to chocolate recipes. Nutritionally, it is high in betacarotene. I use it in my Chewy Chocolate Almond Cake recipe and also in the Millionaire Shortbread recipe, among others.

You can buy these ingredients from the Sweet Sensations online shop.