Date Paste: A Natural Sweetener

The date paste is a natural and practical option to replace sugar in recipes, to sweeten tea, milk...

But why replace sugar?

The World Health Organization strongly recommends that we limit the consumption of sugar in 10% of daily calories, which is equivalent to 50g per day, preferably less than 5% (25g) and the less as possible. Currently in Brazil each inhabitant consumes 145g sugar per day, or 3 times the maximum recommended by the WHO. No wonder more than 50% of Brazilians are overweight.

And the date paste, being made of fruit and preserving its fibers, does not count as sugar.

I'm not suggesting you to stop eating sugar, but to decrease the amount you eat, substituting by natural fruit sugars and when eating to prefer more nutritious sugar options like brown sugar, molasses and coconut sugar (these up to 50g daily).

Dates, Healthy Sweetness

Dates are very sweet fruits, easily found dehydrated in Brazil. They are very nutritious and have many benefits, including: balances digestion, regulates intestinal health and blood glucose levels, by the presence of soluble and insoluble fiber, regulates the heart rate, by the high concentration of potassium and etc.

Date Paste Recipe

Yield: about 2 cups Easy Time: 1 hour (sauce) + 5 minutes (preparation)

Ingredients

2 cups dried dates, pitted Water

Directions

1. Soak dates in warm water for 1 hour. Put only enough water to cover the dates;

2. When they are soft, puree in a blender with the soak water. It is ready!

Tips

You can store in the refrigerator for about 1 week or in the freezer for 3 months.

Bibliografy

Kindersley, Dorling. Mariane Janikian, the cookbook of medicinal kitchen: essential information to prepare dishes with functional foods that benefit health, São Paulo: Publifolha 2014.