- Exquisite floral taste with the delightful zing of real ginger
- Great-tasting low-glycemic sweetener
- Whole food, unrefined sweetener
- Works in any recipe just like sugar
- Sustainably-harvested: preserves jungle habitat and wildlife
- Beyond-Fair-Trade: increases skills, profits, independence, and education in rural farm communities
- Spiced with the immune-boosting benefits of real ginger
- Low Glycemic Index of 35 (Honey averages 55 and Cane Sugar is 68)
- Mineral rich (unlike sugar or agave). High in Potassium, Magnesium, Zinc and Iron
- Source of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and C.
- Unprocessed, unfiltered, and unbleached
- Zero Additives and Preservatives
Our Organic Coconut sugar is low-glycemic (Glycemic Index 35), so it won’t cause the energy crash that sugar or honey do. Supplemented with the culinary zing and the immune-boosting benefits of real ginger, this healthy sweetener is the perfect addition to under-the-weather teas, healthy lemonade drinks, or zesty Thai dishes.
Mild and smooth, it’s perfect for your morning cup of tea or as a recipe substitute for ordinary sugar or Agave.
Coconut sugar is made from the fragrant, sweet sap of coconut palm blossoms. This vitamin & mineral-rich nectar is traditionally hand-harvested in wildlife-friendly coconut groves and carefully processed by small-holder farmers who take pride in bringing you this gift from the tropical tree of life! 100% of the money from growing, harvesting and primary processing of this ingredient enriches the local community, creating a legacy of sustainable island entrepreneurs!
SUGAR VS COCONUT SUGAR
Coconut Sugar is rated a 35 on the Glycemic Index (GI). By comparison, most commercial Honeys are GI 55 and Cane Sugars are GI 68.
Like a "whole food," coconut sugar is a "whole sweetener." Coconut sugar is merely the dehydrated, crystalized sap of the coconut palm flower, unrefined and naturally high in ancillary nutrients. Since coconut sugar is low glycemic, the body absorbs its sugars slowly and has time to burn them off, preventing the "blood sugar spikes" we associate with sweet foods.
What makes coconut sugar low-glycemic? It's the nutritional co-factors, which slow down the process of absorbing the sugars.
Refined cane sugar is like a drug: a chemically pure crystal of 100% sucrose comprised of short chain saccharides (which digest quickly, causing blood sugar spikes). This is why refined cane sugar rates a high 68 on the glycemic index. Lowering our intake of high-glycemic foods such as cane sugar has benefits for weight control and improving glucose and lipid levels in people with diabetes.
Coconut sugar, on the other hand, is 75% sucrose, comprised of long-chain saccharides, which the body must break down, so they are absorbed much slower. (Coconut sugar also has additional small percentages of fructose and glucose.) Coconut sugar also has significant levels of minerals (especially Potassium, Magnesium, Zinc and Iron), vitamins (particularly B1, B2, B3, B6 and C), and over 14 important amino acids. These other materials, and especially the amino acids, are thought to act as a buffer to the sucrose, slowing the speed at which the sugars are absorbed into the blood stream.
GINGER BENEFITS
With the addition of the superspice ginger, this sweetener gets real immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory benefits. Ginger is a soothing anti-nauseant (perfect when you're feeling under the weather), and studies show that it supports health in everything from aching joints to the digestive system. Like all immune-boosters, ginger also may have anti-cancer benefits as well. All around, it's a healthy spice to be consuming regularly, especially if you love its enlivening flavor!
GLOBAL IMPACT
Purchasing this product is a vote for a better world.
Coconut sugar is more than just a healthy product—compared to soil-depleting, water-intensive crops like sugar cane, it’s one of the most sustainable sweeteners in the world. Tropical palms are an ecologically beneficial tree-crop that grow in diverse, wild-life supportive agro-ecosystems, restore damaged soils and require very little water. Unlike destructive palm oil plantations, coconut palms integrate harmoniously with surrounding ecosystems to provide uninterrupted habitat for wildlife. They also produce an average of 50-75% more sugar per acre than sugar cane. While cane sugar is an annual crop, coconut sugar has daily harvesting, every day of the year.
Coconut palms are a tremendous benefit to the small farmers who cultivate them. Known as the “Tree of Life,” the coconut palm provides over 100 different sustainable and profitable products for our small farming partners: timber for building, the leaves used as roofing, coconuts as food, coconut water as beverage, coconut husk for fuel and coconut nectar as a sugar. This one tree has the single highest potential for lifting these farmers into a better life while creating a net benefit to their surrounding environment.
By training small farmers to Organically process coconut sap themselves, we increase their profit-margins, enriching them and their communities. Coconut sugar has raised our small farming partners well above the poverty line—dramatically increasing family incomes! We also partner with regional NGO’s to educate local communities about cooperative management and global markets, which helps keep supply chains fair and transparent.
Small-holder farmers climb up the coconut palms that grow on their land. Some trees are as high as 150 feet! In the gently swaying palm canopy grows a flower (really an "inflorescence" made of hundreds of tiny flowers that could grow into coconut). The farmer ties these inflorescences into bunches and gently slices the tip of the flower spike to create a wound that leaks pure nectar. The farmer attaches a container to capture nectar for the next 6-8 hours, which yields about half a liter per tree! Then the nectar is collected and carefully boiled to prevent fermentation and to thicken the nectar into a caramel-like consistency, and it is poured into molds for cooling and hardening before it is dried and milled at a central facility in Bali.
Finally, we add real culinary grade organic ginger to make a totally unique sweetener!
Unlike the "palm sugar" available in much of Asia, we do NOT cut this product with added cane sugar. Our coconut sugar is 100% pure, single-ingredient product with no additives, fillers, or added sweeteners.
PRICE: SUGAR VS COCONUT SUGAR
Coconut sugar costs more than cane sugar (which is heavily subsidized and an incredibly destructive crop, environmentally).
Coconut sugar is more comparable to Agave (another low-glycemic sweetener). Coconut sugar is a healthy, sustainable sweetener helping to support sustainable farming. Agave is mostly grown on mono‐crop plantations, with pricing held high by cross‐over demand from the tequila/mezcal industry in Mexico. With coconut sugar, much more of your dollar goes to support the work of sustainable small-holder farmers.
