Let's talk about yacon syrup

[yulia]

Anyone has any experience with this sweetener? How does it taste?

After so much false info about agave (which turned out to be worse than HFCS because it is basically 70-90% free fructose while HFCS is only about 50% free fructose) I am very careful when it comes to believing something that just sounds too good to be true.

I keep reading that yacon syrup is basically FOS (fructooligosaccharide) which is undigestable by humans and is a prebiotic (food for good bacteria). I don't know whether to believe this or not, after the agave scam I have a very hard time trusting that kind of information. Perhaps just like agave the syrup has been processed to the point of releasing free fructose.

Any shared info and experience with the product would be appreciated.

yulia

[torque]

hi yulia-
i have never seen yacon syrup here but regularly eat yacon potatoes. they look like a sweet potato but are watery inside, like a cucumber or a jicama. they are super duper sweet and crunchy. they are sold as a food for diabetics because their sugars are inabsorbable (? is that a word) to humans. they are sweet and lovely and one of my favorites fresh.

that said, i live in the land of sugar cane, agave plants, palm flowers and yacon potatoes, and i don't see how any of these syrups can be produced without heating and processing. i often use yacon in smoothies or in recipes that need to be sweet, and there is some interesting research about its use against diabetes, but once it's processed i don't think i'd be interested in it anymore.
there are some interesting links on the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yac%C3%B3n

[yulia]

Originally Posted by torque

hi yulia-
i have never seen yacon syrup here but regularly eat yacon potatoes. they look like a sweet potato but are watery inside, like a cucumber or a jicama. they are super duper sweet and crunchy. they are sold as a food for diabetics because their sugars are inabsorbable (? is that a word) to humans. they are sweet and lovely and one of my favorites fresh.

that said, i live in the land of sugar cane, agave plants, palm flowers and yacon potatoes, and i don't see how any of these syrups can be produced without heating and processing. i often use yacon in smoothies or in recipes that need to be sweet, and there is some interesting research about its use against diabetes, but once it's processed i don't think i'd be interested in it anymore.
there are some interesting links on the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yac%C3%B3n

Thanks, torque.

yes, it looks like just like agave, yacon syrup does have a problem of free fructose which is pretty bad for our body. I guess when they prosess FOS they will always releave free fructose. bummer...