Try It Tuesday- Agave Nectar

I’ve decided to bring back something I started and then didn’t keep going not too long ago. I know for me, a newbie to the clean eating, nutritional environment, sometimes seeing new ingredients in recipes is a bit intimidating because I’m not exactly sure what it is, or I’m not sure what it does for me. So as I research I’ll pass that info on to you every Tuesday! Today’s “Try It Tuesday” topic: Agave Nectar.

Agave Plant

If you’ve ever tried to start eating healthy and kick the white sugar habit, you’ve probably run across a recipe that calls for the ingredient agave nectar. Put as plainly as possible, agave nectar is the juice from an agave plant. It looks very similiar to those aloe plants that your grandma always kept around for sunburns. I know, you can’t imagine sucking the juice out of that plant and putting it in a cake, but it’s not exactly the same. As you can imagine, most agave nectar is produced in Mexico or the warmer climates of the Southern United States.

Once the juice is collected from the plant it is heated so the sugars in the nectar are really fired up and thus turn into simple sugars. Depending on the filtering and the heating temperature the liquid produce can be a variety of colors, but each contains iron, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. The syrup is thinner than honey in consistency. Also, the darker or lighter the color, the stronger or more subtle the flavor of the nectar. Best of all, this syrup is sweeter than regular table sugar! A little goes a long way! Full disclosure- agave nectar is not low-calorie. Truth be told, it has just as many calories as raw white sugar. If you’re restricting your diet for low calories you will want to take it easy. But as it is a sweetener that is sweeter than sugar, you should need less. There are tests going on right this second to determine if agave nectar is lower on the glycemic index than others sugars therefore making it a better choice for diabetics. Let’s hope!

Agave nectar is a great replacement for honey or sugar. As it is from a plant, it is completely vegan. If you’re focusing on vegan or a raw eater be sure you check out the botte and make sure you get the raw unheated version of the stuff. If you need to have sugar it is clearly one of the “cleanest” options you can get. Completely natural, no chemicals, no harsh additions…what more can you ask for? I like using agave as a substitute in recipes when I want to cut the sugar. Get the darkest form of nectar and put it on your pancakes or waffles! Use the lightest nectar and use it as the sugar in your muffins.

And yes, for you know-it-alls out there, agave is made from the same plant that they make tequila. I think it would take agave nectar a while to ferment into tequila though.

For your baking pleasure, here’s a recipe!

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