I've asked this question too... just never really cared to figure the answer. Like, for instance, all those "healthy" options in the hospital cafeteria - fried, full of sugar, etc. Bakeries.. why are they even using sugar anymore?? American obesity is so rampant, you think they'd just switch over and not say anything... or sam something and get more business!

If you pursue it Benjamin, best of luck! I'll be happy to eat any horrible mistakes, in the bakery department.

Do the research on Aspartame and you'll discover why Sugar is still in high demand.

The medical evidence is very scary and aspartame was approved through certain political manuevers that benefitted the movers greatly!!!

Do the research,,,,I guarantee that you won't like the information that you find!!!

Weird thing is, I've heard Fidel Castro liked nothing better than to relax with a diet coke and listen to his favorite Nancy Sinatra track, 'These boots are made for Walking'...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OU7Nezg7Ls

Yeah, I have given up on Aspartame, but Splenda seems to be an acceptable alternative. It is still sugar, but in a form humans can't assimilate. One thing I've noticed about using Splenda in baked goods, especially pies, is that it tends to produce mold quicker than regular sugar.

Splenda doesn't seem to have as strong an aftertaste or off taste as other sweeteners seem to, at least for most of the people I talk to. Personally, I have no problem with consuming sugar, but for those who have a sweet tooth and health problems associated with diet, Splenda seems the best alternative. If it means the difference between getting used to an unfamiliar taste vs. having to stick a needle in my belly every day, I know which way I would prefer to go.

By the way, I love how every manufacturer of a different sugar alternative villifies all other products while touting their own. One thing they all claim is that the FDA does not test the products of other substitutes well enough or otherwise discounts the hazards before approving it for the market, yet somehow theirs is the only safe one that's been fully tested and that the FDA got right??? Based on these claims, nothing the FDA tests and subsequently approves for general consumption is any good. Ridiculous hype! The same holds true for health professionals. Once they decide which product they like, all the rest are unsafe. There must be hundreds of doctors writing thousands of papers on the adverse health effects of consuming every known sweetener, from table sugar to tagatose, except the one they recommend.

Gimme a stinking break.

I would like to see more low sugar/fat products but it seems that by the time an industrial kitchen gets a hold of most of them, they end up tasting like sweetened cardboard. I'd like to see your flan receipe. I've been tasked with desserts for Thanksgiving and it might be a good idea for that (alongside traditional dessert offerings).

Spenda is not a sugar, its chemical name is 1,6-Dichloro-1,6-dideoxy-a lpha-D-fructofuranosyl-4-chloro-4-deoxy-a lpha-D-galactopyranoside

Spenda, is in fact a chlorinated hydrocarbon and in the organic chemistry sense is more closely related to a group of toxic compounds used mainly as refrigerants, industrial solvents, and dry cleaning fluids, i.e PCBs and formerly as anesthetics rather than simple carbohydrates.

At least this chemical wasn't a product of the CIAs MK ULTRA project (mind control, drug and chemical warfare) unlike Aspartame.

Gota love those marketing men though. Again.

The long term human use and environmentally impact issues are really quite unknown (Splenda does not occour naturally, a bit like Plutonium), and MR MK ULTRA himself probably sums it up quite well.

You're right about the Splenda,,,,it's no better than the Aspartame.

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

You are right, again!!!!

Oh no, big scary sounding chemicals names! They must be toxic! Run! Save yourselves! α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1↔2)-β-D-fructofuranoside will kill you. 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione was found in orange juice! Millions will overdose on(S)-2-Amino-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propanoic acid in two weeks!

Oh wait, α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1↔2)-β-D-fructofuranoside is just the chemical name for sucrose, one of the many sugars out there. Personally I'm glad orange juice has vitamin C. Mmmm, Thanksgiving turkeys are loaded with the amino acid tyrosine...

Splenda is just a sucrose (sugar!) molecule with three chlorine atoms replacing three hydroxyl radicals. Saying it is closer to PCB's than sugar is either dishonest or ignorant science. It's like saying a car and a telephone booth are identical because they both contain glass panels.
PCB, refridgerants and other chlorinated solvents have completely different molecular structures than sugar.

Am_Fear, this isn't a personal attack against you. I'm just sick of people being scared by science.

-Blast

Or, you could just stick with sugar in, you know, moderation. It's one thing to sweat it if you're diabetic, but it's another to declare it public enemy #1.

The last campout I took the girls on they were very impressed with my "camp doughnut" (fried tube biscuits) making skills. I used the little white cap from the propane bottle to punch the holes in the dough. Isn't that why they provide that cap?