Category Archives: Sugar

We just say “NO” to corn syrup.

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With the recent announcement by the FDA that they will not allow the Corn Refiners Association to change the name of “corn syrup” to “corn sugar” on food labels, I thought I would celebrate by  finally putting out a little blog I’ve been sitting on for a few months that covers our relationship (or lack there of!) to corn syrup and why it’s so important to us at BBx.

Some of our all-natural ingredients: Raw Cocoa Powder, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Coconut Palm Sugar, Vanilla Beans

Corn syrup is the primary invert sugar used in confectionery.  What’s an invert sugar, you ask? Well, it’s a culinary term used to describe a kind of sugar that’s pretty shy and keeps to itself….  (Damn.  How did that “dad joke” get into this blog post?!)

Invert sugars are extremely important in confectionery.  Their primary function is to prevent the candy, whether it’s a hard candy or a fondant or everything in between, from crystallizing.  But what exactly is an invert sugar?  Simply put, it’s a syrup of some kind.  It can be any syrup; some common examples are agave, honey, maple, or as I’ve mentioned, corn syrup.  Some confectioners even make their own invert sugars using granulated sugar that they cook into a syrup.

I’m not going to get all nerdy and go food scientist on you but suffice to say using an invert sugar makes manufacturing or making confections much easier, the downside being that it can add a significant cost to the price of a finished product if you’re trying to use a non-corn syrup alternative.  Let’s talk about how corn syrup goes from kernel to bottle and why that matters.

Corn syrup is made using a process called wet milling.  It is described pretty succinctly at Sweet Scam, a corn syrup advocacy group:

“To make high fructose corn syrup, the corn is first harvested and sent to the wet mill.

Next, the corn is crushed in a mill and then run through screens in order to separate the corn starch from other parts of the kernel.

After being separated, natural enzymes are added to the liquid, which converts some of the sugars in the liquid from glucose to fructose. The resulting liquid is typically 42 percent fructose and 58 percent glucose.

From there, the liquid is passed through activated carbon and filtered.

The final product is called HFCS-42, and is used to sweeten many baked goods.

Some of the HFCS-42 then goes through a liquid filtration process to increase the fructose content, creating a liquid that is 90 percent fructose. This product is called HFCS-90.

Finally, the two liquids, HFCS-42 and HFCS-90, are blended to make a mixture that is 55% fructose. The final blend, called HFCS-55, is widely used as a sweetener in sodas.”

It is noteworthy to mention two things here:
1) The “activated carbon” described above is most commonly what is called “bone char,” charcoal made from the bones of dead animals, usually cows.  So most conventionally processed sugars, even the granulated kind, are not vegetarian or vegan.
2) There is only one non-GMO, organic corn syrup out there that I’m aware of and, to my knowledge, it’s not being used by any candy makers.  When you see corn syrup on a food label, what you are getting is something that began as a genetically modified, chemically-farmed food crop that has been highly processed into a nutritionless sugar substance.

It’s hard to understand how the Corn Refiners Association can call this product “natural” considering how many steps, alterations, and chemical processes it has to undergo to be usable in the form of corn syrup.  Don’t be fooled by claims that all sugars are the same because they are chemically composed of glucose and fructose.  That is a truth but it fails to recognize that in order for the body to digest and integrate glucose and fructose, it needs a set of essential enzymes and nutrients that are stripped away in the refining process making it terribly difficult for your body to digest.  Hence the spike you get in blood sugar when consuming highly refined sugars like corn syrup.  But don’t take my word for it, read more from our guest blogger, nutritionist and dietician Alex Mart.

According to this infographic, high-fructose corn syrup consitutes 10% of caloric intake in a typical American’s diet.  So corn syrup is cheap and it’s in everything.  How did we get here, you may wonder?

According to the Environmental Working Group’s 2011 Farm Subsidy Database, between 1995-2010, corn was subsidized by the US Government in an amount exceeding $77 billion, making it the most highly subsidized crop as well as extremely cheap for food producers to use in their products.  In addition to the consistency the producer is able to maintain as a result of the heavy processing of the product, the cost savings over other alternative ingredients makes is an obvious choice.  So the candymaker, or other food manufacturer, is gaining a cost savings and enjoys minimal variance in results of their finished product.  Why wouldn’t anyone use this instead of the more costly alternatives like honey, maple, and brown rice syrup?

Our country’s Obesity Epidemic has been garnering a lot of media attention recently. HBO’s Weight of the Nation and Gary Taubes’ Newsweek cover story are only two very recent examples of the much needed growing dialogue on the subject.  It’s becoming clear that one of the biggest contributing factors is the overuse of refined sugars.

Some confectioners are wisely starting to shift their invert sugar to healthier alternatives.  We at Barbary Brix use organic brown rice syrup from sustainable, organic Northern California growers, Lundberg Family Farm.  Let’s talk about how this is made and what it is.

Janet Souza over at Lundberg described their process for us:

1)      Brown rice is cultured with plenty of water and gluten-free enzymes
2)      The enzymes help digest the brown rice and convert the starches to sugars
3)      The resulting liquid is cooked down into brown rice syrup

Simple, right?  None of this chemistry mumbo jumbo.  We love it and feel great about using it in our product.  Unlike corn syrup, this organic brown rice syrup has the nutrients and enzymes your body needs to break it down efficiently and integrate it for ready use as energy in your body.  Your body is able to do this at a more sustained rate, so you get less of that spazzed out sugar rush; basically, it’s significantly lower glycemic than refined sugar.

We also love the flavor it imparts!  Unlike the flavorless, saccharine-y corn syrup, brown rice syrup adds a creamy, earthy, almost maltiness to our caramels.  We often get asked why our product tastes so buttery despite the fact that we don’t add butter.  In addition to the high quality, organic cream we use, we believe the inherent creaminess of the brown rice syrup amps up this quality in our product without making it too sweet or cloying.

To summarize,  in my humble opinion, it’s time for all of us as consumers to start expecting healthier food alternatives that exclude corn syrup.  It’s in everything from pasta sauce to “fruit” juices; just take a gander at those food labels and you’ll see!  We want to see food manufacturers treat their consumers’ health with respect; taking the 10% of caloric intake from corn syrup OUT of our food products would be a great step in the right direction.

It’s a tall order and nothing will be fixed overnight.  Mark Bittman at the New York Times wrote a great, balanced piece last year on the subject of the past/present state and future possibilities of farm subsidies and their relationship to our food choices, corn syrup included.  If you’d like to become more informed, it’s well worth your time to give it a read.

In the meantime, go ahead and feel good about enjoying your corn syrup free Barbary Brix caramels and spread the love about healthier, responsibly made candy options!

Yours Truly, Melissa

Our Ingredients: Coconut Palm Nectar

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The primary sugar used in Barbary Brix caramels is the delightfully healthy and delicious Coconut Palm Nectar! We use it for a lot of meritorious reasons, which I will now illuminate for you below…


  1. It’s the most environmentally sustainable sweetener crop in the WORLD! Well, at least according The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)…
  2. It’s lower glycemic than almost any other sugar!
  3. It’s good for you with vitamins, mineral and enzymes your body needs!
  4. It tastes delicious on its own or in other foods – especially caramel!

I know what you’re thinking… “Prove it!” So here goes…

Coconut Palm uses a very small amount of water compared to other sweetener crops. In addition, it is grown in tropical climates with lots of rain so the farmers don’t have to do any irrigating. The plants themselves produce a very high yield of nectar for a small crop area and they also – get this – REPLENISH nutrients in the soil rather than depleting it. In addition, the farmers don’t have to destroy the plant to harvest the nectar, making the sugar a renewable resource. On top of all that, unlike conventional sugars like white sugar (mostly made from GMO beets) the Coconut Palm Nectar is unrefined so it retains the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes your body needs in order to digest it well. Which, brings me to my next point – when you talk about lower glycemic sweeteners, it doesn’t get much lower than this.

What exactly does that mean and why should you care? To get a really easy-to-understand explanation of how different types of sugars are broken down in your body, read our guest blogger, Alex Mart’s post here! In the meantime, to make it short and sweet (pun intended), when your body processes sugars it needs certain enzymes and nutrients to do it without causing a huge spike in blood sugar.

Coconut Palm Sugar is loaded with B-vitamins, macro-nutrients like Potassium and Zinc, and plenty of good enzymes your body needs. Eating nutritious sugars, like this, allow your body to break the carbohydrates down gradually without depleting your stored mineral and vitamin resources. So, this is obviously good for everyone but the lower glycemic index make it especially good for diabetics, people with hypoglycemia and children who suffer from sugar-induced spastic episodes (so pretty much ALL of them).

Wanna see a comparison chart of different sugars’ nutrient content? Check it!

Last, but certainly not least is the fact that Coconut Palm Nectar tastes amazing and is a perfect addition to our caramels. Not too sweet but rich and complex, it creates layers of flavor so you end up with a smooth, fragrant caramel that tastes like caramel, not sugar. Don’t believe us? SF Weekly food writer, Jon Kauffman, recently described the flavor by saying: “While the Barbary Brix sweets are as sticky as conventional sugar caramels, the rice and coconut sweeteners give them a deeper, most complex flavor — similar to the difference between a piece of toast smeared with butter-flavored Crisco and one slathered in Irish cultured butter.” You can read more of his review here.

Are you also wondering where we get ours from? I’ll tell you anyway! While over two thirds of the ingredients in our products are local, there aren’t currently any Northern California coconut palm farms so we import this ingredient from Big Tree Farms, a sustainable co-op of small scale farmers in Bali. The technique used by these farmers to collect the nectar is the least damaging to the tree as it involves collecting nectar from the flower (inflorescence) rather than “tapping” the tree for sap. Big Tree Farms’ Coconut Palm Nectar is the most eco-friendly Palm Nectar on the market today and we feel great about their commitment to social and ecological responsibility.

Want to read more?? Here’s some cool links:

Have Your Candy and Eat It Too – How BBx is changing the face of candy-making

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We recently met the lovely and brilliant Alex Mart, a San Francisco-based Health Counselor who was so excited about our product that she offered to be our very first GUEST BLOGGER! Want to know more about how different types of sugar effect your body and why you should care? Read on, folks!



Have Your Candy and Eat It Too – How BBx is changing the face of candy-making

The general consensus that you seem to see and hear everywhere is that “Sugar is Sugar.” The Corn Grower’s Association, currently in the process of renaming High Fructose Corn Syrup to the harmless-sounding “Corn Sugar,” wants you to believe it. They are currently throwing a whole lot of money at that advertising campaign. However, the conclusion about sugar in the nutritional world is quite the opposite and has everything to do with quality.

The truth of the matter is that different sources of sugar have varying nutritional levels and our bodies respond to them in dramatically different ways. Likewise, the way a sugar is processed or not has a lot to do with its nutrition. The sugar cane plant goes through a staggering amount of processing, much of it chemical, to be turned into white sugar. The end result is an empty calorie, pure energy, with almost no trace of any nutrient. Lesser processed sugar cane products such as Rapadura, Sucanat, and Evaporated Cane Juice all contain trace minerals that make them easier for your body to digest. Refined carbohydrates, including white sugar, white flour and white rice, have all been stripped of their vitamins and minerals, which are necessary for digestion. Carbohydrates and starches are all converted into glucose in your body to be used for energy, and your body must pull from its own nutrient stores in order to process and use this energy if it isn’t naturally in the food source. Consuming too many processed carbohydrates and sugars on a regular basis can lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

This is why eating carbohydrates, including sugars, in their unprocessed whole food forms is vital. Various vitamins, minerals, and enzymes are present that allow the sugars to be gradually broken down in your body, slowly releasing glucose into your bloodstream. When you eat refined carbs, glucose enters your blood almost immediately, causing a spike in you blood sugar. After a dramatic rise in blood sugar, you almost always experience a crash. When you eat refined carbs regularly, a cycle of high and low blood sugar can begin that results in a roller coaster of intense cravings and addiction, as the body constantly looks for more sugar to come back from its lows. Eating excess sugar wreaks havoc on the body and mind, toying with your energy level, mood, and ability to judge hunger, among other things.

Whole, unprocessed carbohydrates – foods including whole grains, beans, fruits and sugar – on the other hand, take longer to digest and thus release sugar much more gradually into the bloodstream. This allows your body to maintain a balanced blood sugar level and gives you sustained energy hours after having eaten.

The wonderful news is that you can now have your candy and eat it too! Yes, said by a Health Counselor. Barbary Brix uses minimally processed sugars in their caramels, so they will not spike your blood sugar. Did I mention they are tantalizingly buttery and smooth?

One of the amazing sugars Barbary Brix uses, organic coconut palm sugar, is a very low glycemic load sugar (meaning a serving of it has very little effect on your blood sugar levels), full of an amazing array of trace vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other macro-nutrients. On top of that, it’s considered by some to be the most sustainably produced sugar available.

It is important to mention glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL), since they provide another way of talking about the blood sugar phenomenon I just explained. Glycemic index is a measure of how quickly carbohydrates are broken down in the body, releasing glucose into the bloodstream. Carbohydrates that break down quickly, rapidly releasing sugar into the bloodstream have a high GI, while those that break down more slowly, releasing glucose into the bloodstream gradually, have a low GI. Glycemic load (GL) also takes the quantity of sugar released into the bloodstream into account, and is thus considered a more useful measurement. For instance, carrots have a high GI, but in the amount you consume them, have a low GL.

Another sugar used in BBx’s caramels is organic brown rice syrup, a mildly sweet syrup derived from brown rice, which is also full of nutrients like magnesium, manganese, and zinc. The other sugar they use is a sustainably farmed and fair-trade certified organic evaporated cane juice. Although cane sugar is not considered to have a low glycemic load, BBx uses it in small amounts. They also get the highest quality possible, meaning it is relatively unprocessed, still containing essential nutrients for digestion, and organic.

Organic certification, which all of their ingredients have (except for the kosher salt), means that farms “integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity” (http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/NOP). This means healthy practices for the environment, farm workers, and consumers. Win-win-win for organic. Taking the extra step, BBx also looks for fair-trade sources for their sugar and cocoa ingredients, where available. Fair-trade certification ensures a fair price for farmers and workers, another win. Talk about responsible candy-making: environmentally, socially, healthily. If you thought you’d never hear a Health Counselor utter the words “good candy,” think again, because here it is.

I don’t advocate eating lots of sugar in any form, however, I do advocate for living a happy life and for treating yourself and others well. These caramels are a melt-in-your mouth, sumptuous, velvety treat for those special times. Please enjoy – with the all the joy, of course. Savor your sweets.

Sources and additional reading:

http://www.sweet-tree.biz/coconutpalmsugarnutritional.html#Glycemic_Index_and_Glycemic_Load

http://www.sweet-tree.biz/What_is_Coconut_Sugar_.html

http://www.certifiedorganicevaporatedcanejuice.com/

http://www.brownricesyrups.com/

http://www.foodmarketexchange.com/datacenter/product/sugar/detail/dc_pi_sugar_03_02.htm

http://www.natural-healing-health.com/glycemicload.html

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400579/Confused-by-the-Glycemic-Index.html

About our guest blogger:

Alex Mart is a certified Health Counselor and member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. Her training with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition taught her hundreds of different dietary theories and life coaching methods, which she uses to determine each person’s unique path to health and fulfillment. She works with people searching for energy, confidence, and balance in their bodies and lives. One conversation can change your life: schedule your free initial consultation with Alex today. www.alexmarthealth.org