The inspiration for this delicious Orange Agave Frozen Yogurt came when we were fondly looking back at Heidi’s frozen yogurt recipe, celebrating citrus, and marveling at David’s agave chocolate ice cream recipe. Sometimes synergy strikes and you end up with something that is much greater than the sum of its parts. This recipe produces a frozen yogurt that magically merges tangy, creamy yogurt, refreshing, zesty oranges, and naturally sweet agave nectar. We’re offering up a basic version, but by all means put your own twist on it. Chocolate shavings or toasted coconut would make marvelous mix-ins and although we chose oranges — Meyer lemons, tangerines, and grapefruits are just a few of the many citrus fruits that would shine here.

Agave Frozen Yogurt Recipe

A sidenote to the recipe, to make strained yogurt, pour 2 -32 oz. containers of plain yogurt into a cheesecloth-lined large sieve or colander set over a bowl drain yogurt, covered and chilled at least 8 hours, or overnight. Discard liquid in bowl.

1/3 cup fresh-squeezed organic orange juice and zest from 1-2 oranges
1/3 cup agave syrup
3 cups strained whole milk plain organic yogurt (see headnote)
pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl until well combined and refrigerate for 1 hour or place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Pour yogurt mixture into ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Best served immediately.

Makes about 1 quart.

Comments (1) | February 29 - 2:45 PM

category: Recipes, Sweeteners

From the archives. Have you tried agave nectar? You should. It's like honey...sort of. Like honey in the sense that it is sticky, oozy, sweet and natural. You can use it as a replacement for honey, but the taste and mouthfeel is ever-so-slightly different. You know how many honeys are slow and sluggish and very rich? Well agave nectar seems to have a cleaner, "fresher" taste, it also seems to be more water soluble than other liquid sweeteners which makes it easy to incorporate into your recipes or hot drinks. Diabetics give it a thumbs up because it is low on the glycemic index- so it is more slowly absorbed into the bloodstream. Vegans like it because unlike honey it isn't an animal product.

A few ways to use agave nectar:

- Almond Agave Butter (recipe)
- Apple Agave Tart (recipe)
- Oat-Date Bars (recipe)
- Coconut Cream Tapioca (recipe)

Do you have a favorite brand of agave nectar? Let us know in the comments - we would like to do a taste-off in the future.

Comments (6) | March 8 - 11:41 PM

category: Recipes, Sweeteners, Vegan / Veg

One of the great things about visiting New Zealand is discovering the many small artisan cheese, olive oil, and wine producers - and then, of course the honey. I spent the last three weeks driving around the North Island, along the way sampling the delicious and diverse range of native honeys available there. If you've never tasted New Zealand honey, it is time to track some down. On this trip I mainly tasted North Island varietals, but look forward to a future trip to the South to get up close and personal with those honeys as well. Some favorites:

Pohutukawa honey comes from a big showy, red-flowered coastal icon known as the New Zealand Christmas tree. A honey light in color, clean and bright in flavor with a kick of saltiness in some cases.

On the other end of the spectrum there is the big, bold, amber-colored Manuka honey. Some are deliciously thick and sandy textured with crystals playing against smoother pools of earthy honey. Manuka honeys are coveted for their exceptional anti-bacterial properties and you can find Manuka labeled with varying degrees of "active" anti-bacterial strength in many shops throughout New Zealand.

Then there are the red, smoky, malty, ginger-kissed Rewarewas, and the delicate, pretty Tawari honey with its buttery essence and aromatic notes of butterscotch and caramel - my favorite.

New Zealand-based honey expert Bill Floyd advocates enjoying honey chilled (the way we drink sweet wines) to avoid swamping our palette receptors. Even better, he recommends chilled honey served on ciabatta bread, with a smidgeon of melted butter calling it "an incredible ménage a trois of crunch and warm butter and chilling sweet intense floral wonderment."

Comments (3) | January 5 - 7:59 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Sweeteners

This stunning, deep ruby-colored syrup is both sweet and sour. It lends itself beautifully drizzled on soups, grains, and as a base for drinks. You can typically find pomegranate molasses in the ethnic section of supermarkets but if you come out empty-handed and have a supply of anti-oxidant packed poms on hand, there's no reason not to make your own.

Pomegranate Molasses

Cut each fruit in half and rap it on the counter to loosen the seeds. Remove all of the seeds and none of pith. Juice the seeds using an orange juicer, or the word on the street is a potato ricer will do the trick nicely as well. Transfer the juice to a non-reactive saucepan and simmer over medium heat until the juice thickens to the consistency of a syrup. You can expect somewhere between a tablespoon or two of molasses from each pomegranate.

Cool and keep refrigerated.

Related recipe: Chickpeas with Pomegranate Molasses

Comments (3) | September 8 - 8:17 AM

category: Superfoods, Sweeteners, Vegan / Veg

The September issue of Food & Wine is fantastic. In addition to a design feature highlighting Big Red Sun (they designed the outdoor space for Hotel San Jose), F&W also gives three pages to the adorable Erin McKenna of BabyCakes NYC. The article serves up three delicious recipes and the story of how an allergy diagnosis required Erin to shrug off all wheat, dairy, sugar, and caffeine from her life. Her recipes creatively use natural sweeteners and alternative whole grain flours. Can't wait to try them in my own kitchen and in person the next time I'm in New York City!

- Brownie Bites
- Raspberry Scones
- Cinnamon-Banana Bread

Comments (2) | August 10 - 6:08 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Recipes, Sweeteners, Whole Grains

Not really sure how the people at Cadbury Schweppes thought they could pass 7UP off as "100% natural"...Now they've got a CSPI lawsuit to swallow.

“Pretending that soda made with high fructose corn syrup is ‘all natural,’ is just plain old deception,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “High fructose corn syrup isn’t something you could cook up from a bushel of corn in your kitchen, unless you happen to be equipped with centrifuges, hydroclones, ion-exchange columns, and buckets of enzymes.” (read more)

Comments (1) | June 12 - 10:40 AM

category: Sweeteners

There's lots of sweet tasting buzz surrounding the sweet herb, Stevia. Diabetics seek it out for its glycemic index of zero, and dieters like its no-calorie-yet-natural pedigree. The Arizona Republic writes a profile of family-run company behind 70 percent of the U.S. Stevia market.

Products, such as SweetLeaf Stevia Plus and the popular new flavored Stevia Clear liquids, have gone beyond health-food stores into mainstream groceries and are about to be tested in Wal-Mart stores.

Ironically, the products still can't be legally labeled or called what they are best known as: natural sweeteners. ( Read More )

Comments (1) | January 25 - 10:08 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Sweeteners

In 2001 the average American consumed 63 pounds of high fructose corn syrup (does anyone have a more recent number?). Chances are you are consuming more HFCS than sugar, and if you look close enough, you will realize it is a staple in many processed foods. You are likely to see it in your yogurt and cereal and in your crackers and sodas. A few articles in case you are interested in reading more:

Accidental Hedonist on HFCS:

"What they don't say is that HFCS is a man-made product. HFCS is not a naturally occuring product, and I don't mean that in the same way I mean that All-Purpose Flour isn't a naturally occuring product. I mean it in the sense that HFCS must be made in a controlled environment, and enzymes not natural to corn products must be purposefully introduced to cornstarch in a very specific order for HFCS to exist." ( Read More )

Mores on HFCS:

- Seattle Times: High Fructose Fueling Obesity

- Weston A. Price: The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup

- Kim Severson back in her Chronicle days

- A compilation of articles at Men's Stuff

Comments (3) | December 27 - 9:30 AM

category: Studies + Trends, Sweeteners