Did you know ... at the turn of this century, tequila production had risen so dramatically that the blue agave plant (also used to make agave nectar) was on the verge of extinction?
Benefits of Agave
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY: An animal study found those who were treated with an extract from agave leaves orally and topically had less inflammation than the control group.
ANTIMICROBIAL: Agave has been found to contain special substances that greatly reduce the growth of yeasts, mold, and life-threatening bacteria.
CANCER-KILLING ACTIVITY: Human cell studies have found that saponin and other compounds in agave can interrupt the life cycle of cancer cells.
Why Should I Eat Agave?
Agave syrup (or nectar) is about ninety percent fructose, a form of natural sugar found in fruit. Fructose does not impact blood glucose levels as dramatically as other sweeteners such as cane sugar. Even better, because fructose is sweeter than table sugar, less is needed in your recipes. Agave also contains a complex form of fructose called inulin. A type of friendly bacteria called bifidobacteria digests inulin to produce short-chain fatty acids that have been shown to fight colon cancer. Agave also contains sapogenins, which have anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. The syrup naturally contains quantities of Iron, Calcium, Potassium & Magnesium which contribute to the resulting color.
Home Remedies
Mexican folklore has revered agave and considered it sacred for its ability to purify the body and soul. Ethopians have used agave branches as natural toothbrushes, while the Aztecs treated wound infections with concentrated sap.
What's the Story?
There are over three hundred species of agave plants, Tequilana, or blue agave, is the most widely known and available. Agave in Greek origin and means "noble" or "illustrious.” Agave goes by many other names including maguey, mescal, lechuguilla, amole, and century plant. Though over 200 million blue agave plants are grown in several regions of Mexico, only a small percentage of them are used for agave nectar production. The heart of the plant is often referred to as the "pina," or pineapple, which holds the naturally sweet juice used for both tequila and nectar production. The juice can either become "dark" "amber" or "light," depending on the processing. Unfiltered dark agave has a stronger flavor, while the light variety, which has had the solids removed, has a more refined flavor. The liquid is then heated to make concentrated syrup, much like maple sap is heated to create maple syrup, with a consistency a little thinner than honey.
History of the Agave Plant
Agaves were cultivated for centuries by Native Americans. In the sevententh century, the Portuguese and Spaniards brought agaves back to Europe from the Americas. The Spaniards are actually credited with fermenting the juices from the agave and creating what we now know a tequila. Another fermented beverage made from agave was called pulque, made by Native Americans for use in religious ceremonies. Agave nectar has become increasingly popular as an alternative sweetener to sugar is the United States.
Where Is Agave Grown?
The agave plant is native to arid and tropical regions from the southern United States to northern South America, and throughout the Caribbean. The agave has long been cultivated in hilly regions of Mexico.
Confusion Around Agave
The most important thing to do when researching anything is to A. read the study in full and B. see who is funding the study. Often times big corporations fund studies to sway in the favor of their products. Example: dairy industry will pay Sanford University to run a study on cows milk vs plant milk with the goal to prove cows milk is healthier option and better for the planet. As we’ve seen in the past many studies can be skewed through control groups and how the information is presented/ worded to the public. We as the public see the charts they show us and read the overview of the study and think, “wow compelling argument and looks like cows milk is actually better,” when in reality that’s not the case because we are not seeing the full study. Now this is just an example, I'm not making an argument for cows milk or plant milk, to each their own. But to show something grater, there is often important information left out of the summary. And let’s be honest most of us don’t have time to read through hundreds of pages of a study.
With all of this being said, we have looked at countless studies that group high fructose corn syrup and agave together. This is like grouping apples and donuts together - not the same at all. These studies often state that fructose can cause a whole slew of health problems like insulin resistance (which in turn can potentially lead to diabetes), converts more rapidly into fat, can cause heart disease, and throws the release of the hormone leptin off. Huh? Doesn’t agave do the complete opposite of each one of those statements? So here’s the conclusion we’ve come to; yes, when looking at refined sugar and lab made products such as HFCS this is the case. This is not the case when it comes to Agave Nectar, especially when we’re talking about raw agave nectar. Often times these studies are being funded by large corporations, with the goal to lead you think table sugar is a better and safer option than agave nectar. As you can see agave has a number of health benefits and has been used for centuries to heal.
What’s The Deal With Fructose
One of the best parts about agave is that it is sweeter than most other sugar substitutes. We are using 1/2 the amount of maple syrup we were previously using. That means there’s less than 1/2 tsp of raw agave nectar per bar. To be exact there’s only 4g of added sugar (meaning sugar coming from agave), that’s 3g of fructose. A “serving size” of agave nectar is 1 tbsp - this contains 10.3 g of fructose.
Get this: an apple has 10.7 g fructose, a ripe banana has 7.1 g of fructose, 3 dates have 23 g of fructose, 1/2 fresh mango has 13.7 g of fructose. We’re lead to believe agave is outrageously high in fructose when some of our favorite fruits contain “high fructose” as well. When fructose is naturally occurring (we’re not talking about created in a lab like HFCS) it’s created for our bodies to breakdown, benefit from and use properly.
When we we’re trying to make our bars shelf stable Shane wanted to try agave. The higher fructose content works as a “natural preservative”, hence why people use dates in their bars. While they still aren’t necessarily shelf stable we solved another issues, the “dryness” in our bars. This was the last little bit of feedback we’d been struggling to fix. Agave did exactly that! I was hesitant to switch from maple syrup to agave because I knew the stigma around it. The more research I did I was blown away at how beneficial it truly is. Especially when it came to cancer killing properties! And by using raw agave nectar it’s actually even less processed than maple syrup. Win, win, win all around. Plus these new bars are a work of art, truly a turning point in the evolution of Small Seed. For those that have questioned why we transitioned to agave I hope you can now see the many reasons we believe agave is the better choice for a sweetener!
*Some passages we’re taken from 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life by David Grotto, RD, LDN
