This Substitute Is A Great Alternative When Making Sugar-Free Candy At Home

Sugar substitutes have exploded onto the scene in recent years, offering all the sweetness of sugar without the downsides. Even so, avoiding sugar is no easy task. While the jury is still very much out on the health claims of sweeteners that aren't sugar, many do show promising health benefits. But beyond the health considerations, choosing the right sugar alternative depends on what you're making. For finicky recipes like candies, the right ingredients make all the difference in taste, texture, and even whether the sweet treat turns out at all.

Sugar alternatives are a staple for Arman Liew, the culinary-trained creator of The Big Man's World, food blogger, and author of three cookbooks. "After developing and testing hundreds of sugar-free desserts, including candy, I found the best sugar-free sweetener alternative is allulose," Liew told Tasting Table. This makes sense — allulose is made by heating fructose, a sugar molecule, which alters its chemical makeup, so it behaves a lot like sugar. "It dissolves as white sugar does, and unlike monk fruit or erythritol, doesn't leave desserts grainy, bitter, or with a cooling aftertaste," Liew explained.

Those slight alternations in taste and texture become big problems in candy making. "Not all sweeteners are equal, and when making candy, they can turn the mixture grainy, brittle, or unable to set," Liew warned. After testing erythritol, xylitol, and monk fruit, for example, Liew found that only allulose gave his sugar-free, homemade marshmallows the pillowy bounce he was after.

As far as general health goes, allulose is a promising stand-in for sugar. It's found in figs, maple syrup, molasses, and wheat, among other natural foods, is low-calorie, and doesn't raise insulin or blood sugar levels because it isn't metabolized in the body the way traditional sugar is. Price-wise, allulose is comparable to erythritol at around 40¢ to 60¢ an ounce, which is more affordable than pure stevia and monk fruit, for example, which tend to cost upwards of $3 to $5 an ounce.

If you've tried the popular store-bought sugar-free candies in hopes of finding a quick fix for your sweet tooth, you know it's much easier said than done. Experimenting with sugar alternatives in your own kitchen might help you find a fix that sticks, and Arman Liew advised you consider the role of the sweetener in your recipes. "It depends on how the sweetener behaves under heat and moisture," he explained. "Gummy/soft candies rely on texture from gelatin, not really sugar, so the sweetener mainly adds flavor. Most sweeteners like monk fruit, erythritol, and allulose will work here."

There are recipes where only allulose will do. "For hard candies, the sweetener needs to have the ability to reach a hard crack stage [around 300 degrees Fahrenheit]. This is where allulose comes in," Liew said. "It behaves the most like sugar, and it also caramelizes and hardens. I've had consistent results with it in my caramel sauce, too." Since allulose is about 70% as sweet as sugar, most recipes will advise 1 ⅓ cup allulose for every 1 cup of sugar. If you're eager to experiment with allulose as a sugar replacement, try it in Miriam Hahn's homemade lemon hard rock candy recipe.