We’re pretty excited about natural sweeteners, and feature yacon syrup with an ultra low glycemic index. Another product we like is coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is made from fresh coconut sap collected from the cuttings of the flower buds on dwarf coconut trees. The sap is caramelized, then crystallized into a fine grained brown sugar. It’s 100% natural, and the perfect alternative to refined sugars in applications such as confectionery and desserts. The creamy, almost caramel-like sweetness also works well in the flavouring of curries and rich sauces for savory dishes. On a personal note, we’ve been using coconut sugar in our coffee for a while now and it’s great!

Besides its amazing texture and flavour, it also has a low glycemic index, much lower than refined sugar. Glycemic index (GI) is a tool that was developed at the University of Toronto back in the 1980’s. An ingredient’s glycemic index measures how it affects blood glucose levels in an individual. Carbohydrate foods are assigned a number between 0 and 100 based on that effect. Glycemic Index is often categorized into three levels:

• High: a GI of more than 70
• Moderate: a GI between 55 and 70
• Low: a GI below 55

Due to its low glycemic index, research suggests that using coconut sugar can help stabalize insulin levels in people with type 1 & type 2 diabetes. It is also suggested that a the use of low glycemic index foods can lower the LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol, otherwise known as the “bad” cholesterol. Low glycemic index foods should also help with weight maintenance, preventing obesity and being overweight.

We encourage you to look into the research on lower glycemic index foods for yourselves. In the mean time, you might want to consider trying coconut sugar. If you’re a food manufacturer, contact us and we’d be happy to arrange for a sample. Consumers can purchase coconut sugar directly from sources such as Amazon. If you use coconut sugar, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Here’s another idea: subscribe to the Ingredient Hotline blog today and follow us on twitter so you can stay up to date on the latest in innovative, all natural food ingredients.

photo credit: HeyDanielle

We’ve made a little change with our blog. Instead of having the blog hosted at a completely separate site, blog.ingredienthotline.com, we’ve integrated access to the blog right into our main “corporate” site, www.ingredienthotline.com.  To access our blog, you can click on the Blog link in our main site’s main menu:

We’re hoping this makes it a lot easier for everyone to get around our site and enjoy some of the less formal content in our blog.  By the way, any existing links to the original blog url, as well as links to blog posts and anything else on the blog for that matter will still work! We’re also hoping you’ll weigh in on the topics we cover in the blog with your comments. So please enjoy the posts and let us know what you think!

In 2009, we have seen a number of product launches as well as press releases on ingredient introductions and innovations.  These initatives on product rework and or product development  influenced by the economy, food recalls and changing health patterns resulted in these market trend reports on what consumers were looking for or want in their food product.    While there were many variations and versions of these terms (depending on which research firm has published the report), they all have recurring themes.

In retrospect, Ingredient Hotline has summarized these food trend findings into the 5 F’s:

• Flavour
• Frugality
• Fitness & Function
• Fun
• Fair

These 5 F’s were the top 5 attributes that consumers searched for or were willing to pay for in the food products that they purchase and consume for 2009.

When it comes to food, flavour has always be a top priority of most consumers.   It may well be the healthiest ingredient on the planet, but it will be a challenge to market it if the product is not palatable.  People will not eat it, let alone pay for it.   This leads us to the next F word, frugality. Last year, we have seen many great food products launched in the market from the branded to their private label counterparts.  It was not surprising however, that private label sales performed very well since customers were looking for bargains and more value for money.  Imagine a product that tasted great, fit your budget and offered benefits to one’s health and well being  – what a bonus!  Fitness meant reduced sugars, sodium, trans-fats etc. & function referred to specific benefits to the body in terms of improving digestive health, immunity and others.    Improvements or creativity in packaging that sparked some interest or even convenience would fall under fun.  Novel flavours, colours and formats were also classified as a way to forget the harsh realties and savour some simple pleasures.    Finally, more consumers have expressed concerns and genuine interest in how their foods were grown or processed.   Is it locavore, raw food, fair trade, sustainable, is it fair?

Stay tuned for what’s in store in 2010!

In the meantime, we at Ingredient Hotline, Inc. would like to  thank you – our readers, suppliers and customers for giving us your time, attention and lots of encouraging words and well wishes.    The responses to the products have been very positive and we certainly look forward to a promising new year.    As a company who strives to provide unique, natural ingredients – we do not have any gimmicks.  Our focus has always been and will always be on food!

We wish you a new year of good health, good food, peace and prosperity!

We’ve been working on updating (upgrading?) our web presence at Ingredient Hotline for some time. This blog is one part of that effort. We’ve been busy doing some other things as well and you can find the whole story here. The other items worth mentioning  quickly besides this blog include better support for smartphones when viewing our company site and this blog, as well as how to follow us on twitter.

hot line or hot·line  n.
A telephone line that gives quick and direct access to a source of information or help.

Taken from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.