Fructose occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables, but crystalline fructose is a processed food product derived from cornstarch. The end result is bright white crystals that look and flow much like regular table sugar but are about 1.2 times sweeter. The American Dietetic Association states that when used in recipes, crystalline fructose boosts sweetness, texture and food stability. You'll commonly find crystalline fructose in baked goods, dry drink mixes, energy drinks, yogurt and breakfast cereals.
Step 1
Consult your favorite recipe that calls for sugar. Crystalline fructose substitutes well for sugar in almost any recipe, with the exception of cakes. Using fructose in cake recipes may produce some unexpected results, so you'll need to either use a recipe developed specifically for crystalline fructose or be prepared to experiment.
Step 2
Punch the amount of sugar the recipe calls for into your calculator, then multiply by .67 (this is the same as reducing by one third). The resulting amount is how much crystalline fructose should be substituted for sugar in that particular recipe.
Step 3
Pencil the result from Step 2, along with the appropriate unit of measurement, into the recipe's margin. This way you won't have to recalculate if you want to make the same recipe with crystalline fructose again, and you also have a record of how much you used in case the recipe doesn't turn out quite the way you like. You'll be able to adjust up or down accordingly for the next recipe.
Tips and Warnings
- According to the American Dietetic Association, because fructose is sweeter than table sugar (and thus less is needed to achieve the same degree of sweetness), using crystalline fructose in place of table sugar may help lower your calorie intake. Fructose also has a low glycemic index. To keep your fructose from hardening into lumps, store it in an air-tight canister.
Things You'll Need
- Calculator
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