Why I Ditched Refined Sugar, and What I Use Instead (a guest post)

"After researching and writing about maple syrup for years, I got rid of refined sugar in our family’s kitchen and have never looked back," says my friend Michelle Visser, author of the newly-released book Sweet Maple.

This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure here.

Michelle and I have been friends for years. We share a love of many things: writing, homesteading, simple living and much more.

I've felt I shared the joys and the lows of her writing journey as she finished writing her book, was picked up by a publishing company, and worked through the publishing process.

Hubby and I even taste-tested some of the recipes in her book. Oh, those maple sloppy joes; you'll love them!

And now the time is here! Sweet Maple is now available for purchase on Amazon, and I invited Michelle to tell you a little about the simple joys of maple. I hope you enjoy her guest post this morning.

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Why I Ditched Refined Sugar

Unlike maple syrup and maple sugar, which come directly from nature, refined sugar has been processed, mashed, and whitened, and chemicals are added during the refining process. (I can’t even begin to pronounce the chemical names, by the way.)

So I started asking what does it offer us? The answer? 99.96% sucrose. And a smidgen of chemicals that I can’t pronounce.

A Sweet Luxury

Once I switched over to more natural sugars (we use syrup and sugar from our maple trees, honey from our little apiary, and raw cane sugar), I found a few special treats we all love to make with these sugars. This one right here is my personal favorite sweet luxury that I love to have on hand to add to my evening cup of hot tea.

This Maple Double Chocolate Sweetener makes my simple evening cup of tea a legit dessert.

Maple Double Chocolate Sweetener

1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup maple sugar

Grind 3 ingredients until your sweetener is the texture you’d like it.

Use 1-3 teaspoons in your favorite cup of tea, hot chocolate, or coffee.

Store in a lidded mason jar in a dry, cool cabinet or pantry.

And, btw, yes you can make your own maple sugar.

Baking with Maple

I was shocked how easy, and delicious, it was to start using maple syrup in my baking. Go here for the scoop on baking with maple and download a free conversion chart to help you make the switch.

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Michelle is the owner of SoulyRested.com and the author of Sweet Maple, an instructional book on backyard sugarmaking that’s also the story of her family’s connection to the past on their little New England sugar farm. In Sweet Maple, Michelle delves into many delicious topics including:

• The 30 different kinds of trees that can be used to make syrup
• The process of making syrup, to help you decide what level is right for you
• How to make alternative treats, such as lilac syrup
• The health benefits of maple products, which contain more than 40 antioxidants
• Substituting processed sugar with all-natural maple syrup in any recipe
• The three steps to making maple sugar
• How to make irresistible maple cream and how to enjoy it

In Sweet Maple, Michelle guides readers through every step of all-natural syrup production, with directions for tapping one tree or hundreds, while detailing the life-changing benefits of using maple syrup in the kitchen. Interspersed with sugaring techniques, tips, sidebars, and storytelling, She shares more than 30 tried-and-true maple recipes — from scones to salads.

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