Using Sugar Substitute ‘Sweet One’ in Baking

Question: I would appreciate having information on the sweetener “Sweet One.” Can it be used in baking? And can Sweet One be substituted for the entire amount of sugar in a recipe?

Answer: Each one-gram packet of Sweet One contains four calories and is equivalent to two teaspoons sugar. An equal amount of sugar contains 32 calories.

The sweetening ingredient in Sweet One is Sunette, the brand name for acesulfame-K. Acesulfame-K was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1988 after six years of testing and five years of use in Europe. It is a man-made sweetener that is 200 times as sweet as sugar.

In addition to Sunette, Sweet One contains dextrose, cream of tartar, calcium silicate (an anti-caking agent) and natural fruit flavors. It contains no aspartame, saccharin or sodium.

Sweet One is heat-stable and can, therefore, be used in cooking and baking. For best results, however, the manufacturer recommends half the sugar in a recipe be replaced with the equivalent amount of Sweet One. If, for example, a recipe calls for one cup of sugar, use 1/2 cup sugar and six packets of Sweet One.

Three packets of Sweet One are equal to 1/4 cup sugar; four packets equal 1/3 cup sugar; six packets equal 1/2 cup sugar and 12 packets equal one cup sugar. You may obtain additional information by calling the Sweet One Hotline, (800) 544-8610.

Q: Recently your column listed comparisons of fat and oil products. Grapeseed oil, however, was not included. I’m wondering about that particular oil since it is all we use.

A: The manufacturers of Grapaccino Grapeseed Oil report one tablespoon of their product contains 120 calories, 14 grams fat (75.1% polyunsaturated, 14.6% monounsaturated, 10.3% saturated), 7.3% U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance (USRDA) of Vitamin E and 77% USRDA of linoleic acid. That same amount has 0 milligrams cholesterol and 0 milligrams sodium. It contains less than 2% USRDA of protein, carbohydrates, Vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.

Q: Can you provide a source of canned black beans? So far, I’ve only been able to locate black beans in bags, which are less convenient.

A: Latino and Chinese food markets are a good source for canned black beans, but they may also be found in the ethnic or canned-food sections of many major supermarket chains.

Q: Why is a fresh cut of raw meat red on its surface and brown inside?

A: According to “Kitchen Science” (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1981) by Howard Hillman, “Contrary to what some shoppers suspect, the outside of the meat is not redder than the inside because the butcher treated it with a chemical spray. Mother Nature, not the meat monger, is responsible. When an animal dies, its heart stops pumping oxygen-rich blood to the various muscles. Denied that oxygen, the myoglobin protein in the muscles loses its bright-red pigmentation and acquires a purplish, and then brownish, tinge.

“Another color change starts to occur when the meat is butchered into retail cuts and wrapped in porous plastic film, giving the meat’s newly exposed surfaces access to the oxygen in the air. As the meat sits in the refrigerated display case, oxidation finishes turning the myoglobin on the meat’s exposed surfaces bright red. (Butchers refer to this color development as ‘bloom.’) So, though the outside of the meat is the shade of red that consumers are taught to look for, the inside remains brown simply because the unexposed myoglobin lacks enough oxygen. If you cut open the meat and give it time to aerate, the new surfaces should become bright red.”