I use the term “no added sugar” when referring to anything I have made in the bakery that is sweetened with a “no sugar” sweetener such as Splenda or Maltitol. We use maltitol for all the baking, Splenda when making something with fruit. Splenda was developed for use with high heat juice making so works great in pies, cobblers, crisps, etc. Maltitol, unfortunately, is not available for retail sale. We’ve been baking with it for over 15 years. It is great in fruit breads, cookies, cakes, and pastries.
The reason I use the term “no added sugar” is that if I use the term “sugar free” I am then required by the FDA to give a nutritional breakdown for each ingredient in the produce. By using “no added sugar”, I am not required to. The rules and regulations for food labeling as put forth by the FDA takes a genius to decipher and to figure out the reasoning for some of the requirements.
The one that confounds me the most is “wheat flour”. Wheat flour is an allergen food and has to be on every label where it is used. This requirement came out about 10-12 years ago. Oh, longer than that, I’m thinking maybe 15 years ago. I was at a public meeting at the WSU Research Station in Puyallup, Washington when we were told the changes in the labelling laws. My question at the time was how did the FDA plan on educating the public as to what “wheat flour” meant? Their comment was that no to worry about it, they would let the public know. I’m still getting people who look at my bakery labels and say how good something is because it is made with wheat flour. I know they are thinking whole wheat flour, when in fact, the product is made with what we have always called “white flour”.
So remember, wheat flour is white flour, and whole wheat flour is 100% whole wheat. “No added sugar” is sugarfree – we just can’t say it that way!!
Hot out of the Oven 