How To Tuesday: How to make powdered erythritol

First off, this is Hemp History Week! So bust out your Vega, your Manitoba Harvest, your Nutiva, your Living Harvest and make something fun and possibly edible. You know you probably have some hemp protein powder hidden somewhere in a cupboard.

Moving on to the most pressing topic of the day: How to make your life a little sweeter using powdered erythritol.

But I’ve got some questions for you:

• Do you use erythritol?
• Do you use xylitol?
• Do you use Splenda?
• Do you use stevia? If so what kind? I’ve got three types in my cupboard.
• Do you use agave?
• Do you use plain old sugar?
• Do you use maple syrup?
• Do you use honey?

As for me, I RARELY use plain sugar for myself but my daughter gets unprocessed sugar on her oatmeal. We have all of the real sugar containing ingredients in our pantry for various uses – mostly for flavor rather than sweetening. I used to use xylitol but since it’s toxic to pets and I have a chowhound who gobbles up everything can get his paws on, I’ve switched. I’m now a heavy erythritol and stevia user but I’m weaning myself down to recreational use. At least it’s natural. Or, I should say “natural.”

Erythritol occurs in nature, so it’s all natural, right? Am I right? The marijuana plant, stevia, coca plant and cocoa bean also occur in nature. (Just wait until I give you my recipe for my cocaine-laced pot brownies topped with erythritol and stevia sweetened espresso sauce! You’ll love ‘em. You do however need a license to make them in most states and you probably shouldn’t mix them with monoamine oxidase inhibitors.)

Occasionally I use my erythritol in its granular form, like sprinkling on these lower glycemic (not low carb) jelly donuts I made using this recipe from Elana’s Pantry and my nifty baked mini donut pan.

But in general, I tend to use powdered erythritol. I buy it in 5 lb bags once a year from an online company and keep a container of it powdered in the cupboard. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a sugar alcohol with virtually no calories, carbs or negative effects on the GI tract. It tends to stay granular when mixed with water and to re-crystallize easily, so powdering it helps it mix with foods and liquids.

This is a labor intensive, multi-step process and it’s quite complicated. Try to keep up.

 

Add about 2 cups into the Vita-Mix.

Slowly turn the dial up and let it run for 20 to 30 seconds.

Wait a few seconds before removing the lid as there will be a powdered cloud floating around in the blender.

Now it’s powdered and ready for sprinkling.

Repeat.

Now go make some donuts!