When You Have A Sweet Tooth, Here Are The 10 Best Substitutes For Cane Syrup

Humans have an insatiable need for sweetness. It always makes its way to our plates and palates, whether as a drizzle or a sprinkle. Cane syrup is often used to sweeten pastries, meats, and vegetables. It’s also delicious drizzled over pancakes, biscuits, and other foods.

And cane syrup is probably one of the sweet items lurking in your cabinet.Cane syrup evolved into a popular condiment, flavoring, and sweetener in a variety of cuisines and businesses across the world. But what if you have a cane syrup allergy? What if you can’t locate one? What if your supply suddenly runs out?

1. Corn Syrup
2. Molasses
3. Honey
4. Maple Syrup
5. Brown Rice Syrup
6. Easy Sugar Syrup
7. Agave Nectar

If you want to know the whole list of replacements that may fulfill your sweet taste, keep reading.

10 Best Cane Syrup Substitute

Cane syrup is created by heating and skimming the extracted sugarcane juices until they form a thick, brown, and fragrant syrup. It has the same sweetness as caramel, butterscotch, and molasses.

On the glycemic index, cane syrup typically falls between 60 and 68. For diabetic people, this is considered fairly high. Cane syrup, on the other hand, has readily digested carbohydrates that may help individuals manage blood sugar levels more easily.

This post will showcase several chef-recommended and well-received cane syrup substitutes that you can use in your recipes instead.

We compare their flavors, textures, and general consistency, as well as some important workarounds for using them as substitutes. It actually depends on your recipe for the best replacements. Some choices, like as honey, perform better in meat recipes, whilst corn syrup is ideal for baking.

Corn Syrup

Corn syrup has a naturally sweet flavor. Commercially, two (2) varieties of corn syrup are available: pale and dark-colored corn syrups.

The light-colored corn syrup is slightly sweet and vanilla-flavored, but the dark-colored corn syrup has caramel, salt, and other stabilizers added to it.

Both are not as sweet as cane syrup, but they can serve as substitutes. Its gently sweet taste and neutral aroma are ideal for folks who seek just the right amount of sweetness in their cuisine.

In addition, black corn syrup is favored over light corn syrup in pastries.

Aside from flavor, maize syrup is a viable alternative for cane syrup due to its comparable texture and consistency. The variation in the meal may go unnoticed.

If you’re watching your weight, rejoice because corn syrup, like cane syrup, contains less calories than other popular sweeteners.

Molasses

Cane syrup and molasses are similar in many ways. Molasses, like cane syrup, is manufactured from sugarcane. It is a byproduct of the refining of sugars produced from sugarcane and sugar beets.

Molasses is available in three (3) varieties: light, dark, and blackstrap molasses. Light molasses contains the most sugar and the lightest hue, while dark molasses has a softer sweetness and a deeper color than light molasses. Finally, blackstrap molasses is the least sweet and the most viscous.

Among these three, we suggest using light molasses in place of cane syrup in your cuisine. It adds sweetness, robustness, and subtle earthy tastes to your cuisine, particularly pastries. You may also blend it with corn syrup to make your dish more flavorful.

The molasses hue is also best employed in pastries and jams when the color shift is not too noticeable.

Most significantly, unlike cane syrup, molasses contains nutrients and minerals that are beneficial to your health, such as vitamin B, magnesium, and calcium.

Honey

Honey is the most common substitute for cane syrup since it is the most readily available. Aside from its accessibility, honey is an excellent can syrup alternative because to its sweetness, texture, and color.

Honey has a sweeter flavor than cane syrup. Because of its hue and thick viscosity, it also works well as a substitute for cane syrup. However, the darker-colored honey is preferred over the lighter-colored honey. You won’t be able to see a substantial color shift in your meal this way.

However, unlike cane syrup, honey has a high concentration of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. According to Healthline, honey includes many antioxidants that aid in the removal of pollutants from the body. Furthermore, honey helps to maintain a highly healthy blood sugar level, which is ideal for those who wish to reduce their sugar intake.

Honey may be used in practically every dish, including drinks, pastries, salads, marinades, and meats. It enhances their tastes and enhances the overall feeling.

Maple Syrup

Your favorite pancake drizzle maple syrup is the closest thing to cane syrup in terms of taste and sweetness. The uncanny similarities in sweetness and overall taste profile between maple and cane syrup make it an ideal alternative.

Aside from the sweetness, you should choose maple syrup instead of cane syrup due to its incredible health advantages. It is high in vitamins and minerals including vitamin B, calcium, and zinc. It also contains antioxidants, which shield your body from the harmful effects of pollutants.

Even while it is sweeter than its competitors, it has significantly less calories, making it ideal for those monitoring their weight.

The sole drawback of maple syrup is that it is far thinner than cane syrup. As a consequence, your dish’s consistency and texture may likely alter.

Brown Rice Syrup

Surprisingly, the complex carbohydrates in rice grains may also be used to make a natural sweetener.

Brown rice syrup is significantly less sweet than cane syrup in terms of sweetness. As a result, you should anticipate a softer taste on your food. It also has less sweetness than honey.

Brown rice syrup has a distinct taste profile in addition to its moderate sweetness. In its tastes, you can detect a hint of nuttiness as well as earthiness, which is similar to the taste of butterscotch. Such tastes might enhance the overall flavor of your cuisine.

Brown rice syrup is highly suggested for producing sweets, gummies, or nougats since it may assist avoid sugar crystallization up to a point. However, use with caution since syrup has a very high glycemic index.

Easy Sugar Syrup

If you’re truly in a bind, a quick sugar syrup will come in handy. You can create this by simply mixing sugar into water and heating it until it thickens. To prevent scorching the bottom, stir often.

White or brown sugar may be used, however brown sugar will look and taste more like cane syrup than white sugar syrup. If your recipe does not need as much cane syrup, then basic sugar syrup is preferable.

Using sugar syrup instead of cane syrup is simple yet difficult. If you want to use it as a regular sweetener, you should not be concerned with its thickness. However, if you want to use it as a drizzle or sauce, the syrup must be well cooked. Some individuals even add thickeners to ensure that the proper consistency is achieved.

Agave Nectar

People who follow a vegan diet often use agave nectar as a sweetener. It is made by extracting the agave juice from the plant’s core, also known as pia. The extracted juice is heated to break down the sugars into fructose, glucose, and sucrose.

Agave nectar is often a thick, dark syrup. It is often used as a replacement for honey, although it might also be used in place of cane syrup. In fact, its sweetness is more similar to corn syrup than honey. The nectar may be used in sweets, poultry, meat, and seafood meals.

While cane syrup is deficient in vitamins, agave syrup is abundant. It has a considerable amount of vitamin C and B. It also has a very low glycemic index, making it an excellent choice for diabetics.

Sucrose

If everything else fails, sucrose may be used as a final resort. Sucrose is mainly found in powder form. Sugarcane and sugar beets are used to obtain and prepare this form of sugar.

And if you like baking, sugar should be a cupboard staple. It is often used in pastries to keep the bread supple and moist.

Keep in mind that sucrose can only do so much in terms of sweetness for cane syrup. It does not have any distinct tastes to add to your meal, so set your expectations accordingly.

Applesauce

Applesauce is a chunky, viscous sweetener made from slow-cooked apples. Applesauce, unlike cane syrup, has a tangy, fruity, and sweet flavor.

The significant difference in flavor restricts the recipes in which applesauce may be used in place of cane syrup. Applesauce may be used in sweets, pastries, and meat meals. Just a tip: if you’re shopping at the market, be sure to get unflavored applesauce.

Because applesauce is thicker and chunkier than cane syrup, it can cause changes in the consistency and viscosity of your food.

Applesauce has much more calories than cane syrup. It also contains a lot of vitamins and minerals.[Source]

Substitute For Cane Syrup Related FAQs

What is cane syrup made of?

Cane syrup is often prepared from sugarcane, a long grass. The juice is derived from sugarcane stalks. The extracted juice will be heated and skimmed until it becomes thick and black in color.

Sugarcane is the world’s primary source of table sugar.

Is cane syrup better than table sugar?

Table sugar has a little greater sweetness and glycemic load than cane syrup. They’re also almost identical in terms of calorie content. However, using cane syrup instead of table sugar can assist the environment since liquid sweeteners need less manufacture.

Is cane syrup the same as molasses?

Although they are both prepared by boiling sugarcane juice, they are not identical. Cane syrup is made from the first boil of sugarcane flesh, while molasses is made from the second to fourth boil.