— Tina Duffy

Sugar is, uh, ultimately, um, well, on, on one hand, going to depend on what you're making. If you're, if you're baking something, um, sugar has the, or, or sweet and hers, but I'll say sugar in particular, um, to start with, uh, has the function of not only, uh, adding the, the sweet taste right, that we're talking about here, but it also adds, uh, moisture, uh, uh, to a, a baked product like a cookie, for example. And, uh, so it, it changes structural elements, uh, of certain foods. But if we're talking about, um, uh, the, the savory side of the kitchen, or more general cooking, then you know, what you use as a sweetener ultimately is gonna be up to you, okay? Uh, and, you know, your, your preference, um, based upon, uh, you know, uh, health reasons or ethical reasons or environmental reasons or something else. Um, and, uh, you know, so think about whether it's gonna be, uh, from another, um, uh, another granular source, you know, it, it, uh, or, or, or maybe another type of sugar. Um, you know, when it comes to, uh, you know, maple sugar, I, I, I mean, it's a great ingredient. I love maple, uh, uh, syrup. Uh, it's also available in a, in a dry granular maple sugar form, uh, that you might consider, um, you know, apple sauce, uh, is, is wonderful. Apple sauce is usually a little bit lower in sugar than maple sugar, right? Or jaggery, or pici or, or other forms of cane sugar, uh, or, or maple sugar, for example. Um, but apple applesauce can provide great moisture, uh, to an item, uh, along with the fiber, right? Which is, of course, beneficial for our health. Uh, so, you know, your suggestions are fantastic. Uh, I would recommend that you try these different ideas, these different products, uh, in whatever it is that you're making to see what you like best, okay? To see that the sugar level, uh, the color that it imparts, the additional flavor in addition to the taste, uh, that it imparts, uh, as well as how it might ta, uh, change the texture, especially in the case of baked goods. Okay? Um, uh, so experiment. Uh, I always recommend that cooks have a, a notepad and, um, uh, a pen or pencil, uh, in the kitchen to take notes along the way so that as you make changes, uh, the next time around, right? Uh, you can, uh, start from there and, uh, have fun with the process. Uh, I'll, you know, cooking ultimately, uh, is gonna be, uh, based, uh, in large part on your experimentation. Uh, and, you know, your trial and error, so to speak. You know, you're tinkering with recipes and learning as you go. Okay? That's, that's a huge, huge part of the learning curve in the kitchen. Um, a a small percentage of it, in my opinion, is gonna come from, uh, the textbook, right? Um, or other outside resources. And, uh, so I encourage you, uh, to, uh, to have some fun with it. Thank you.