Sugar-free Kaya

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day where delicious and nutritious food helps in energizing the body for the activities in the first half of the day.My favourite morning breakfast is milk and toast. What's yours? This nice buttery and creamy taste from the slices of butter complements the sweet and fragrant kaya spread so well that it makes a name for itself in the 'top 3' breakfast food in Singapore. And being a little wee bit curious, we all know that butter is a type of animal fat derived from cow, but what about Kaya? As consumers are getting more health conscious, there are sugar free kaya in the market as an healthier alternative to the traditional kaya that we use to eat. The question is... kaya is known for its sweet and creamy taste and the only ingredient that imparts the sweetness is the sugar, so how does sugar-free kaya sounds like it would taste 'sweet' to you? Here's a look at what is in the bag of this newly crowned bread spread!

Kaya is sweet and creamy, available as golden brown or green colored spread depending on the amount of pandan leaves and the extent of caramelization of the sugar. As with other jams, kaya is typically spread on toast and eaten in the morning but is enjoyed throughout the day. The ingredients used in a traditional Kaya are eggs, sugar, coconut milk & pandan leaf (optional for the flavor and color). Each individual ingredient play a distinct role in the end product. For instance, eggs aid in the coagulation, sugar mainly for the taste and color while coconut milk enhance the richness of the jam. The 2 artificial sweeteners that is used in the sugar-free kaya are Aspartame and Acesulfame K. Sodium benzoate is  preservative; alternatively you can use potassium benzoate. 

Aspartame a clean and sweet like sugar but without the bitter chemical or metallic aftertaste often associated with some other high intensity sweeteners, is used mainly for flavor enhancing and to improve the sweetness intensity. Aspartame is quite commonly seen in the 'light' and 'low-calorie' aspect. It provides many opportunities for formulating new products and limiting calories intake at the same time. 

Acesulfame K (AK) has a good solubility in hot water, but slightly lower in cold water. Compared to other sweeteners, AK has a faster sweetness onset. However, the taste is not lingering and does not persist longer than the intrinsic taste of food.In solutions of high concentrations of AK, a bitter aftertaste can sometimes be detected. 

These two intense sweeteners often pairs up together in sugar free food products as there it provides a strong synergistic taste enhancement when blended together. Both AK and Aspartame taste approximately or less than 100 times sweeter than a 10% sucrose solution. Yet a blend of AK and Aspartame makes it taste more than 300 times sweeter than the same sucrose solution. Besides that, the lingering sweetness of Aspartame would also be substantially reduced when blended with AK. Though the calorie count in sugar-free kaya is much lower compared to the ones with sugar, they are also less protected from microbial spoilage due to the low concentration of osmotically active compounds. Preservatives like sodium benzoate can be added to help in prolonging the shelf life of the kaya. So now we know, 'sweetness' can come without sugar... :)