MR103 Organic Barley Malt Syrup 330g

Clearspring malt syrups have a rich, mellow taste, and a milder sweetness than that of sugar, honey or maple syrup. As a result they are less likely to overpower the taste of other foods and can be used to sweeten hot drinks and baked foods, as well as toppings for cakes, pancakes and desserts.

Barley malt syrup has a deep, rich, complex flavour like molasses and is stickier than rice malt syrup, great for use as a binder, so ideal for making muesli bars and popcorn clusters.

Note: When using malt syrups instead of sugar in baking you will need to add them to the liquid ingredients in the recipe rather than the solid ingredients such as flour. You may also need to adjust the quantities of solid ingredients to avoid creating a batter that is too wet.

Traditional Malting

This method consists of sprouting organic grains to release a wide range of naturally occurring digestive enzymes to breakdown the cereals’s starches, proteins and fats. These starches are broken down into natural sugars to create a deliciously flavoured syrup extract with a balance of maltose and other sugars. This dark-brown, thick and sticky syrup with a distinctive malty flavour is about half as sweet as refined white sugar.

By contrast, most grain syrups nowadays are made using laboratory produced enzymes that quickly and cheaply convert the starches of the grain into simpler sugars. Whilst yields from traditional malting may be lower than those from the laboratory enzyme process, the wider range of enzyme activity involved with malting creates a fuller flavour and can offer better digestibility.

Are malt syrups better for you than refined sugar?

Refined white sugar has been nicknamed "white death" because it contains no nutrients beyond "empty" calories and many studies have shown that it causes weight gain, diabetes, depression, suppresses the immune system and just like a drug, is very addictive. The best option of course is to avoid sugar or replacing it with more natural sweeteners such as malt syrups. They are made up of complex sugars which enter the bloodstream more slowly than white sugar and as they are relatively unprocessed they also contain a range of nutrients and minerals.

Glycemic Index

The glycemic index is a measure of how quickly blood glucose levels rise after eating a particular type of food. Foods that rapidly release glucose rate high on the glycemic index (GI) and foods that slowly release glucose rate low. But the GI rating alone does not give you all of the information you need to determine a food’s effect on your blood sugar. It only tells you how quickly the carbohydrates in a food should turn into sugar in your blood. The glycemic load (GL) tells you how much of that carb the food contains. And of course the amount you eat of that particular food is also a huge factor in the rise of your blood sugar.