This week I tried a new recipe: Low Carb P.Butter cookies that someone posted awhile back. They are SOOOO good!

Except for one thing. I couldnt find any brown sugar Splenda or Sugar twin after searching in several stores. I gave up and just bought Sweet n Low Brown Sugar. I didnt realize till I got home that its not aspartamine (like I assumed) but rather sacharin. I didnt even know there were still products around with sacharin!

Anyway, I made my cookies anyway and they are very good except for a bittersweet taste that Ive attributed to the sacharin. But, my toungue feels numb like its been given some novacaine at the dentist! Do you think this is also the sacharin? Anyone else have this "reaction" to it. Ill never make the mistake of buying it again! ick

Hi there!

There's an awful lot to learn and know about all kinds of sweeteners, but the basic stuff with saccharin is that it is the most common sweetener in the US and I'm pretty sure the only one available in "brown sugar" in the US. Equal/aspartame is actually almost a newbie, the last 10-20 years or so, with Splenda only available a couple of years or so (legal for almost 4 now) and ACE-K in use for a number of years, usually in combination.

Saccharin CAN have a bitter aftertaste, as can ALL the artificial sweeteners ... usually the first thing to check is the amount. Most recipes, I find, ask for too much sweetener, and that's when things get bitter with these artificial sweeteners.

My experience is that, no matter what the sweetener, 2 rules apply:
- ALWAYS start with less than the recipe calls for and taste as you go; and
- USE TWO different sweeteners in combination and follow rule 1 (2 sweeteners seem to work in synergy so you get more sweetness for less total sweetener).

Hope this helps!

PS: see the orange menu bar above? Click on Tips and look for a really helpful article about sweeteners.

Oooh, Judy, Thanks for that tips! Yeah, Ive noticed that the things Im making with sweeteners are really too sweat for me. Im pretty new to no/low sugar stuff and not very creative in the kitchen, so this really helps.

It is interesting that the sweeteners seem so far "behind"...public wants/needs. I jsut sorta assumed there would be a much greater selection than there really is. : /