thomas rubino wrote:I notice several recipes that included "xylitol" a natural alcohol commonly used as a "sugar free" substitute.
For those that do not know, xylitol is extremely toxic to dogs.
Good point! Never share your toothpaste or tooth brush with your dog : )
Seriously though, pet owners who keep xylitol in the kitchen should absolutely take precautions to keep curious/hungry dogs away from it.
Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol extracted chemically from certain cellulose plant materials. It's been on the market for at least 70 years. It is, as noted above, widely used as a sugar substitute for diabetics, as well as for us general health freaks. It has about 60% of the calories of sugar, but because it is digested differently, only about 6% of the glycemic index. Of all sugar substitutes I'm aware of, it has the best taste. You might be able to distinguish it from sucrose in a blind taste test, but then again you might not. I love the stuff and use it in almost any recipe calling for sugar, at least if I don' want to sub honey or maple instead. Just be sure to use real sugar in any situation calling for fermentation, like brewing kombucha, since xylitol is anti-microbial.
Nota bene: When using in the kitchen, be aware that xylitol doesn't dissolve quite as easily as sugar, so you want to give it extra time or extra heat or pre-dissolve it in order to avoid adding a gritty consistency in some recipes. Also, while the manufacturer advises you to sub 1:1 for sugar, I find that it is just slightly less sweet. If I really really want my recipe to turn out 100% as sweet, I might add an extra 10% or 15% xylitol.
Xylitol is included in the recipes above because it has well-studied benefits for oral hygiene. Rather than feeding mouth bacteria, as does sugar, it actively inhibits them. For this reason, it's long been used as a sweetener for chewing gums.
When buying xylitol for use in DIY toothpaste or tooth powder, be sure to look for the following, available via several brands on Amazon: 1) "made in USA," and 2) sourced 100% from birch trees!
If it isn't birch xylitol, then the common cellulose source used is corn cobs. That means that, even if it is made in USA, it is almost certainly GMO. And if it includes imported corn cobs (i.e. Chinese), then who knows what additional quality control considerations might also come into play.