We had a diabetic guest for Christmas dinner and I wanted to make something nice for dessert that he could eat. I made Rose’s Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake without sugar. I sweetened it with 2 teaspoons of stevia powder (Sweetleaf brand) and 2 tablespoons of agave syrup. (He told me he could eat small amounts of agave syrup.) Cut into 12 servings, this worked out to 1/2 teaspoon of agave syrup per serving. While I thought the texture was a bit more dense than when it is made with sugar, it was still a very nice cheesecake, appreciated and eaten by all the non-diabetic guests. I did not use more stevia, because it can leave a bitter after-taste when more is used. The crust was 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened dried coconut mixed with 3 tablespoons of melted butter.

you know that i would much prefer you use sugar, and serve a half or quarter slice.  believe it or not, sugar is healthier than sweeteners.  your body digests sugar much quicker than sweeteners.  If at all sweeteners are indigestible and stays in your body way much longer, sure thing, sweeteners are calorie free, but who wants to have that ‘plastic’ clinging in your intestines?

i heard, according to the american diabetic association, sugar is no longer a banned item.  the approach is much broader than single out just sugar.  amount of fat, complex carbs, etc, add/substracts to the diabetic diet intake.

Stevia is a pure plant product. Agave syrup is also a plant product. Neither are “plastic” in any sense of the word. I would never use chemical sweeteners, such as Splenda, but I use stevia and organic agave syrup, even though I am not diabetic myself. I try to please my guests. If someone does not eat sugar, I like to have a healthy alternative to offer them.

Sugar, unless it is organic, contains pesticides and herbicides. Paraquat is an herbicide used on sugar cane and many other plants. One of the awful things about using paraquat (and other chemicals) that we often do not think about is what this usage means for sugar cane workers. In many developing countries, such as Mexico, where there are not stringent laws to protect workers, many diseases, miscarriages and cancers occur to field workers because of the chemicals they are exposed to. I would rather eat organic agave syrup or organic sugar.

i urge you to find out that both, stevia and agave sweeteners, although coming from the stevia plant or the agave plant, ARE NOT naturally occurring sweeteners.  a lot of refining is done to produce stevia sweetener from stevia plants or agave nectar from agave plants.  the same was said about splenda, which comes from real sugar, however molecularly changed so it is missing one part of the cell that makes it digestible.  stevia burns into plastic on my cake pans.

http://www.foodrenegade.com/agave-nectar-good-or-bad/  (just one recount, i am not endorsing this article btw).

yes, i am not a big fan of pesticides and herbicides because of health issues and the environment.  however, don’t get caught with the “organic” propaganda.  in my opinion, it is overly stated and used now as advertising.  there are several examples where organic IS NOT better, such as bacteria laden produce coming from obscure parts of the world into our “fancy” supermarkets on the USA, yet labelled organic and people buy it.

for me, it is all about moderation, portion size.  as a former student of agriculture in Peru, i believe chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers are ok to use as long as professionally dosed and in moderation.  there are several chemicals that are biodegradable, and after it has done its job, it disappears and never remains on your food plate.

i love organic sugar, but more so the naturally dehydrated sugar cane juice.

hawaii for example, doesn’t produce much organic coffee, however, whatever is produced as organic coffee is sold at ridiculously high prices.  chemical pesticides is used a lot on coffee farms, however little do we know that in hawaii, we don’t use that much chemical pesticides -if any- on coffee farms, because we lack of a lot of the coffee pests on this isolated island.

it is a complicated subject, and i wouldn’t just rule out or rule in favor one single ingredient.

My intention was not to start any kind of debate about sugar or no sugar for a diabetic, or chemical-sprayed vs. organic produce. It was merely to let others know that Rose’s Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake makes an acceptable dessert when made without sugar.

Kathleen, nice to hear of your success!  It highlights the fact that custards are much easier to modify than cakes, where sugar is an integral part of the structure.

Julie,

Yes, I thought of that when choosing a dessert for my diabetic friend. Altering a standard cake recipe would not be successful, but a cheesecake offers sugar-free possibilities. Another option for a sugar-free or low-sugar dessert would be pumpkin pie, also custard based. The next time my friend comes for dinner, I plan on making one.