Yacon syrup
Smallanthus sonchifolius · Sweetener
Top 10 pairings
Yacon syrup is a dark, treacle-brown liquid sweetener boiled down from the juice of the yacon, a sweet Andean tuber. Thick and pourable like a light molasses, with a mild sweetness and gentle notes of caramel, fig and raisin, it is prized less for sweetening power than for what it is made of: a syrup unusually rich in fructooligosaccharides, prebiotic sugars that the body barely digests, giving it a low calorie count and a low glycaemic impact.
Picking a good onedrag
Sealed, glossy, treacle-brownFizzing, fuzzy, off
Open in the cupboardEveryday drizzleStir it into coffee, dressings and desserts. Keep to a spoon or two: it is a FODMAP, and people with IBS or fructose sensitivity should leave it alone.
Colour and the pourThe same colour but stiff from a cold cupboard, slow to leave the spoon
Smell it off a clean spoonEarthy and faintly root-vegetable under the caramel, like a damp cellar
The jar, lid and sealOpen and in use, a dried sticky trickle run down the outside
Read the labelPlain yacon syrup, nothing else in it, from Peru or elsewhere in the Andes