Customer Reviews

Madhava Organic Agave Nectar - Light, 23.5-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 6)

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have been using agave for 2-3 years now and find it can easily sub for any other sweetener. I can't use any artificial sweeteners and sugar (including honey, molasses, brown sugar, malt sugar,etc.) causes me an array of physical problems. Agave is the only sweetener that my body accepts. I have used it to bake cookies, brownies and breads with no difficulty and it tastes great. I recently made hot fudge sauce for my ice cream with it. Because it is sweeter than sugar, I use less of it than I would sugar: 2/3 c. agave = 1 c. sugar. I am really grateful for this natural and organic sugar alternative that lets me have my sweets and eat them too!

No need to look. This is the best deal on Agave. Agave is the answer to the sugar issue. Its better tasting than Honey and can replace sugar in any situation. Is said to be very low on the glycemic index and a good choice for Diabetics. Is delicious on pancakes or sundays. Is made from the nectar of the cactus plant. Can be used by Vegans. Try it and you will be convinced. My family loves it. Desolves quickly, unlike sugar or Honey. Great in coffee or tea. Keep a squeeze bottle at the coffee pot at home or in the office!

I have ordered Madhava Agave nectar many times and never had a problem, but in this order a couple of the bottles had a black grainy substance in them. I don't know what it was so I threw them out. I have tried to contact the company and Amazon, but no one has returned my emails. I hope either the company or Amazon corrects this problem as I really love this product, but it is too expensive to be able to throw a bottle in the trash.

I first tried Madhava Agave Nectar about 5 years ago when I was on vacation and toured Celestial Seasonings where they had it available as a sweetener in their tasting room. I've been hooked since that day and am loyal to the brand. I use it for nearly everthing I want to sweeten and even though I'm not diabetic, I feel good knowing it has a lower glycemic load than other sweeteners. It not only tastes great, but it really dissolves in cold drinks and I love to drizzle it over cereal and fresh berries for a little lift. It doesn't crystalize like honey does and from everything I've read, it is a completely natural and organic product. While there are products that don't live up to their claim, this is not one of them. I personally endorse this product and have convinced several friends to start using it too! I have zero affiliation and have not received any compensation from Madhava; their products are just wonderful and I am happy to give them the praise they deserve.

I have found it can be expensive to purchage agave nectar at grocery or health food stores and have found Amazon the best source to stock up at a great price and have yet to have a bottle go bad or change before I've used it.

I also recommend trying the amber agave nectar and use it as a syrup replacement for my pancakes.

About 30-40% of the population of Central Europe has trouble digesting fructose. If you have trouble digesting fructose, it can cause a lot of unexplained abdominal pain.

This is almost 100% fructose.

Personally, I spent about two months with very bad, mysterious abdominal pain that seemed to be everywhere. After several weeks of doctor visits, discussions about IBS, and an abdominal ultrasound that came up normal, I started thinking about what was different in my diet: I had been using agave nectar in my tea several times a day. After throwing out the agave nectar and looking online for a list of lower fructose food, I changed my diet, a little.

The pain went away in a matter of days, and hasn't returned.

If you're using agave nectar and you have suddenly started having digestive issues, try getting rid of the agave nectar. For some people, this is really bad stuff.

Note to gluten-intolerant folks: fructose malabsorption can go along with being gluten sensitive or intolerant. If you're wondering why you're still sick if you're following a gluten-free diet, this may be the culprit.

We aren't health freaks or even conscientious eaters. But this stuff is SO GOOD! It is sweet, but not sickly sweet. It is thin and light, unlike honey or molasses. It adds just the right amount of sweetness to the frozen Kashi Blueberry waffles we buy at Costco. OH MY! This stuff is so good! You won't be disappointed. Keep in mind that the benefit to using the light agave nectar is the glycemic load, NOT the amount of calories. Serving per serving, it has similar calories to sugar or other syrup, but the glycemic load is much lower! Which means that we can eat pancakes (in moderation) and waffles with our agave nectar without that drugged feeling afterwards.

Madhava Pure Organic Agave Nectar Light has the best taste, it doesn't overtake the flavor of whatever you want to sweeten, it doesn't change the texture or color, it goes a long way and you can cook or bake with it. We add it to green smoothies when it's needed to change any bitterness and it's also low glycemic. The squeeze bottle makes it easy to dispense and measure and being a liquid it blends in quickly. What more can you ask for? Want more? Okay, it's even organic!

I had previously purchased this same brand agave nectar for over $7 at a local health food store. I have started using this for sweetner in almost everything and since it doesn't crystallize when stored for long periods, I felt safe buying 6 bottles at a time. This is great stuff! Try it!

from Jonny Bowden, PhD, C.N.S.:

Agave syrup (nectar) is basically high-fructose corn syrup masquerading as a health food.

Sorry. Don't kill the messenger.

It's easy to understand how agave syrup got its great reputation. Even the word "Agave" has a fine pedigree, coming from the Greek word for noble. The blue agave species- considered the best for the making agave nectar -- flourishes in rich volcanic soil. (It's also the only variety permitted to be used for the making of tequila.) And extracts from the agave plant have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Unfortunately there's zero evidence that any of those compounds are present in the commercially made syrup.

Agave nectar is an amber-colored liquid that pours more easily than honey and is considerably sweeter than sugar. The health-food crowd loves it because it is gluten-free and suitable for vegan diets, and, most especially, because it's low-glycemic (we'll get to that in a moment). Largely because of its very low glycemic impact, agave nectar is marketed as "diabetic friendly". What's not to like?

As it turns out, quite a lot.

Agave nectar has a low-glycemic index for one reason only: it's largely made of fructose, which although it has a low-glycemic index, is probably the single most damaging form of sugar when used as a sweetener. With the exception of pure liquid fructose, agave nectar has the highest fructose content of any commercial sweetener.

All sugar -- from table sugar to HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) to honey -- contains some mixture of fructose and glucose. Table sugar is 50/50, HFCS is 55/45. Agave nectar is a whopping 90 percent fructose, almost -- but not quite -- twice as high as HFCS.

Fructose -- the sugar found naturally in fruit -- is perfectly fine when you get it from whole foods like apples (about 7 percent fructose) -- it comes with a host of vitamins, antioxidants and fiber. But when it's commercially extracted from fruit, concentrated and made into a sweetener, it exacts a considerable metabolic price.

Research shows that it's the fructose part of sweeteners that's the most dangerous. Fructose causes insulin resistance and significantly raises triglycerides (a risk factor for heart disease). It also increases fat around the middle which in turn puts you at greater risk for diabetes, heart disease and Metabolic Syndrome (AKA pre-diabetes) .

And fructose has been linked to non-alcoholic, fatty-liver disease. Rats that were given high fructose diets developed a number of undesirable metabolic abnormalities including elevated triglycerides, weight gain and extra abdominal fat.

In the agave plant, most of the sweetness comes from a particular kind of fructose called inulin, which actually has some health benefits -- it's considered a fiber. But there's not much inulin left in the actual syrup. In the manufacturing process, enzymes are added to the inulin to break it down into digestible sugar (fructose), resulting in a syrup that has a fructose content that is, at best, 57 percent and -- much more commonly -- as high as 90 percent.

"Agave syrup is almost all fructose, highly processed sugar with great marketing," said Dr. Ingrid Kohlstadt, a fellow of the American College of Nutrition and an associate faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "Fructose interferes with healthy metabolism when (consumed) at higher doses", she told me. "Many people have fructose intolerance like lactose intolerance. They get acne or worse diabetes symptoms even though their blood [sugar] is OK".

Agave nectar syrup is a triumph of marketing over science. True, it has a low-glycemic index, but so does gasoline -- that doesn't mean it's good for you.

We started eliminating refined sugar from our diets several years ago and came across this amazing product.We also have a diabetic living with us and started using this in her diet. To our amazement, 4 years later she is no longer considered diabetic per her physician. We use it for baking, for daily use in hot drinks and the kids use it as they would regular sugar without the nasty side effects..I have recommended this product to hundreds of people and the only complaint I have ever heard was "it's sweeter than sugar".