Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave, 44-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2)

by Wholesome Sweeteners

Product Features

• Pack of 2, 44-ounce bottle (88)
• Sweet, mild nectar is 25% sweeter than sugar
• A perfect multi-purpose sweetener for beverages, fresh fruit and general table-top use
• Glycemic index of 39 or less
• Blue Agave is non-crystallizing and quick dissolving

Product Description

Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave is a natural sweetener extracted from the core of the Blue Agave plant.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001P76I8A
• UPC: 012511204419
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #365 in Grocery & Gourmet Food (See Top 100 in Grocery & Gourmet Food)
  • #6 in Grocery & Gourmet Food > Cooking & Baking Supplies > Sugar Substitutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best I've Tasted, September 23, 2009

By 

Erin.W "domestic-bliss" (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave, 44-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2) (Grocery)

I've been using agave for more than 2 years now, I use it in kool-aid, iced tea, baking, smoothies, ice cream, pretty much everything. I used Madhava for the longest time, and my DH kept saying he could tell when I "put that stuff" in a drink. I never noticed any flavor until I used the light, non raw Madhava, then I tried this because of a review that said it had the least taste of all agaves... they were right! I tried this straight out of the bottle, and no flavor, just like simple syrup! I'll be ordering this from now on.
PS: it's husband approved too!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Deal, December 14, 2009

By 

K.S. - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave, 44-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2) (Grocery)

This one is a good deal for a two-pack of the larger bottles - definitely a better deal than you could get in a store. Plus agave nectar has a low glycemic index, leaving you with a sweet taste without the sugar rush.

31 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Agave "nectar" is a scam, February 7, 2011

By 

Ddanimal (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave, 44-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2) (Grocery)

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.