The sticky white stuff - sugar, and artificial sweeteners, have become the enemy of many consumers over recent years. As such, manufacturers need to adjust their processes to still create delicious sweet goods, but using more natural and unrefined options. This trend is seeing more and more food manufacturers turn their attention to organic coconut sugar. For this to work, they need to be able to buy organic coconut sugar in bulk.

This article walks you through why you need to consider coconut sugar for your sweet products, and how you can use it to create delicious and appealing recipes that cater to consumers who are demanding something different.

What can organic coconut sugar be used for?

Organic coconut sugar is a natural sweetener with a light to dark brown granulated texture. Yes, it’s very like unrefined cane or beet sugar, in terms of its looks. It has quite a rich flavour, slightly like caramel, which is wonderful for adding depth of flavour to desserts, bakery products, drinks and various recipes. It works particularly well alongside chocolate and spiced flavours.

Coconut sugar is made using the sap of the coconut tree (not the nut, or kernel). As such, it doesn’t have a strong coconut flavour, but is instead more sweet and caramel tasting. It’s a very simple process to create the sugar from the sap – it is simply heated and stirred until all of the water is removed and it forms granules.

Coconut sugar is easy to use. Often, you simply replace the quantities of cane or beet sugar and your recipe can remain the same. However, because coconut sugar has a rich and intense sweetness, you can often adapt recipes to use less sugar, catering to demand for sweet products using less sugar.

Choosing organic coconut sugar

We generally consider sugar to be nutrient poor. Indeed, that is true for cane and beet based sugars. However, because coconut sugar is made from the nutrient-dense coconut sap, it retains some valuable nutrients. There are trace elements of magnesium, potassium, zinc and iron.

There is greater demand for organic products than ever before, and with a product like sugar which has been getting a bad rap over the last few years, organic and unrefined options are considerably more appealing than their counterparts. The organic sugar that we supply in bulk is certified organic, not using pesticides, growth regulators, fertilisers, irradiation or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It is worrying for both food manufacturers and their customers that regular refined sugar may have these elements included in production.

Sales in organic produce rose by 12.6% last year. Your customers are looking for higher standards in their food.

The ingredients of coconut sugar

When you opt to use organic coconut sugar from The Coconut Company, 100% coconut sugar is what you’ll get. There are no fillers or additives. We ensure we work with factories that don’t add in anti-fermentation agents during processing of the sap.

Importantly, our organic coconut sugar, produced in Indonesia, is as unrefined as it can be. This contrasts starkly with your typical bag of white sugar. Again, this really matters when you care about the quality of your product, and the health of your customers. It has been shown that unrefined sugars, like ours, are actually less addictive than many refined options. At the same time, organic coconut sugar is lower in calories for the same volume, and even has a lower Glycaemic Index.

We allergen test each and every batch of coconut sugar for gluten – both at the factory and in the UK – to ensure consistency and quality. We also ensure enterobacteria and salmonella tests are undertaken prior to shipping each load.

Furthermore, if your brand is focused on sustainability and ethics, then organic coconut sugar from The Coconut Company brings you peace of mind. We can trace our sugar back to the individual small holdings and sugar farmers. We work closely with Indonesian producers to facilitate fair and ethical relationships with the local communities. We’ve chosen suppliers who don’t only pay fair prices to the farmers, but they go beyond to provide healthcare and support too, in the form of insurance and by investing in local infrastructure projects. All of our partner factories are BRC or FSSC certified, as is The Coconut Company.

How to use organic coconut sugar

Manufacturers need sugar options, whether it’s as part of making an overtly sweet dish, or as an aid to preservation.

Organic coconut sugar can be used in many different ways. Whilst the flavour is more earthy and rich than refined white sugar, it is akin to brown sugar, and actually adds depth of flavour. As such, coconut sugar can be used to make the full range of baked and sweet goods that we know and love. However, the sugar particularly lends itself to recipes that include chocolate and spices, such as cinnamon.

In addition, coconut sugar is wonderful for making snack bars, confectionery and desserts. Of course, it’s there for sweetening drinks too. Being a rich flavour, coconut sugar also works exceptionally well in savoury foods, such as in glazes for fish or meat, or adding depth of flavour to a stir fry or curry sauce.

Coconut sugar lasts extremely well. It should be stored in a cool dry place, but it has a shelf life of 24 months from manufacture, making it long lasting and versatile.

Certifications

We know that it is important that you trust your suppliers. As such, we have ensured that we can give you assurance of this. We work closely with our Indonesian producers to maintain our high standards. But we have also ensured that we are British Retail Consortium (BRC) certified, as well as certified Kosher and Organic (with The Soil Association).

Nutritional information

We provide clear nutritional information regarding all of our coconut products. The typical nutrient profile of our Indonesian organic coconut sugar is:

Full product specifications and allergen information is provided with all of our bulk products.

How to buy organic coconut sugar in bulk

We would love you to choose to use organic coconut sugar from The Coconut Company! We supply to a range of manufacturers throughout the country, from independent cafes to large scale food producers. Our bulk products come in 5 KG, 20 KG and 25 KG cartons and can be purchased here.

Please browse our bulk coconut products and do get in touch if we can help.

Manufacturers: Everything you need to know about buying organic coconut sugar in bulk