Yacon syrup questions

[qfmother]

Hello - I have two questions about yacon syrup:

1. How does yacon syrup compare with molasses in nutrition content? I have looked at the Wikipedia info for both items and it appears that neither one is a truly raw product.

2. If I substituted molasses for yacon syrup in a raw recipe, would it taste the same? Right now I'm considering using molasses in the pecan turtle cheesecake recipe from Sweet Gratitude. I LOVE this cheesecake, but it is so expensive and I am trying to cut my costs where I can.

Thanks!

[RawKnitster]

The subject came up at a raw potluck. The general consenus was molasses would be a good substitute. It has been so long since I've had molasses, I hesitate to say if it would work as a substitute for this cheesecake. It should work fine, and for sure it would save money. Yet, with so much invested in that cheesecake recipe, I would hesitate to make the switch, too.

I practically sleep with that book. :rolleyes: I just finished making Super Cacao Balls. The recipe calls for 1/3 cup of yacon syrup. I thought it needed more and went to squirt some out, but I hadn't screwed the cap back on and I accidentally emptied the rest of the bottle into the Cacao Balls. :eek:

[CINDY A]

well I never make that cheesecake before, but I think it might work. Here is joyce's comments from this site had to say about it.


The famous Pecan Turtle Cheesecake! Recipe
is found in Sweet Gratitude, my favorite raw vegan dessert book!
I had been meaning to try this beautiful cheesecake for a while after seeing some beautiful photos on other blogs of this very decadent and fancy recipe :-) Finally it seemed perfect for this weekend where I ran a relay race which was part of the Key Bank City Marathon (more details about the race below). These luscious raw vegan cheesecakes seem to provide great fuel for running! So this was my breakfast early Sunday morning along with a few bananas!

Joyce’s Notes: Wow! this is a very rich tasting raw cheesecake with an impressive, dominant chocolate swirl inside! Scott and I thought it was very good! We’ve been on a roll with raw cheesecakes so the novelty of this one wasn’t quite as exciting as it should have been. Perhaps we need a small break from the cheesecakes….But it’s a wonderful recipe that would be perfect on special occasions and holidays. This would certainly blow the mind of someone who’s being introduced to raw and vegan foods! ;-)
I modified the chocolate pecan crust which greatly improved it. Scott and I both loved how it tasted like chocolate brownies! Here’s the brownie crust recipe with my modifications:
• 1 1/2 cups of pecans
• 1 oz of cacao powder (I cut this down quite a bit!)
• 1/3 cup of cacao nibs
• 5 ounces of date paste (I increased the date paste)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons of agave syrup (I added this)
• 2 teaspoons of unmelted coconut oil (I added this)
I processed everything together in the food processor except the last two ingredients. Then I added them and processed everything some more. This was lovely and moist like a brownie. I kept eating the crust right out of the food processor.

The main filling had two parts. First I made the caramel part (the lighter color). This consisted of soaked cashews, agave syrup, almond milk, lemon juice, sea salt, vanilla extract, yacon syrup, soy lecithin, and coconut oil. The chocolate part had cacao powder and more vanilla extract added to the caramel part. Both fillings were very good when tasting the batters out of the Vitamix. The directions say to not worry about swirling the top since a different caramel topping gets added later. But I decided to swirl the top just for practice and it came out lovely.
The caramel topping needed to be tweaked. This top layer consisted of unsoaked macadamia nuts, agave syrup, vanilla extract, almond milk, yacon syrup and cacao butter. After I followed the recipe to the T, we found it to be bitter with a strong aftertaste due to the yacon syrup, macadamia nuts and vanilla extract. So I poured out a good amount, added more almond milk, coconut oil and a bit of agave syrup. After I kept adding those three ingredients, I finally had something decent and edible to pour on top of the cheesecake after the main filling had set in the freezer.

Overall, this is delicious dessert. I liked the caramel part of the filling but didn’t think it tasted like actual caramel. It was sweet and tasty but not reminiscent of a traditional caramel flavor. The chocolate filling was very deep and rich. Dark chocolate lovers will enjoy it for sure! The chopped pecans on the sides are also good. Give this one a try. It’s an impressive one for sure!

IT DOEN'T CALL FOR THAT MUCH 1/3 CUP IN THE CARAMEL CHOCOLATE FILLING AND THEN 2 TABLESPOONS IN THE CARMEL TOPPING ----IT MIGHT GREAT USING molasses
BUY SOME MOLASSES AND THEN BUY SOME YACON SYRUP AND TASTE THE DIFFERENCE!!!!