This is an odd pastry chef question, but what is your go-to sugar?
Sorbitol’s mine, for sure. You’ll see it’s a recurring character in my recipes.
Today, I’d like to share with you why sorbitol can be a useful ingredient in your chocolate ganache or caramel recipes.
Sorbitol: a polyol
I know I called sorbitol a “sugar,” but it technically isn’t. It’s considered a polyol—an alcohol with different hydroxyl groups attached to it (this is as scientific as this is going to get, I promise).
In the world of sugars, sucrose (granulated sugar) is our benchmark. It has a sweetening power of 100, whereas sorbitol’s just 55.
So why do we even bother using this “sugar” that doesn’t even sweeten products as much as good old sucrose?
Let me give you four reasons:
1. Great Water-binding Power
Sorbitol is the best sugar you can use to bind water and extend the shelf life of your products (unless you’re considering going hardcore and using glycerol). Remember that water in recipes can be free or bound.
“Bound” simply means that water gets “trapped” within a structure formed by the different sugars and proteins in the recipe. When water is free, bacteria can easily grow and spoil your products; when it’s bound, they can’t.
2. It Slows Down Caramelization
Caramelizing sugar can be a deceiving process.
One moment, it’s perfectly white. You turn around, and somehow, it’s burnt.
If you start your caramel by melting sorbitol first (sorbitol does not caramelize), this polyol will help you control the caramelization of the sugar.
This will give you more control over the final shade and flavor of your caramel.
3. It’s Less Sweet (And That’s a Good Thing!)
Balancing sweetness is one of the trickiest things in chocolate.
Sorbitol has half the sweetening power of regular sugar (as I mentioned above), so it can reduce the overall sweetness of your recipes and let other flavors shine through.
4. It’s a Texturizing Agent
Sorbitol can also “relax” the texture of your ganaches, which is especially helpful when making dark chocolate ganaches, which tend to be thicker due to their higher cacao solids percentage.
Adding sorbitol to your dark chocolate recipe will loosen the texture and let you fill your shells effortlessly.
🛑 Very Important Disclaimer
Sorbitol should be used in combination with other sugars. In large quantities, it has a laxative effect, so I always limit the amount I use in ganaches to a max of 8% of the total weight of the recipe.
With love,
Melissa