Have you heard about the New York Times Sugar Challenge? Kim’C Market is 100% with the Times on this issue.
Cutting back on sugar consumption is one of the easiest and the best things you can do for your body. Because too much sugar consumption can be even deadly, the World Health Organization lowered its recommendation on sugar intake to 25g per day for an adult. That means only nine teaspoons of added sugar a day for an adult male. For a female adult, six teaspoons. However, an average American’s daily consumption of added sugar is alarmingly high 17 teaspoons!
Simply too much sugar is hidden in packaged foods, yogurts, breakfast foods and sauces are consumed everyday. Even “healthy food” has an excessive amount of added sugar.
We want to help you maintain a healthy diet. As a customer ourselves, everyone at Kim’C Market pays close attention to ingredients and loves to share what we learn about any food. As a Korean grocery store, we provide food products that are natural, healthy, sugar free although a few of our snacks have organic sugar.
Try our five best sugar-free products that you can keep and share with your loved ones. These can help you enjoy the foods you like and win the Sugar Challenge.
1. Jookjangyeon Premium Gochujang
Gochujang is now so common that many non-Korean restaurants serve dishes using the Korean spicy paste. It’s easy to find this paste in a variety of forms at your local grocers.
But, have you read their ingredients list? Most of the Gochujang you see on Amazon and international stores are made of bad-for-you ingredients like Corn Syrup, Tapioca Syrup and Brown Sugar. For example, Corn Syrup is so cheap that many beverage companies use this instead of sugar. Many experts believe that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), simply Corn Syrup, and added sugar are main factors of obesity epidemic, diabetes and heart disease. Coca-Cola is an example. You wanted a healthful Gochujang for home-made cooking but you are actually drinking Coke.
Gochujang is a fermented condiment which only needs natural ingredients like red chili peppers, glutinous rice, rice syrup and salt. Then it requires a long time for its fermentation. Jookjangyeon Gochujang is made of red chili peppers produced by local farmers around its manor. It takes almost three years to make Jookjangyeon since harvesting the main ingredients. We spent a few days at the manor located in a mountain in Southeastern Korea and confirmed that Jookjangyeon’s Gochujang uses only four natural ingredients. Click here to read more about Gochujang
- Best Use: Many Korean cuisines. It is essential to an excellent Ssamjang, Korean BBQ dipping sauce, which is a mix with Doenjang (soybean paste), and Sesame Oil. Also great as any spicy, sweet dipping sauce for vegetables.
Unhealthy Gochujang Example 1
Unhealthy Gochujang Example 2
We only pointed out corn syrup, and brown sugar. But simply this is full of too many harmful ingredients. Benzoate preserves things. You can use it for many years if it is well, naturally fermented. Gochujang typically only needs 4-5 natural ingredients.
2. Father’s Hill Whole Grain Syrup
This is a bee-free vegan honey or zero-sugar-added sweetener. All of the sweetness comes from grains that a farmer Juho Kim grows in Goheung, a rural town in Korea. He follows the Korean traditional way of making Jocheong, which is a healthy sweetener. It requires a total of 14 hours of boiling grains. No preservatives. No additives. All made through a farm-to-bottle operation by four people. Say farewell to sugar in your pantry. Perhaps in your life! Whole Grain Syrup will replace any sugar.
People compare this with Agave. It turns out Agave is even worse than corn syrup as medical professionals proved. This Whole Grain Syrup is healthful and super clean.
- Best Use: Throw away your sugar from your kitchen. This is a complete sugar replacement. Good with tea, coffee, pancakes, and marinating. Excellent with brie cheese, blue cheese (especially Stilton, Dorset Blue Vinney, and Saint Agur), and low sodium crackers.
3. Father's Hill Korean Fruit Jam
When you eat a fruit, for instance, a strawberry, you are eating fructose in its natural state. It is healthy, and different than refined sugar. Sadly, however, many jams contain added sugar to make it sweeter. Do you buy organic jam thinking it’s healthy? Think again. Read its ingredients list. “USDA Organic” has nothing to do with its added sugar level.
Fruit Jam from Father’s Hill adds its Whole Grain Syrup that is added sugar free. You can relax and enjoy the true palatableness of fruits. The jam comes in six flavors - Strawberry, Grape, Fig, Yuzu, Blueberry, and Sweet Purple Potato, and all of those ingredients are from Korea, mostly single origins.
- Best Use: Replace your added sugar-filled bread spread.
4. Nenia Organic Premium Grape Juice
Most healthy fruit juice or smoothies you buy from a store have lots of added sugar in it. The best way to drink real and sugar-free juice is to squeeze your favorite fruit at home. The second best is to intake delicious, sugar-free squeezed juice from a trusted producer.
Organic Premium Grape Juice from Nenia just qualifies that. The grapes are sourced from one place, Yoonji’s Farm which received a high distinction from the Korean Government. The farm’s special treatment of each vine produces such great quality grapes. For example, each vine tree is separated by 10 feet from one to the next so each vine receives full sunlight and minimal stress. Happy vines mean happy grapes, in turn deliciously healthy squeezed juice.
Without preservatives, Nenia’s Organic Premium Grape Juice is shelf stable due to its high acidity and pouch container which completely blocks air.
- Best Use: Drink Korea’s exceptionally tasty grape juice.
5 . Taegyeong Fermented Bellflower & Pear
The health benefits of bellflower and pear are widely known among Koreans. When the feeling of a cold is around the corner or a scratchy throat, many Koreans drink bellflower and pear juice or the concentrated version available in a prepared package.
Fermented Bellflower & Pear is super sweet but has no sweetener or added sugar. The secret of rich sweetness is in its famous pear. Cheolyoung Han and his wife Taegyeong run a pear farm in Anseong known for its tasty, juicy fruit. The couple started making the product only after many of their customers asked to preserve the pear for a longer time. The farm-to-bottle operation on their orchard contracted a bellflower farmer in Youngju famous for the plant’s superior quality.
- Best Use: A spoonful of Fermented Bellflower & Pear, can be consumed a few times throughout the day when you feel discomfort in your throat. You can also mix in a spoonful to hot water to make your own tea.
Keywords: South Korea, Korean food, korean jam, fermented bellflower, korean grape juice, gochujang, grain syrup