Single Tree News: November 2024

Make Way for Agave!

Why would anyone want to modify a perfectly good granola recipe? Well, three of my four granloas are all sweetened the same way, with a mixture of wildflower honey and organic brown sugar. I got to thinking that perhaps I should add a little more variety. Granola needs something sticky like honey or maple syrup to make it stick together. The question was, which granola recipe needed to be changed up? The Honey/Walnut flavor obviously needs honey and the Maple/Pecan obviously needs maple syrup. So the Cranberry/Almond seemed like a great candidate to try something new. But what? I wanted something that was organic, worked well in the recipe, and tasted wonderful. My search began.

My research led me to blue agave syrup (also known as agave nectar), an all natural organic sweetener from the blue agave plant. Blue agave is most widely known for its use in tequila production, but syrup is also extracted from the plant to be used as a sweetener. It contains vitamins B2, B6, B9, and K, as well as antioxidants. From my research I learned that agave syrup can be substituted for honey or maple syrup in most recipes. It comes in three main grades: light, amber, and dark. I decided to try the light and amber grades as I read that dark’s heartier flavor is better suited for meat glazes and stews than as a general sweetener. But how would they taste in Cranberry/Almond granola? It was time to experiment!

I purchased one small bottle of light and one of amber agave syrup and compared them to maple syrup and honey. Honey was the most viscous, maple syrup was the least, and the agaves were in between. I found the sweetness of all four to be very comparable, but their flavors varied. The light agave, although sweet, seemed to have little actual flavor, but the amber had a distinct flavor. It was delicious, but how would it perform in my granola? I made an experimental batch of Cranberry/Almond granola substituting the honey and brown sugar with amber agave syrup. The first thing I noticed upon removing it from the oven was that it seemed to have a shiner finish. The texture was almost indistinguishable from the original recipe. The flavor was also very close to the original, but there was a subtle difference. I decided the only way I would know for sure which recipe my customers would prefer was to do a have a focus group do a taste test. And what better place to solicit a focus group than at the market?

After announcing the taste test on social media, I arrived at the next market with a bunch of tastes of both recipes. I also had two bags of granola made with agave with me. Whenever a customer expressed interest in the Cranberry/Almond granola, I asked if they would like to participate in the taste test, and all of them said that they would. People make different facial expressions as they taste things. It was fun watching them wrinkle their noses, squinch their eyes, look up, look down, and contort their faces in all kinds of ways as they savored their tastes. Almost everyone agreed that the agave recipe was slightly less sweet than the original, and for that reason, found it to be preferable. Others found the agave preferable just because it was agave. My two bags of agave sold very quickly. “Agave? I want that one!” The customers have spoken, I will be making the switch to agave in the Cranberry/Almond recipe. Make way for agave!

In Other News…

• This past week I have been doing some volunteer work for the open house at the new Tallahassee Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The temple is nothing short of magnificent and it is currently open to the public. I invite all of my Tallahassee friends to come and see the temple. You can find the details here.
• As of this writing, I am down to my last jar of pear jam for the year. If you want it before I sell it at the market, place your order now.
• Rosella jam has been selling well, and Susan’s plant just keeps on making rosellas. I should have enough rosella and plenty as fig to tide me over until the citrus fruit is on.
• The oranges are almost here! I expect to be making my first batches of orange jam right after Thanksgiving.