Cooking with Aspartame

For over 35 years aspartame has been sweetening the diets of many Americans. Aspartame is an artificial calorie free sugar substitute with sweetening power 200x stronger than table sugar. The most common brands are Equal (the blue packs that often grace the table of restaurants) and NutraSweet. This sweetener is often used in diet sodas, puddings, ice cream, and much more. With an estimated 6,000 plus products with aspartame in the U.S. market there are lots of options. However, with its intense sweetness switching sugar for aspartame can be tricky.

When looking to cook with aspartame you must consider its chemical properties. Aspartame is a methyl ester that is not able to stand up to high temperatures or high PH levels (very acidic environments). Simply put, baking or heating aspartame will cause it to denature. This changing stability is one reason why packaged foods and beverages that contain aspartame will often blend it with another sweetener to help stabilize the product.

The everyday sugar free cook who is not looking to heat, bake, or make preserves should have aspartame in their cupboard. It’s a low cost sugar free sweetener with many applications. When cooking with aspartame think of summer time no bake and no heat recipes. Try cooling off with fresh lemonade sweetened with aspartame or try tossing a salad with a vinaigrette sweetened with a touch of aspartame to balance the flavor. Thirst quenchers and no-bake recipes are the key for aspartame cooking success.