Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Lakonto Monkfruit Based Sweetener.  Specifically a two pack of the golden and white varieties.  I first learned about Lakonto from Thomas DeLauer on YouTube.  I really like Thomas and while I don’t agree 100% with him, I have leaned a ton from him.

Monkfruit has been used for centuries as a sweetener, as you might imagine often by monks.  It is a zero calorie sweetener with no effect on blood sugar.  It is very sweet, similar to stevia in that way.  To some though it has a bit of a “funny fruity aftertaste”.  Enter Erythritol which this is also made with.  Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that also has no caloric yield to the body and no impact on blood sugar. 

Now some people do not believe such claims about blood sugar, and with a logical reason for it.  This is because some things which make this claim, DO impact blood sugar.  Like say xylotil and maliditol  which is why I was very grateful when I found this video done by a couple called Keto Connect.  Since they did this video a ton of youtubers have done the same test with similar results.  Short version is xylitol (which is also highly toxic to dogs), spiked blood sugar and maltitol also did so almost as bad as pure sugar.  Erythritol and monkfruit both did absolutely nothing to blood sugar levels and that was with a quantity I can’t even imagine using in one serving (3 tablespoons).  Seriously who the hell uses 3 tablespoons of sugar on any one thing?

So why the blend?  Well all artificial sweeteners even stevia can have some level of a “funny taste” which actually really amounts to, they don’t taste exactly like cane sugar.  If you check into all the most popular low sugar products you will find that most use 2-4 sweeteners.  They don’t do this to be very sweet as some think.  No, what they do is use multiples and go for a specific level of sweetness.  If you just want really sweet you can use a lot of monkfruit or a lot of erythritol and you will have it.  But whatever odd taste is included is now magnified.  For erythritol you get almost a cooling mint like finish like say wintergreen.  Monkfruit has sort of a strong fruit taste (shocking I know). But when you use a bit of this and that, they sort of cancel each other out.

In short this stuff doesn’t taste exactly like sugar but it is the closest thing I have found.  I use a teaspoon of it and a drop of stevia in my chocolate coffee (recipe below) and it is amazing.  I also do use strait erythritol as it is cheaper and for some things it doesn’t matter.  I like the the Swerve Brand for that.

One thing I have been using the Golden Lakonto for a lot is meat rubs.  I have always used brown sugar for such things and it is great but it can add a ton of carbs.  I first tried the brown sugar version of Swerve for this, it didn’t work great.  When I tried the Lakonto Golden it was better, I eventually settled on a solution of using 1/3rd real brown sugar and 2/3rds Lakonto Golden.  It tastes amazing and the carbs are still low, I mean it is a rub not a sauce so you don’t use a massive amount of it.

The golden is my favorite, it is good in everything far as I am concerned.  I am recommending you try the small pack of one of each to get a taste for it and see if it works for you.  Once you know you like it, there are less expensive options by the ounce for sure with buying like a 3 lb bag, but you shouldn’t do so until you try it on a smaller size just in case you don’t care of it.

When I first found Lakonto they only did granulated sugar replacement and monkfruit drops.  They now seem to be using their sweetener to go into a lot of other products.  I am sure most will be awesome.  One caution though, they have like a chocolate chip pancake mix, etc.  I don’t trust products like this for keto.

My view is we need more tests with blood glucose meters like the Keto Connect people did with sweeteners to know for sure.  But when I see ____ starch, _____ starch, _____ starch, etc as the primary ingredients of  a low “net carb” product my bullshit detector goes off!  While I do subscribe to the net carb theory of subtracting fiber from whole foods, I don’t buy it with a laboratory manufactured starch and I won’t until someone proves it with a glucose meter.  For more on this and more recipes tune into today’s show, which will be episode 2540.

Otherwise though give Lakonto Monkfruit Based Sweetener a shot and check out the recipes below for using it.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com

P.S. Here are two recipes for this sweetener.  You can use it in anything calling for sugar though at a 1-1 replacement.  If you want to cut sugar for your kids, do a 50-50 cut with it, they will never know unless you tell them.

Jack’s Chocolate Keto Coffee

Please note this is a keto treat type of coffee, something I make on a nice slow Sunday Morning not a daily drink. 

• • • 1 TSP Pure Coco Powder (100% no sugar stuff)
    • 1 TSP Lakonto Golden Sugar
    • 1 TBS MCT Oil (totally optional for a keto fat bomb)
    • 1/4 TSP of real cinnamon (Ceylon)
    • 1-2 Drops of Stevia
    • Two Cranks of Pink Salt (pinch of any salt really)
    • 1 TBS of heavy organic cream
    • 2 TBS of Coconut Cream
    • Coffee

I make up a French Press of  Food Forest Farms or Holler Roast Coffee.  Pour coffee into the blender first so the powdered coco and cinnamon don’t cake.  Just put in all the other ingredients and blend, I use my Ninja Blender.  If you want to have a truly sinful experience you can add a shot of peppermint flavored whipped cream for only one more carb.

Again this is a spoil yourself indulgence but the chocolate is a no big deal.  You an back off the creams and be both low calorie and low carb.

Jack’s Coffee Chocolate Rib Rub

• 2 TBS Ground Coffee
• 2 TBS Coco Powder (100% no sugar stuff)
• 2 TBS Lakonto Golden
• 1 TBS Brown Sugar
• 2 TBS of Chili Powder
• 2 TBS Salt (kosher is best for this one)
• 1 TBS of MSG (optional but if you are afraid of it, you better not eat tomatoes, mushrooms, etc)
• 1 TBS of Black Pepper
• 2 TBS Onion Powder
• 1/4 TSP of Red Pepper Flake
• 1 TSP Cumin

This is a do anything rub but it was made for pork ribs and it is beyond amazing on them.  It also loves skin on chicken!  When I did the math using the real brown sugar cut with the Lakonto only added about .2 carbs per rib, say .3 for a big chicken leg.  To me that is worth it and the melty nature of real brown sugar is worth it.  It is good with pure Lakonto but better with 1/3rd of the sweetener being the real deal.