From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: misc.health.diabetes
Subject: Re: sugar subs
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 16:13:44 -0400
Message-ID: <fqdcg1po3kr7nom69nv9j2lj06lek97160@4ax.com>

On 19 Aug 2005 02:19:34 GMT, Thelma Lubkin <thelma@alpha2.csd.uwm.edu>
wrote:

>Neon John <jgd@johngsbbq.com> wrote:
>: The main application I had for Splenda was to make my own soft drinks
>: like I used to do with sugar pre-diagnosis.  I use snowball flavor
>: concentrates and other ingredients.  That, some sugar and carbonated
>: water makes a great fizz.  I tried that with the bulk packed Splenda,
>: not bothering to read the label, and watched my meter soar into the
>: stratosphere, generating the highest BG level I'd seen since the day
>: of diagnosis.  Then I read the label and understood.
>
>       I have pure sucralose in powder form for such uses. You use
>       about as much as you would *pure* saccharin--enough to cover just
>       the tip of an infant-spoon. To me, it has as much an aftertaste as
>       saccharin.

Where do you get pure sucralose in powder form?  I've been searching
all over for some.

>       What is 'snowball flavor'? We make chocolate soda w/
>       unsweetened cocoa, vanilla, potassium bicarbonate [husband avoids
>       salt more rigorously than sugar], sucralose and yogurt.

Snowball flavor is the stuff you buy from the concession supplies
distributor to make flavored snowballs.  It is a highly concentrated
unsweetened flavor.  Mine is the Kennedy brand available from Kennedy
Wholesale in Chattanooga, TN, 423 624-1972 (something makes me think
they changed their name but the number is still good.)

Instructions say to add 4 ounces of flavoring and 4 pounds of sugar
(!!!!) to a gallon jug and fill with water to make a gallon of
snowball syrup.  I use about half that much flavor and sugar and use
carbonated water, or at least I did before diabetes.  I've tried the
liquid cyclamate with less than perfect results, mainly because the
liquid adds too much uncarbonated water to the mix.

The ingredient label on the flavoring reads: water, citric acid,
propylene glycol, certified food coloring, imitation flavor, 0.1%
benzoate of soda as preservative.  All the usual fruit flavors are
available plus some others such as pina colada.

I don't know that I'd like all that bicarb in a dish.  You can make
your own soda water at home.  All it takes is to hold almost freezing
water under 80 psi of carbon dioxide for awhile until it becomes
saturated with CO2.  You can use a 2 liter bottle with a bulkhead tube
fitting inserted through the lid or (what I use) a garden sprayer
tank. An easy place to attach the fitting is where the safety valve is
removed.

The popularity of the sport of paintballing has made CO2 extremely
available.  Buy a cheap paintball gun at Wallyworld or from the
secondhand shop and rob the CO2 bottle and valve assembly. That and
some tubing is all you need.  You can get the bottle refilled at many
sporting goods stores and most any shop specializing in paintball
supplies.  Beer distributors can also fill them if you have the
adapter.

I get carbonated water out of the fountain in my restaurant but when
I'm camping or at my cabin, I use a rig just as I've described.  It
works great.  It can carbonate most anything and not just water.
Carbonated fruit juice is very interesting, for example.

John