sugar in brine

[brandonweller]

hi im just curious im new to this forum and smoking fish or anything for that matter and plan on smoking mostly lake trout and brook trout but my family is all diabetics and cant use sugar and i cant stand spelda so is there a way to smoke fish without sugar

thanks in advance

[Kummok]

Wish I could help but I have no experience with "alternative sweeteners" for the brine....besides that, I use Splenda for my sweet tea and really like it... :-\   Seems that I recall someone else asking this in the past but don't recall the outcome...hopefully someone with experience in that area will chime in...

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi brandonweller;
Welcome to the forum.

Sugar is not necessary in brines, but it help cuts the harshness of the salt. Without sugar or other sweetener, it will taste way too salty. I don't know how severe yours or other family members diabetes is, but .5 - 1 cup of sugar per gallon is not going to increase the carbohydrates in any of the food you brine by much.

A lot of the brines posted are sweet brines. So you can also cut down the amount of sugar, and cut the harness of salt. If using sugar in brines, a guideline is the use half as much sugar as the amount of salt you have added. That amount will cut the harness of the salt without making the food sweet.

As to other types of sweeteners Stevia, and Diabeti Sweet can be used in cooking; but if you don't like Splenda you my not like Stevia. Stevia produces a metallic after taste in many people that use it. There are more no-calorie or low-calorie sweeteners on the market that can be used in cooking. An internet search will turn up more.

Another option would be to use Agave syrup. Although it has 16g of carbohydrates per tablespoon, it is at least four times sweeter than sugar, so you use far less to obtain the level of sweetness you are looking for.

[Smokeville]

Glad to see this thread. I've often wondered about how much the brine affects the salt and sugar content of the fish. My wife and I get asked this a lot at the Farmers' Market by people who are on special diets. So far as salt goes, with 1 cup of salt to 20lbs of fish, brined overnight, does it really raise the salt level that much?

Another issue is gluten, especially with Kummok's brine which contains soy sauce. (There is excellent documentation that Kikkoman Soy Sauce contains no gluten even though it is made with wheat, so I think we are ok on that one).

Thanks, brandonweller, for starting this. I hope you get a great answer so your family will be able to enjoy!

Rich