SugaVida is a natural sugar, ideal for baking and sweetening drinks, sourced from the sap of the Palmyra, a tropical palm-like tree located in South Asia. Here’s our SugaVida review.
What Is SugaVida?
SugaVida is a golden-brown granulated sugar, available in 250g bags, that is sourced from organic Palmyra blossom.
SugaVida Features: How Does It Work?
SugaVida is a form of sugar that is naturally high in several B vitamins (vitamins B1, B2, B6, and B3), rich in essential minerals like iron, potassium, and magnesium, boasts high bio-availability, and has a Glycemic Index of just 35 – a full 30 points lower than traditional table sugar.
All of this makes SugaVida a much better choice for anyone who needs to reduce their refined sugar intake, suffers from diabetes, or is just simply looking for healthier alternatives for regular table sugar.
Who Makes SugaVida?
SugaVida, the name of the company that markets the SugaVida product, was created by Kristina Locke, a former PR and marketing specialist from the UK that has helped launch several natural medicine and supplement companies to the market.
A fully qualified Yoga teacher specializing in Ayurvedic diet, Locke spent time in South Asia, where she came across a substance known as Jaggery, an unrefined Palmyra sugar sold in massive blocks.
After discovering the health benefits of Jaggery and its advantages over using traditional table sugar, she allied with local Jaggery providers and designed a method for turning Jaggery into a more easily packaged and sold product.
The result is SugaVida, a Palmyra sugar product that is sourced from 100% organic Palymra trees that retains the nutritional benefits of Jaggery but is available in a more easily usable form.
SugaVida Ingredients
SugaVida is a naturally-occurring sugar that is created similarly to maple syrup, with the fruit of the Palmyra tree being “tapped” to collect the nectar within them.
This nectar is then subjected to a proprietary heating process to create the product. Once the newly-created sugar cools, it is then powdered and packaged for sale.
SugaVida Pricing
SugaVida is available at select organic food and health food stores in the UK and abroad. For those without a local source, SugaVida is sold through an Amazon UK storefront that ships internationally at a price of £9.86 (not quite $13 USD) for a 250-gram bag (a little over 8 ounces).
Shipping to the UK is free; international shipping rates will of course vary by location.
SugaVida Reviews: What Do Customers Have to Say?
SugaVida’s Amazon page has a good collection of 32 reviews describing the product, and it’s earned a very high score of 4.8 out of 5 stars across these reviews. 26 of those 32 reviews awarded SugaVida 5 stars; its lowest rating, 2 stars, was awarded by just one reviewer.
Pros:
- Delicious Taste – Nearly every single reviewer has raved about the delicious taste of SugaVida, especially when using it to sweeten drinks or as a sugar alternative in baking cakes. The taste is reminiscent of caramel, according to reviewers, though some have said it reminds them vaguely of coffee.
- Low GI, Excellent Nutrition – Unlike refined sugar, with its high Glycemic Index and lack of any other nutrients, SugaVida is nearly half the GI and loaded with vitamins and minerals. This has been a big selling point for many health-conscious reviewers.
Cons:
- Prohibitively Expensive – SugaVida is incredibly expensive when compared to regular table sugar or even unrefined sugar. This is of course because SugaVida is sourced from organic Palmyra tree fruit sap and not from the much more easily-cultivated and ubiquitous sugar cane.
- Some reviewers say the incredibly high price is worth it, while others have said that the price is too high despite the benefits of the product
SugaVida Review Summary
By all accounts SugaVida is an excellent product that not only tastes delicious but is a much healthier alternative to refined sugar. Its versatility is well-praised, as it can be used not just as a sweetener for your coffee or tea but is also ideal in providing a sweet caramel flavor to baked goods it’s used in, and the added benefits of SugaVida being a “healthy” sugar, one that’s got a low Glycemic Index and has naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, is a major selling point as well.
Unfortunately there’s no getting around the fact that SugaVida is an incredibly expensive product. Collecting the raw ingredients for this sugar is tedious work; it’s sourced exclusively from the ripening fruit of Palmyra palms in India, which requires workers to climb these tall trees twice a day to collect the sap before it can be heated, cooled, and turned into a packaged powder.
This puts SugaVida solidly in the category of a luxury product, or one that you need to use sparingly. We recommend buying just one package first to see if you enjoy the taste and health benefits, but please keep in mind that it’s a very expensive product and that a single 250g bag is not going to last you very long if you put five tablespoons of SugaVida in your extra-large coffee every morning before work.
