What’s up chefs,
So one of my coworker’s kids has been in ROUGH shape the last couple months - couldn’t keep anything down. After a ton of labs and testing they FINALLY figured out she has CSID, and they’ve got her diet narrowed down to foods she can actually stomach.
But, there’s sucrose and maltose in like everything, so she’s going to be super limited on what she can eat for the rest of her life.
So… I want to send her mom home from work with the best fucking dessert she’s ever had, and as many recipes as I can get a hold of, especially comfort food kinds of dishes.
If you’ve got any that sound like a good match, please share!
Thanks all!
I’m just commenting so the post is more active and more people see it. I’m hoping you get lots of wonderful ideas! ❤️
You can buy plain glucose (dextrose) and fructose. Glucose isn’t quite as sweet as sucrose, but fructose is sweeter. I’d bet you could mix 2 parts dextrose to one part fructose and use it as a drop in in recipes that call for sucrose. It may affect browning and resulting moisture of any baked goods, but it’s worth experimenting with.
Cooking is just chemistry that you can eat!
Hadn’t considered browning… do all sugars have some kind of caramelization process?
There are 2 types of non-enzymatic browning: caramelization and maillard.
Caramelization is done by breaking sugar down, which then actually recombines into bigger molecules. I think it would happen with all sugars. If you do this with sucrose, it has to first break into glucose and fructose. This is done faster at a low pH, which is why if you’ve ever had to make invert syrup (which is just sucrose broken down), you add some kind of acid before heating it up. My assumption is that starting with glucose/fructose, caramelization will be faster, and not pH sensitive like when using sucrose.
The maillard reaction is the combination of sugar with amino acids. It takes place faster at higher pH (which is why you use lye or baking soda to make pretzels). It only works with certain types of sugar, though (glucose, fructose, galactose, lactose, maltose, et al.). Sucrose alone technically won’t do it, but if you are heating sucrose, you’ll be creating at least some glucose/fructose that can do it. Basically, you should get way more maillard reactions with the monosaccharides.
Basically, if you are baking with them, you may need to adjust recipes a little to prevent over browning.
Also, the monosaccharides absorb more moisture from the air, so they will stay moist longer, which is why some recipes tell you to use honey or invert syrup in recipes. It could be a good thing in some recipes, but a bad thing in others.
Look up diabetic friendly recipes. -ose = sugars, so anything lacking glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, dextrose, lactose, etc. would be on the diabetic friendly list.
Ose is Latin for “full of”.
Glucose and fructose should be safe for people with CSID. They’re simple sugars (monosaccharides) rather than the complex sugars (disaccharides) that people with this condition cannot break down.
Yes, but it might be easier to find things that are completely sugar-free, was their point
The two goals are 1) delicious, and 2) she won’t puke it up. Sugar-free could definitely fit the bill; but but there is some wiggle room with CSID, so I did want to find options that let her actually enjoy some sugar, just narrowed down to things like fructose.
Not to discredit the sugar free suggestions - 100% of those will be compatible!
I am in no means an expert, but maybe try looking for keto diet recipes, they tend to shy away from sugar completely usually, or use substitutes. You can always replace the starch alternatives for the real thing (flour/potatoes/rice) since you only care about sugar.
Do you know if she also struggles with lactose?
There’s a table on this website that lists certain fruits as “recommended” for a disaccharide-free diet, which includes berries like blackberries, blueberries and loganberries. You could combine those with some freshly whipped double cream (although make sure it hasn’t been sweetened): it’s a simple but delicious dessert.
Do you know if she also struggles with lactose?
I’m not sure. Initially I thought no, but that website lists it as a no-go. It’s a disaccharide made up of glucose and galactose, which should both be fine, so /shrug. I need to research CSID more - never heard of it until earlier today from the mom.
I was initially thinking something like mango sticky rice (fructose, lactose, starch?) could be a good option, but rice is listed as a no-go as well.
I should probably check with the mom before I do too much more.
Yeah most grains/cereals will unfortunately be off the menu.
I hope you find some great dessert ideas, and it’s wonderful how you’re supporting your coworker.
