Darra Goldstein

Sucanat

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets
Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets

By Darra Goldstein

Published 2015

  • About

Sucanat, a word derived from the French sucre de canne naturel (natural cane sugar), is an expensive and flavorful cane sugar that retains most of its original minerals. It was the first product of Pronatec AG, a company established in Switzerland in 1976 by Albert Yersin. Yersin had been influenced by Max-Henri Béguin (1918–2000), a Swiss pediatrician and pacifist who promoted organic, unprocessed foods.

Early advertising in the United States claimed that Sucanat “has more calcium than broccoli; more Vitamin A than Brussels sprouts; more iron than raisins; more potassium than potatoes; and about the same Vitamin C as fresh tangerines.” But, following a complaint by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus prodded Pronatec to tone down its rhetoric.