sugar substitutes

While I have used sweetner in the odd coffee, I really have little experience with sugar substitutes.  I tried adding sweetner (once sugar twin, once equal) to porridge and cream of wheat and it just made them taste bitter.  Someone told me that they taste fine in baked goods, but not so great plain.

So here is my question....

I am planning to make a bean salad sometime in the future (once I transition to soft foods) and the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar.  Now, I don't think with the size of portions I will have (and the huge amount of salad my recipe makes) that the amount of sugar will be a problem.  However, in the interest of making it as wls friendly as possible...can anyone suggest a substitute that can be used in a situation where the food won't be cooked that won't leave that bitter taste?

Thanks.

Have you tried the granulated Splenda?  It's a "spoon for spoon" substitute and I've had very good luck with it.

I second this, I find Splenda great to cook/bake with.

I make my bean salad with splenda all the time and nobody notices it's not sugar.  I have never found it to have a bitter taste in it and it could be because of the vinegar.  I find splenda in some things like SF cheesecake that isn't cooked, it has an odd taste but so far in bean salad, it is just perfect.

I have been trying to use stevia but just couldn't find one that wasn't bitter.  I am just trying a new one now for coffee and it's flavoured and has no taste so am going to buy the plain one and see if it is okay. 

personally, I would skip the sugar completely or find a new recipe.

I use all kinds of sweeteners, brand name and no name and you can definitely taste the difference. I am used to the taste now though so I dont notice it, but other people do.

While pre-op, I tested out a lot of my favourite recipes and cut back on the sugar as much as possible and have found that a lot of the time, you can eliminate the sugar completely without even noticing the difference much. I have a family favourite recipe for carrot cake that used 1 cup of oil and 1 cup of sugar. I managed to get it down to 1/4c of sugar and substituted ALL of the oil for pumpkin puree. It was awesome and nobody noticed the difference!!

Unfortunately I think sugar is a must as there is quite a bit of vinegar added and you need something to balance it out.  I don't bake and I seriously still have the same 2kg bag of sugar I bought when I moved into this house five years ago!!!  So I really don't use much sugar, but this is one thing I think needs it. 

My mom uses applesauce instead of oil a lot too!

Another vote for Splenda.  BTW, there is a generic version available at Loblaws now (sucralose).

Thanks everyone.  I will give Splenda a try (no Loblaws where I live so I can't try the generic brand).  Metro has all of their beans on for 99 cents this week so I won't be out too much if it doesn't work out!!

Tracy

Metro has their own generic brand as well.  I think it's in a blue bag and maybe called Equality.

I would go for Splenda as well....it's pricey however so we by  Equate  NO Cal Sweetener from Walmart...it's about $7 for a 275g bag. Tastes just like Splenda.  I use it in everything that calls for sugar. You can find it in the Pharmacy section with all the vits.