The flavour of many a breakfast favourite is routinely enhanced by the addition of a sweetener—coffee, tea, cereal, yoghurt, bread, and pancakes are typically enjoyed this way. But what if you are trying to avoid refined sugars? The culinary team at Anassa has addressed this question by offering a full suite of alternatives. The honey on offer at our breakfast buffet is raw, unfiltered, unrefined, and replete with natural sugar. Honey is served on the comb or infused with herbs (such as rosemary and lavender) or seasonal citrus (think oranges, pomelos, mandoras, lemons, and grapefruit). All the hotel’s preserves are homemade using locally sourced, seasonal fruit. Notable sugar-free flavourings include orange marmalade, lemon marmalade, and strawberry jam (in adjusting its recipes, the kitchen substituted 100 grams of honey per kilogram of refined sugar). Sugar-free preserves are found to be exceptionally more flavourful than those made with refined sugar. Syrups, too, are prepared without refined sugar. Homemade date syrup is a natural sweetener that ideally complements pancakes, waffles, and French toast; agave and maple syrups are organic options made with cinnamon-infused organic coconut palm sugar. The team has even developed a process for making a sugar-free version of the hazelnut paste commonly known as Nutella: they roast and grind the nuts before adding date syrup and cocoa powder for flavouring. The breakfast buffet continues to offer refined sugar sweeteners, of course. But why not sample one of the homemade options on hand? It’s a sweet opportunity to try something new.
