Why Do Some Applegate Products Contain Sugar?

The use of some sugars is unavoidable.

The curing/fermentation process requires the use of simple sugars like dextrose. These act as a necessary food source for the natural cultures involved in fermentation (just like using a pinch of sugar to activate yeast when baking bread.)

Because these natural cultures consume most of the dextrose as they do their job in adjusting the product pH and fermenting our dry cured items, there is very little dextrose left over in the finished product.

In theory, our dry cured products have very little (if any) dextrose in the finished product.

In this instance, we believe that theory is fact, however ...

Since there is a chance that some dextrose is left over and not consumed by the natural cultures, we must show “dextrose” in the ingredient statement on our label.

There are others times we want sugar in the product, to make products that are supposed to be sweet, sweet, like our Black Forest Ham.

Some examples of these sugars include evaporated cane syrup, honey, caramelized sugar, molasses, maple syrup, maple sugar, brown sugar, and the natural sugars found in apples.  In most of our products, the sugar is less than 1/2 percent of the whole product formulation.  Typically, the total sugar is .30 grams per serving.  Per USDA Nutritional Rounding Rules, anything less than 1/2 is rounded down to zero, which is why the label will list 0 grams of sugar.  Your best source of information on all of our products' ingredients and nutritional values is on our website.

You can also take a look at all of our sugar-free options.