2. Place xylitol, cream of tartar and citric acid into top of double boiler, mix well. Heat over boiling water (simmer) until melted.Should take about 15-20 minutes to melt.
4. You can stir last few lumps, but more stirring seems to produce more small crystals in the final candy. Syrup crystalizes very quickly on the spoon, so use a fresh spoon each time. The goal is a clear syrup.
Where To Buy Xylitol Candy
5. When fully melted, turn off heat. Quickly stir in flavoring (2-4 drops pure oil or up to 1/16 tsp LorAnn oil). Note: Ingredients for LorAnn oils can include: Natural and/or artificial flavoring, alcohol, propylene glycol, glycerin, water, color. I got harder candy using flavorings with less water, the ones that listed other ingredients before water.
9. Set aside in dust free area to set. White/opaque areas of sheet crystal will form, usually starting in the areas where the last bits of scrapped syrup fell. Good candy will form shiny flat crystal sheets. It may take up to 3-4 hours for sheet to fully crystalize. If the whole things sets in less than five minutes you might find the candy is fragile and grainy as it is made up of many tiny crystals. In this case, you can re-melt the candy, adding extra acid. The flavoring may evaporate, so add a little more right before you pour the syrup.
Xylitol syrup takes many hours to solidify, or stays sticky: You can add some seed crystals, just use grains of xylitol straight from the package. Use less acid. You can re-melt the sticky candy and add plain xylitol to dilute the acid concentration. (Note: the xylitol syrup will almost always set, but it might take overnight.) Reduce the amount of flavoring.
I use a commercial xylitol product for this and it works well but is expensive. I'm going to try making my own candies. One important note is the commercial product is the size of a pill, and has a gum adhesive on one side so it will adhere to the gingiva. It is said the xylitol will just dissolve in the lungs if it's inhaled. I'd imagine whether you used a gum adhesive or not, the size should be small enough to not block the airway.
Erythritol has a melting point of 240 degrees, so you'd have to skip the double boiler and make it like conventional rock candy, and flavorings might boil out. Who knows what the result will be, why don't you do some experimenting and make an instructable!
Commercially, most xylitol is extracted from corn fiber or birch trees. Although it has been used as a sugar substitute for decades, its popularity has increased dramatically in the last decade due to its low glycemic index and dental plaque fighting properties.
Xylitol is manufactured into a white powder that looks and tastes similar to sugar. In many countries it has been approved for use in oral care products, pharmaceuticals, and as a food additive. Over recent years, the number and types of products that contain xylitol has greatly increased. Example products include sugar-free gum, candies, breath mints, baked goods, peanut butter, pudding snacks, cough syrup, chewable or gummy vitamins, and supplements or over the counter medications, mouthwash, and toothpaste. Xylitol is also showing up in over-the-counter nasal sprays, skin care products, laxatives, digestive aids, allergy medicines, dry mouth lozenges, sleep supplements, as well as prescription human medications, especially those formulated as quick dissolve tablets or liquids.
Xylitol has the same sweetness as sucrose but contains only about two-thirds the calories. As a sugar substitute, it is lower on the glycemic index, a scale that ranks carbohydrate-rich foods by how much they raise blood sugar levels, compared to glucose. Being lower on the glycemic index makes xylitol useful for diabetics or people on low carbohydrate diets.
Xylitol is safe for use in people, although like most sugar alcohols, it may have a mild laxative effect when eaten in large amounts or when first introduced to a diet. This occurs because xylitol can pull water into the intestines, or it can be fermented by bacteria present in the intestines.
In both humans and dogs, the level of blood sugar is controlled by the release of insulin from the pancreas. Xylitol does not stimulate the release of insulin from the pancreas in humans. However, when dogs eat xylitol, the xylitol is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, resulting in a potent release of insulin from the pancreas. This rapid release of insulin causes a profound drop in blood sugar (hypoglycemia), an effect that can occur as quickly as 10-60 minutes after ingestion. If untreated, hypoglycemia can be life-threatening. The process by which xylitol can cause liver failure in dogs is poorly understood.
Due to differing amounts of xylitol present in various products, the amount of a product that is needed to be ingested before toxicity is expected varies. In general, lower doses of xylitol cause hypoglycemia, while higher doses cause liver failure. Xylitol amounts in gum vary by brand and can even vary within the same brand based on type of gum and flavor. Some brands of gum contain low amounts of xylitol, while other brands contain larger amounts. Because there is a large range of xylitol in different brands and flavors of gum, it is important to identify whether a toxic amount has been ingested. The most common source of xylitol poisoning that Pet Poison Helpline* gets calls about comes from sugar-free gum, although cases of xylitol poisoning from other sources such as supplements and baked goods are on the rise. In 2020, Pet Poison Helpline had 5,846 calls involving dogs ingesting xylitol!
A presumptive diagnosis of xylitol poisoning is made if you know or suspect that the dog ate something containing xylitol, and there are signs of hypoglycemia or liver failure. Since clinical signs develop rapidly, your veterinarian will not generally wait for a confirmed diagnosis regarding the specific amount ingested before beginning treatment.
If your dog has just eaten xylitol but has not yet developed any clinical signs, your veterinarian may induce vomiting to prevent further absorption depending on what your dog's blood glucose level is. If clinical signs have developed, treatment will be based on the signs that are being shown. Since xylitol can cause both low blood glucose and low potassium levels, your veterinarian will perform blood work to determine whether these problems need to be treated. In all cases, your dog will require hospitalization for blood glucose monitoring, dextrose administration, intravenous fluids, liver protectants, and any other supportive care that may be needed. Blood work should be monitored frequently to make sure that blood glucose and liver function remain normal.
It seems that dogs are the most sensitive to xylitol poisoning. Cats, rabbits, ferrets, and horses do not appear to develop hypoglycemia or liver failure from ingestion of xylitol. Even though these other species do not appear to be sensitive to xylitol, it is still best to keep them away from xylitol-containing products.
Xylitol, like any other sweetener, promotes mineralization by increasing the salivary flow when used as chewing gum or large xylitol pastille. The uniqueness of xylitol is that it is practically nonfermentable by oral bacteria. Also, there is a decrease in levels of MS, as well as the amount of plaque, when there is habitual consumption of xylitol.10
A study among Montreal children showed that children who chewed xylitol gum had significantly lower caries progression after 24 months than those who did not use gum. These children exhibited a significantly higher number of reversals of carious lesions than the control group, suggesting that remineralization has occurred.21 In a long-term study it was confirmed that by using xylitol chewing gum, caries risk can be reduced by 59%, and the optimum time for introducing the chewing gum for caries prevention is at least 1 year prior to the eruption of permanent teeth.22
MS are the target organisms of xylitol, though several other bacterial species are also inhibited. Only certain strains of MS are inhibited by xylitol, and the degree of inhibition differs among the different strains.30 It has been observed that 80% of the total MS count was resistant to xylitol among the habitual xylitol consumers. However, the MS not inhibited by xylitol were found to be less virulent.31
High concentrations of xylitol have been found to inhibit Lactococcus lactis over time, but not S. salivarius and Lactobacillus casei. Xylitol prevents the adherence of pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenzae to nasopharyngeal cells due to fructose phosphotransferase system-mediated uptake and phosphorylation of xylitol in the cell.
Xylitol reduces the levels of MS in plaque by various mechanisms. Firstly, plaque microorganisms cannot ferment xylitol. The ability of certain organisms to ferment xylitol is negated by inaction of other plaque organisms, which prevents the plaque pH from falling.32 Secondly, xylitol is incorporated into the cells of MS as xylitol-5-phosphate through the phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system. This results in inhibition of both growth and acid production.31 Thirdly, when exposed to xylitol, MS develop resistance to xylitol. These resistant strains are less virulent in an oral environment.33 Fourthly, xylitol increases the concentrations of ammonia and amino acids in plaque, thereby neutralizing plaque acids.34
Milestone studies like the Turku sugar study and trials of partial substitution suggest that xylitol decreases the formation of plaque compared with sugars and other polyols. However, there is no evidence that xylitol is superior to any other sweetener in increasing the salivary flow rate during and immediately after chewing over varying lengths of time.35
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