Rare Sugars

Icon Foods supplies bulk rare sugars to food and beverage manufacturers across North America. Fifteen allulose grades, tagatose, and the IconiSweet™ systems, in crystalline, fine, ultra-fine, syrup and liquid forms, in conventional and organic, and in pre-built blends with stevia and monk fruit.

Rare sugars are the closest thing to a one-for-one sugar replacement available to a clean-label formulator. They taste like sugar, they bake like sugar, and they brown like sugar, at a fraction of the calories and with little or no glycemic impact.

What Are Rare Sugars?

Rare sugars are monosaccharides that occur in nature only in very small quantities. Allulose appears in figs, raisins, kiwi and wheat. Tagatose occurs in dairy and some fruits. Both are produced commercially through enzymatic conversion rather than extraction, because the natural quantities are too small to be practical.

They are real sugars, structurally, but the body does not metabolise them the way it metabolises sucrose. That combination is what makes them useful: they behave like sugar in a formulation while contributing almost no calories and little or no glycemic response.

Why This Category Exists

Rare sugars do something no other sugar-reduction category can. They brown.

Sugar alcohols provide bulk but do not participate in the Maillard reaction. High-intensity sweeteners provide sweetness and nothing else. Fiber provides bulk and a label claim but no color development.

Allulose and tagatose are both reducing sugars, which means they enter the Maillard reaction readily. Baked goods brown. Confectionery develops color. Caramel notes form. For a formulator working on anything where appearance and flavor development matter, that is often the deciding factor.

They also carry a labeling advantage. Under current FDA guidance, allulose is excluded from both Total Sugars and Added Sugars declarations, and tagatose is excluded from Added Sugars.

Allulose or Tagatose?

Allulose is the workhorse. It is available in more forms, costs less per unit of sweetness, and its humectancy and freeze-point control make it the stronger choice for frozen desserts, bars and anything where moisture management matters.

Tagatose sits closer to sucrose on the sweetness curve, which means less compensation from a high-intensity partner. Where a formulation is sensitive to the sweetness profile, or where the extra 0.1 of sweetness eliminates the need for a blend, it earns its place.

Many formulations use both. See bulk allulose and bulk tagatose for full specifications, or our comparison of tagatose vs. allulose for formulators.

Pure or Pre-Blended?

At 0.6 to 0.8 times the sweetness of sugar, allulose alone needs a high-intensity partner to reach parity. That leaves two routes.

Pure allulose gives you full control. You choose the sweetener, the ratio and the particle size. Six grades: KetoseSweet®, 100, Ultra, Syrup, and organic versions.

Pre-blended systems hand you a ratio that has already been developed and validated. KetoseSweet+® reaches 1 to 2 times the sweetness of sugar at under 0.2 calories per gram. That is weeks of bench work you do not repeat.

IconiSweet™ is the fullest system: it pairs allulose with erythritol for bulk, and stevia and monk fruit for sweetness, delivering true 1:1 replacement with browning retained. It also appears in polyols and blends, because it is both.

Which Blend Partner?

Where you are choosing a pre-blended system, the high-intensity partner shapes the finish.

Stevia is neutral and cost-effective, with a fast onset when using Reb M grades. It can carry licorice character at higher inclusion. See stevia extract.

Monk fruit brings a mild fruity note that complements allulose’s clean profile, with a slightly slower onset. See monk fruit sweetener.

Both together is what KetoseSweet+® does. Stevia and monk fruit mask each other’s characteristic off-notes, and the combination tracks sucrose more closely than either alone.

Which Form?

Particle size determines dissolution rate and mouthfeel. Frostings need Ultra to avoid grittiness. Beverages dissolve faster at finer mesh. Syrups do work no crystalline grade can, particularly binding and water activity control in bars.

Conventional or Organic

Organic allulose is available in crystalline, 100 and Ultra, certified through Oregon Tilth. Worth knowing: the organic grades run at ≥99.5% assay against ≥95% for conventional, so the organic route is also the higher-purity one.

Formulating With Rare Sugars

Browning happens earlier than you expect

Allulose browns from roughly 220°F, where sucrose shows little color until around 320°F. Lower your oven temperature, shorten the bake, or both. Our guide to baking with allulose covers the adjustments.

Digestive tolerance

Both rare sugars are generally well tolerated, better than most polyols, though tolerance is dose-dependent. Typical usage runs 2 to 20% for pure allulose and 1 to 15% for the blended systems. Confirm at your intended level.

They pair rather than compete

Rare sugars sit alongside the rest of the portfolio rather than replacing it. Pair with fiber for bulk and a label claim, with high intensity sweeteners for sweetness parity, or with thaumatin to extend the sweetness curve.

Applications

Frozen desserts

Allulose’s freeze-point depression produces smoother microcrystal formation, better scoopability at freezer temperature, and less recrystallization over storage. One of the strongest applications in the category.

Baked goods and bars

Browning and humectancy together. Rare sugars deliver the color development that polyols cannot and the moisture retention that keeps a reduced-sugar bar from drying out.

Beverages

The syrup and fine grades dissolve cleanly in ready-to-drink, carbonated and functional systems. KetoseSweet® Syrup handles liquid formats directly.

Confectionery

Crystallization behavior and color development are both decisive here. Chocolate, chews, gummies and panned confections all benefit.

Dairy and alt-dairy

Clean sweetness with no cooling effect, which matters where the base is delicate and any off-note is exposed.

Labeling

Allulose is excluded from both Total Sugars and Added Sugars under current FDA guidance. Tagatose is excluded from Added Sugars. Both contribute to Total Carbohydrate.

That distinction is the reason many formulators choose rare sugars over polyols. A sugar alcohol declares as a sugar alcohol. A rare sugar largely disappears from the sugar lines. Confirm the appropriate treatment for your specific product with your regulatory team.

Custom Systems

If none of the grades below fits, we build custom rare sugar systems in-house and mill to your specification. Tell us the sweetness target, the browning requirement and the label constraints. See custom blends and formulation support.

Samples in 24 to 48 Hours

Every product on this page is available as a sample with full documentation, and we hold no minimum order. If pure allulose does the job we will say so rather than selling you a blend.