What can I use instead of sugar in meringues?

[lalalonglegs]

There is a great Jamie Oliver recipe in his 30-Minute Meal book for meringues - they are lovely and chewy but, to my taste, far too sweet. Is there anything I can use instead of sugar that will keep the gooeyness but not make them so cloyingly sweet? Just reducing the sugar makes them crispy rather than chewy.

Meringues are supposed to be tooth curlingly sweet. It's the nature of the beast!

There must be an alternative for those of us who don't want to induce diabetes .

you won't get diabetes from the odd meringue!

making meringue without sugar is a bit like trying to make a cheese sandwich without the cheese.

Try hazlenut meringue, lovely especially with whipped cream and raspberries

But meringue is sweet and therefore to be eaten in moderate quantities, which is fine. And is mostly fresh air, anyway.

I agree. Meringues won't work unless the proportion of sugar to egg white is correct. I find them too sweet so don't make them.

thisisyesterday's analogy is a good one. So is trying to make a coq au vin without wine for a vegetarian

What do you eat meringues with? I think they need cream, unsweetened, and some sharp fruit to balance the sweetness. My perfect pavlova is raspberry.

The recipe is for tarts with a meringue topping - I use apricot or plum jam in the tarts (home-made: not too much sugar ) but I just want a less cloying meringue topping. Can it really not be done?

Use fruit rather than jam in the tarts, so the combination won't be so sweet.

Sugar stabilises the foam. If you don't use enough it won't be meringue. This website is useful.

Is that the whole point of meringues?

Agree re the fillings - make sure they are lovely and sharp to counterbalance the sweetness of the meringue.

Fruit instead of jam, excellent idea. The website suggests cornstarch but I'm not sure if that would make it more brittle which is what I want to avoid...

cornstarch makes it brittle on the outside and toffeeish in the middle, afaia.

Cornflour and vinegar are usually used in pavlova recipes and make the middle lovely and sticky.

Yay, result!