Sultana
Food · Fruit · Food, Typed Supps
A sultana is a grape with the water taken out, which concentrates everything else about fourfold.
Stage by stage
- Intake (Sticky, prolonged contact): Chewing breaks the dried skin; the sticky texture keeps sugar in contact with teeth longer than most foods.
- Digestion (Free sugars, no hydrolysis): Glucose and fructose arrive already free, so digestion is minimal and absorption starts immediately.
- Absorption (Rapid uptake with potassium): Sugar is absorbed quickly, with potassium absorbed alongside it in genuinely useful amounts.
- Use (Fast fuel or storage): The glucose is available for immediate work, which is why sultanas perform like a sports gel during endurance exercise.
Time to effect
- Under an hour: Blood glucose rises within roughly 20 to 40 minutes, faster than whole fruit.
Allergens
Contains: Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.
Satiety
114 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — moderate. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.
Environmental footprint
1.5 kg CO2e and 420 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Berries & grapes" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Cheap — roughly £3 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 313
- Protein: 2.6g
- Carbohydrate: 75.8g
- of which sugars: 74g
- Fat: 0.3g
- of which saturated: 0g
- Fibre: 3.3g
- Sodium: 6mg
Food vs. supplement
As exercise fuel, sultanas hold up against commercial carbohydrate gels in direct comparisons and cost a fraction as much. As a way to raise potassium intake they are inefficient, since the potassium arrives attached to a large amount of sugar — a potato or banana does the job with far less energy.
Kitchen tip
Soak in hot water or tea for ten minutes before baking so they do not draw moisture out of the surrounding crumb. Store sealed; further drying makes them tougher and stickier without changing what is in them.
Common myth
"Dried fruit is just fresh fruit with the water removed, so it is equally healthy." In reality: Chemically that is nearly true, and that is the problem. The sugar concentrates about fourfold, vitamin C does not survive the drying, and the portion cue that stops you at a bowl of grapes disappears with the water.
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