I made a syrup from ground black walnut and sunflower seeds, but boy is it overly sweet. I do know I could use some form of flour (qinoa, amaranth, millet, all purpose, corn meal, corn starch, etc), but I’m curious if anyone might know of something I haven’t thought of yet.
In addition to what Jet said (agar, xanthan gum, gelatin,); you can add starches like corn starch or potato starch. a little goes a long way.
another thing is, for sauces, you can just cook off most the liquid and call it good. Especially for pan sauces made by deglazing fond- drain off excessive oil/grease and then add in some sort of liquid- vinegar, lime juice, straight water. scrap the pan and whisk until the fond is smooth.
Edit to add: you can also mix and match, to get the texture you want. Like with pie thickeners, it’s usually a mix of sugar, corn starch and some gelatin; to give it the perfect texture
Just to add to this, fruit can be used to both cut out a lot of the sugar and to thicken sweet sauces as well.
Also, I just realized I could make date paste. (Something that never crossed my mind til reading your comment, 🙄. I’ve blended them fresh, but have never softened them).
As for caramel, I can find lots of things about sugar-free, but nothing on lowering the sugar content. “3 Ingredients Sugarfree Caramel Sauce” However, this video makes me think I could easily thicken and lower the sugar content of at least a buttery caramel. (Mental note to self; give that idea a try).
🤔 Some things to think about.