Yes, but many people sometimes like a sweet relish for some things. I like
dill pickles, but for tuna salad I really want a sweet pickle relish. I
compromise by using a dill (non-sweet) relish and adding a few drops of
sweetener.

No, but a small amount in a large recipe won't add much in the way of carbs
to an individual serving. I think I'd use xanthan or guar gum, though, for
this recipe. Most people could handle the small amount here, but a few
people may find even small amounts of certain things - sugar, flour, corn,
etc. - to be trigger foods.

Luna, one of the things we need to realize is that even though we prefer to
to eat low carb, need it for our health even, higher carb things aren't
necessarily evil. That's the kind of black and white thinking that many
people find incompatible with long-term maintenance. It also reminds me a
lot of the quasi-religious mindset of vegan animal rights groups.

It is all in the amount... we got fat/damaged our health because of the
amount of this kind of thing we used, because we made it the center of our
diets rather than just a moderate or small part. and at the same time we
consistently ate more calories than we burned. Not because we added a small
amount of cornstarch to a gravy in an otherwise low-carb meal.

There are certain foods I'd say are pretty bad for health... transfats...
maybe Krispy Kreme donuts for that reason... stuff like that. But most
starchy foods are relatively innocuous in small amounts, depending on our
personal tolerance level. Recognizing this allows us to make wider, but
intelligent, choices and still stay low carb. I would say that vegetables
are the best source of carbs for us, because of their higher nutrient
density. But learning to live with small amounts of things like cornstarch
allows us to eat at restaurants and friend's houses... in the real world.

HG

when cooked, cornstarch turns rapidly to glucose. But uncooked, cornstarch
has a very slow release profile that can maintain a steady blood glucose for
many hours.