How Many Syns in Raisins?

No, raisins are not free on Slimming World. Despite fresh fruit being a free food on the plan, all dried fruit carries syns because the drying process removes water and concentrates the natural sugars. Raisins are approximately 4 syns per 28–30g. This applies to all dried fruit: sultanas (4 syns per 28g), dried cranberries (5 syns per 28g), dried apricots (2.5 syns per 28g), and dates (5 syns per 30g) all need to be counted. The rule is simple: fresh fruit is free, dried and cooked fruit is synned. If you want the flavour of grapes without the syns, fresh grapes are completely free.

A 28–30g handful of raisins is 4 syns on Slimming World. A 14g mini snack box is 2 syns. A 50g portion is approximately 7 syns. Sultanas are the same syn value as raisins per gram — both are around 4 syns per 28g. These values apply to all standard raisin varieties: flame raisins, seedless raisins, and most supermarket own-brand raisins are all comparable. Always weigh your portion rather than estimating by eye, because a casual handful poured from the bag often turns out to be considerably more than 28g.

Yes, you can use raisins in baking — you just need to syn them accurately and divide the total across the number of portions in your recipe. At 4 syns per 28g, a recipe using 56g of raisins contains 8 syns from the raisins alone. Divided across 12 pieces of baking, that is less than 1 syn each from the raisins. The total syn value per portion will also include any butter, sugar, and other synned ingredients in the recipe. For everyday baking on Slimming World, keeping the raisin quantity modest and using sweetener instead of sugar elsewhere in the recipe keeps the per-portion syn count manageable.

The drying process removes virtually all the water from grapes, which dramatically increases the calorie density per gram compared to fresh grapes. Fresh grapes are approximately 67 calories per 100g. Raisins are approximately 296 calories per 100g — more than four times as calorie-dense. Slimming World syn values reflect calorie density, so the same weight of raisins as fresh grapes carries nearly four times the syn cost. The natural sugars in grapes, which the water in fresh fruit dilutes, become highly concentrated in raisins. This is why fresh fruit is free (high water and fibre content keeps calories low per gram) while dried fruit always carries syns (the water is gone and sugar is concentrated).

Yes, sultanas and raisins are essentially the same syn value on Slimming World — both are approximately 4 syns per 28g. Sultanas are made from seedless green grapes and are typically slightly softer and sweeter than regular raisins, but their nutritional profile is similar enough that the syn values round to the same figure. Currants are also the same syn value per gram. If a recipe calls for sultanas and you have raisins, or vice versa, you can substitute freely without any change to the syn calculation.