Sugar and Its Various Types

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Sugar is an old culinary ingredient popularly used as a sweetener. It is the white powdery substance that comes from the plants' sugar cane and sugar beet. 

Aside from a natural sweetener, to improve the flavor and natural color of canned and frozen fruits, sugar is used.

History and Production of Sugar

People before have to chew raw sugarcane to directly extract sweetness until the Indians discovered the methods of transforming sugarcane into granulated crystals. 

This early method of refining sugar involved pounding, boiling, and drying. With Indian sailors carrying the crystalline crystals in their various trade routes, the information about sugar has made known. 

Native Indians called the sugar crystals khanda which is the source of the word candy.

One of the oldest and trusted sugar entities 

Sugar started as a luxury culinary ingredient in Europe until the 18th century where it rose to popularity and created a great change in European and American eating habits.

Grocery stores in the United States used portable mills to grind lumps of sugar into granules to aid in the production of sweet food such as jams, cookies, cakes, candies, processed foods, and even sweet sauces. 

By the end of the 18th century, prices of sugar dropped to some extent bringing it available to all classes and accessible in every part of the world.

Because of its enormous benefits, the sweet taste has created a demand in the making of more sugar in the world as a culinary ingredient that provides the balance of sweet taste in food. It then became widely available by the 19th century, where several techniques were used for sugar production.

Sugar and Its Various Types

Here are several kinds of sugars popular in the market today. The different details might help you know your sugar more and would help you find just the right choice.

White Sugar

White Sugar, or the "granulated sugar," is the sugar we mainly use in the kitchen. It is also known as plain sugar and is commonly used in sweetening beverages. White sugar comes in granulated or in finer form as confectioner's sugar that is generally used for icing.

Caster Sugar

Are you fond of making cocktails? Then this sugar is for you.  Milled more than white sugar, Caster Sugar or "superfine sugar" is used by bakers and bartenders for its fine grind that is easy to cream or dissolve. This is your ideal sweetener for fine baked goods and in sweetening mixed drinks such as mojitos, and classic cocktails.

Raw Sugar

Raw Sugar is called "raw" as sugar is processed at a minimal amount removing impurities, so the natural molasses content is retained intact bringing out the strong and deep flavor of sugar to food. Examples of raw sugar are brown sugars.

Brown Sugar

Everyone's a convenient choice. This is the light brown sugar crystallized via dehydration where the molasses remain intact making it naturally moist from the nature of the molasses present. 

Brown sugars are known to be less sweet than white sugar due to the mildly bitter taste of molasses. Treat your home with gluten-free non-GMO Coconut Sugar produced without harmful additives.

Muscovado Sugar

Muscovado sugar is unrefined dark and rich brown sugar that is moist, sticky, and aromatic with a strong flavor of molasses. 

Muscovado is also known as Barbados Sugar and mostly used in baking for its brown intensifying effect on baked goods. Muscovado sugar is a prominent export commodity from the Philippines and India. 

Have you seen the Dark Muscovado Sugar from an Indian tree?

Demerara

Demerara sugar has a caramel-like toffee taste

Demerara sugar is the type of "unrefined brown sugar" with a color of pale to golden yellow and crunchy large grains. It has a rich and creamy molasses flavor and aroma that it is popular in sweetening hot tea and coffee. The name Demerara is derived from its main source, the Demerara colony in Guyana. While demerara is coarser, it has uniform crystals.

Read more about demerara.

Turbinado Sugar

Turbinado sugar, "turbinated sugar or raw sugar" from steaming evaporated cane juice, has large brown crystals similar to brown sugar. Turbinado is processed from raw sugar with taste and texture that makes a good substitute for granulated sugar, and like Demerara, it is also perfect in coffee, tea, and baked sweets like cookies. 

Preserving Sugar

Preserving sugar is the kind of sugar used in making preserves. Its sugar crystals are larger than those of granulated sugars and dissolve more slowly reducing the risk of burning as sugar do not settle in the bottom of the pot, or froth up to the surface. Because preserving sugar is 100% sugar, this makes preserves clearer.

Gelling sugar

Gelling Sugar, or "sugar with pectin" is sugar used in producing preserves, using fruits that are high in pectin. Among these fruits are apples, blackberries, blackcurrants, cranberries, gooseberries, plums, and redcurrants. Gelling sugar contains pectin as the gelling agent and citric acid as a preservative, while preserving sugar is all and 100% sugar.

Sugar Cube

Sugar Cube or "decorative sugar cube" is regular white sugar decorated with spray food coloring, mainly used to sweeten favorite drinks and in recipes where sugar is artistically melted. 

Flavored Sugar

Flavored sugars from Rattlebridge Farm

You can give sugar an aroma of vanilla or coffee, citrus, rosebuds, and savory to exotic spices. Flavored sugar is regular sugar infused with high-quality flavor essences. 

Because of the variety of scent and flavor, it can offer, flavored sugars are wonderful to stir into coffee, sprinkle on cookies and bread, or over oatmeal. Spread over your favorite baguette or toast or simply enjoy a flavored-sugar sprinkled dessert. 

You'll love the Lemon sugar by Rattlebridge Farm: 

 Howto Make Flavored Sugar