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We all know to lose weight we have to reduce calorie intake and less sugar, but some of my friends are getting confused about brown sugar, I thought for brown sugar to be brown a syrup is added?
Well...there's sugar cane! I was at a yoga class about a month ago and the instructor had a bag full of it, peeled and cut into easy-to-handle pieces that he bought at the farmer's market on his way to class...I hadn't had it in a loooong time - I had it a few times when I was a kid. It's not OVERWHELMINGLY sweet but it IS sweet. (Hmmm fun treat for the kids, you parents out there...in fact it's better for them than something with refined sugar...but I digress)
Brown Sugars
Turbinado Sugar:
This sugar is a raw sugar which has been partially processed, removing some of the surface molasses. It is a blond color with a mild brown sugar flavor and is often used in tea.
Brown Sugar (light and dark):
Brown sugar consists of sugar crystals coated in a molasses syrup with natural flavor and color. Many sugar refiners produce borwn sugar by boiling a special molasses syrup until brown sugar crystals form. A centrifuge spins the crystals dry. Some of the syrup remains giving the sugar its brown color and molasses flavor. Other manufacturers produce brown sugar by blending a special molasses syrup with white sugar crystals. Dark brown sugar has more color and a stronger molasses flavor than light brown sugar. Lighter types are generally used in baking and making butterscotch, condiments and glazes. Dark brown sugar has a rich flavor that is good for gingerbread, mincemeat, baked beans, plum pudding and other full flavored foods.
Muscovado or Barbados Sugar:
Muscovado sugar, a British specialty brown sugar, is very dark brown and has a particularly strong molasses flavor. The crystals are slightly coarser and stickier in texture than "regular" brown sugar.
Free Flowing Brown Sugars:
These sugars are fine, powder-like brown sugars that are less moist than "regular" brown sugar. Since it is less moist it does not lump and is free-flowing like granulated white sugar.
Demerara Sugar:
Popular in England, Demerara sugar is a light brown sugar with large golden crystals which are slightly sticky. It is often used in tea, coffee or on top of hot cereals.
I actually did find a link on something in Japan called "black sugar" but the picture of it resembles the brown sugar lumps I sometimes use in tea.
Refined or not, it's an EXCELLENT idea to use sugar SPARINGLY. The only sugar we have in the house right now is those brown sugar lumps, but we've had the same 1-lb box in the cupboard for over a year now. Shows you how little we use it - we're not regular hot tea drinkers - I like iced tea but it's gotta have Sweet N Low otherwise it just doesn't taste right to me!
2. Is raw sugar better for me than refined white sugar?
No. In fact, raw sugar is an intermediate product from sugar cane and requires additional processing. It must undergo additional purification steps to be considered fit for consumption .
3. Are some sugar products more or less processed than others?
All sugar products on the market are processed to some degree. In addition to traditional light and dark brown sugar and pure white granulated sugar, some manufacturers produce lightly colored sugars (golden or tan) for specialty uses. Consumer sugar products range from about 96% sucrose (brown sugar) to 99.9% sucrose (white granulated sugar).
Turbinado sugar is a light tan sugar product available in some areas. Demerara sugar is an imported golden colored specialty sugar product. These products are processed to separate sucrose and other sugars from the plant material in cane raw sugar mills. They are subjected to the necessary purification steps to make them safe for human consumption.
Today food manufacturers use a variety of nutritive sweeteners from traditional sugar to newer fruit juice concentrates. Fruit juice concentrates, when used as sweeteners, are similarly processed to remove fiber, flavor components and impurities. Other nutritive sweeteners, such as honey and corn syrups, are very similar in sugars, calorie, and nutrient content, but may function quite differently in food preparation.
4. How does brown sugar differ from white sugar?
Brown sugar is sugar crystals in a specially prepared molasses syrup with controlled natural flavor and color components. A number of sugar refiners make brown sugar by preparing and boiling a special syrup containing these components until brown sugar crystals form. Others produce brown sugar by blending a special flavored syrup with white sugar crystals.
5. Does refined sugar contain preservatives or other additives?
No. Refined sugar contains purified sugar -- pure sucrose. It contains no preservatives or additives of any kind.
Also - here's how cane sugar is processed (from the above link) - note that the raw sugar cane contains only 12-14% sucrose compared to the almost 100% sucrose in the raw sugar.
Quote:
Raising CANE
Sugar cane is a tropical grass that grows 10-20 feet high. Four U.S. states produce sugar cane: Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana and Texas. A stalk of the sugar cane plant contains 12-14% sucrose. The process of separating sugar from the sugar cane plant is accomplished in two steps: at sugar mills and at sugar refineries.
The Sugar Mills are located near the sugar cane fields. It is here that the raw sugar is separated from the plant and shipped to a refinery.
First, the sugar cane stalks are washed and cut into shreds by rotating knives. Next, huge rollers press the juice out of the shredded pulp. This juice is then:
Clarified
- by adding milk of lime and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide bubbles through the mixture forming calcium carbonate, a chalk-like crystal which attracts the non-sugar plant materials like wax, fats, and gums from the juice. In a clarifier, the calcium carbonate and the other materials fall out of the sucrose solution and settle to the bottom.
Concentrated
- by removing water from the clarified juice in multiple stages under vacuum. This allows the juice to boil at lower temperatures to protect the sugar from carmelization. The juice becomes a clear, rich brown syrup during this step.
Crystallized
- by evaporating the last portion of water under very tight controls in a vacuum pan. Seed grain (pulverized sugar) is fed into the pan as the water evaporates and crystals begin to form. The mixture leaves the vacuum pan as a thick crystal mass and is sent to a centrifuge, a large perforated basket spinning very rapidly much like a washing machine in the spin cycle, where it is spun and dried, yielding golden raw sugar.
Raw sugar is approximately 96-98% sucrose. The nearly pure sugar crystal is covered by a thin film of molasses, the thick raw syrup from the mill. The molasses coating contains sugar, water, plant material, minerals, and other non-sugars. Since the raw sugar contains these impurities it is not as stable in storage and needs to be further purified to yield the stable, pure sweet sugar that is edible.
The Cane Sugar Refinery transforms raw sugar into granulated sugar, brown sugar, and other consumer and food industry products.
Refining makes the raw sugar edible. Here's how:
Bulk raw sugar arrives at the refinery on ships or in railroad boxcars. It is mixed with warm affination syrup (a solution of water and sugar) to loosen the molasses surrounding the raw sugar crystals. This produces a batter-like mixture called magma.
Large centrifuges spin the magma and separate the molasses film from the crystals.
The crystals are washed, dissolved, clarified or filtered to remove the molasses and insoluble impurities. At this point, the product is a clear, golden-colored liquid.
Carbon filters remove the remaining color, producing a water-white sugar syrup. The syrup is concentrated by evaporating some of the water.
This concentrated syrup is fed into a vacuum pan where it is seeded with fine sugar crystals. Through the skillful evaporation of the remaining water, these fine crystals are grown in the rich solution of sugar to produce perfect sugar crystals of the proper size.
The sugar is spun in a centrifuge where the remaining syrup is spun off and the sugar crystals are washed with fresh, hot water. From the centrifuge the damp crystals are conveyed to large dryers where the moisture content of the sugar crystals is reduced from approximately 1% to .03%.
The dried granulated sugar passes over screens to separate the various sizes of sugar crystals. Large and small crystals are packaged for standard consumer use and according to the specifications of industrial customers.
Wow, truly awesome. Right now I do not have any sugar! LOL! I love tea and coffee but I actually like it black or Ole style with 0 sugar since milk has lactose "tose" being a form of sugar.
On my diet the only form of sugar that I consume is from my meal replacment bars and sometimes "dark chocolate" on ocassion.
I really need to get a handy blender and make some whipped non-sugar chocolate pudding.
I went over a bit on calories today, so I must burn it off. 38 minutes of a 600 calorie burn is getting easier, at first I was seriously sore. Must be that total body workout thing...
"oops" off topic...
Thank you for all the information!!!
Do you know what I do for a sweet snack, I microwave a banana!!! It is so yummy!
It is strange of me I know... but it taste like banana flambe (sp)? The sugar juices are released during the baking and it taste like a sinful dessert, but it is not....
Really Tasty! If I could incorporate it into a frothy dessert, but I am still looking into a hand blender...
Sugar ~Refined~ Raw?
Shows you how little we use it - we're not regular hot tea drinkers - I like iced tea but it's gotta have Sweet N Low otherwise it just doesn't taste right to me!
