Brown sugar
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Brown sugar (disambiguation).
Brown sugar is an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals combined with molasses. Brown sugar is produced similarly to white sugar, with two exceptions. Its crystals are left much smaller than for white sugar, and the syrup or molasses is not washed off completely. Brown sugar contains from 3.5% molasses (light brown sugar) to 6.5% molasses (dark brown sugar).
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Manufacture
Many brown sugar producers produce brown sugar by adding molasses to completely refined white sugar crystals in order to more carefully control the ratio of molasses to sugar crystals, and to reduce manufacturing costs. Brown sugar prepared in this manner is often much coarser than its unrefined equivalent, and its molasses may be easily separated from the crystals to yield white sugar (which is not possible with unrefined sugar). This is mainly done for inventory control and convenience.
All brown sugar produced for retail sale is made with molasses from sugar cane, because the flavor of cane molasses is palatable to humans. No retail brown sugar is produced from sugar beet molasses, because the flavor of beet molasses is not palatable to humans, although cattle like it. The white sugar to which the molasses is added can be from either origin as both are practically 100% pure and have no flavour other than sweetness.
Brown sugar can be made at home by mixing white granulated sugar with molasses, using one tablespoon of molasses for every cup of white sugar (one-sixteenth or 6.25% of the total volume). Thorough blending will yield dark brown sugar; for light brown sugar, between one and two teaspoons of molasses per cup should be used instead. It is, however, simpler to substitute molasses for an equal portion of white sugar while cooking, without mixing them separately.
Nutrional value
Brown sugar has a slightly lower caloric value by weight than white sugar. One hundred grams of brown sugar contains 373 calories, as opposed to 396 calories in white sugar. <ref name=newsci>New Scientist. I'm Sweet Enough 21 January 2006</ref> However, brown sugar packs more densely than white sugar, and thus may have more calories when measured by volume.
History
In the late 1800s, the newly consolidated refined white sugar industry, which did not have full control over brown sugar production, mounted a smear campaign against brown sugar, reproducing microscopic photographs of harmless but repulsive-looking microbes living in brown sugar. The effort was so successful that by 1900, a best-selling cookbook warned that brown sugar was of inferior quality and was susceptible to infestation by "a minute insect"<ref name="revolution">Levenstein, Harvey. Revolution at the Table Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. 32-33</ref>.
Natural brown sugar
Natural brown sugar (AKA raw sugar) is brown sugar where the molasses is not added to white sugar, but rather retained. White sugar had molasses on it at one time, as well, and was once raw sugar, or natural brown sugar; this molasses is spun off in the refining process.
Natural brown sugar is free of dyes and chemicals. It has more minerals than other brown sugar (up to ten times as many).
Other brown sugars have the molasses added--rather than retained--later on; dyes and chemicals are also added.
Reference
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