Types of Sugars
What Are different types of sugars?
Mamta Gupta
This is not a recipe, just a collection of the types of sugar used around the world. I have collected some of the information from various sugar websites. It is sometimes very confusing when a recipe asks for a special type of sugar and you don't know what it means. I hope this helps you to decide which type you can substitute it with!
Ingredients
Instructions
Brown sugar is sugar crystals coated with a layer of molasses, which give it it?s colour, flavour and pliable texture.
Candy Sugar is very pure sugar, it has large, white crystals.
Caster Sugaris white, very fine, granulated sugar. You can make it by grinding crystallized sugar in a grinder. It is used for baking.
Coffee sugar is large sugar crystals and it comes in different shades of brown.
Corn Syrup is made by adding an enzyme to cornstarch, which converts the starch to sugar. It has a neutral flavour. Pancake syrups are often made by adding flavouring to corn syrup. Dark corn syrup has a deep, butterscotch taste.
Cube sugar is white, granulated sugar, pressed into cubes and held together with sugar liquor.
Dark Brown sugar has a deeper, richer and stronger colour and flavour than the light brown sugar. It has more molasses. It is good in chutneys, pickles and rich cakes.
Demerara Sugar is brown sugar crystals that have a free-flowing texture. It is good for giving colour and texture to desserts like crumbles, cheesecake base and for cake toppings.
Demerara Sugar Cubes are cubes made from Demerara sugar.
Fructose is a sugar found in fruits. It is 1 1/2 times as sweet as sucrose but has the same caloric content. It is used commercially as refined sugar in many drinks and sweets preparations.
Glucose is a white crystalline sugar obtained from grapes and other fruits. It has high GI, results in a quick rise in blood sugar, and it is used as a quick source of energy. It is less sweet than cane sugar.
Golden Caster Sugar is ground golden sugar with very fine granules. It is used for baking, just like white caster sugar.
Golden Granulated Sugar is the natural unrefined granular sugar.
Golden syrup is similar to corn syrup and is made from evaporated sugar cane juice. It can be used to substitute corn syrup in a recipe. It can also be used as a topping to desserts like sponge puddings, ice-creams or on pancakes.
Granulated sugar is almost pure Sucrose, the purest form of sugar. It is the common white table sugar. It is this sugar that is made into caster sugar and confectioner's sugar. It is made either from sugarcane or sugar beet, both sugars being identical in their chemical formulae. It has a high GI index and so it leads to a rapid increase in blood sugar level after ingestion.
Honey is a sweet, syrupy substance produced by bees from the nectar of flowers. Its flavour varies, depending on the flowers available to the bees for making nectar. It has a high GI index, so it raises the blood sugar quickly. Raw honey is better, because it has its natural nutrients and enzymes intact. It is not suitable for babies, because it may contain botulism causing spores.
Icing Sugar is very fine white granulated sugar, with a ?free-flow? agent like tri-calcium phosphate or corn flour added to it. This stops it from caking. It contains spray-dried glucose. Icing sugar without ?free-flow? agents is used in pharmaceutical industry.
Jaggery or jagary is the unrefined, non-centrifuged cane sugar.
Lactose is the natural sugar in the milk.
Light Brown Sugar has a light molasses-like flavour and it has smaller grains.
Liquid Sugar is white crystalline sugar dissolving in water.
Maltose is the breakdown product of the starches. It rapidly breaks down into glucose in the intestine.
Mannitol is the sugar in alcohol. If taken in large amounts, it can cause diarrhoea.
Maple Syrup is a syrup made from the sap of Maple tree. It is made by boiling the sap until it thickens like syrup. Boiled longer, it becomes maple cream or butter. It can be used as topping on sponge puddings, pancakes and even on cereals.
Moisture Resistant Sugar is used by baking industry in decorating cakes and toppings. Unlike ordinary sugars that get absorbed into the surface of cakes, MR sugar will not dissolve, it will retain its texture and it is free-flowing, making products look attractive. When sprinkled on the surface of cakes, it will stay there. It is as fine as Caster sugar or Extra Fine sugar.
Molasses is same as Treacle. It is a dark coloured syrup, a by-product of the sugar-refining process. In recipes, you can use dark brown sugar in it?s place. It gives a strong flavour, rather like strong Jagary.
Muscovado Sugar is a dark brown, unrefined, strong flavoured, soft sugar. It is good for rich puddings/cakes and can be used in Indian recipes where it asks for Jagary. You can use dark brown sugar instead. It is suitable for rich fruit cakes and chocolate based recipes.
Organic Demerara Sugar is the same as above, minus any additives.
Organic Granular Sugar is a pale golden, free-flowing granulated sugar. It is additive free.
Panela is same as jagary, an unrefined cane sugar obtained by boiling the cane sugar. Use about 1 1/2 times the normal amount of refined sugar.
Silk sugar is a very fine specialty sugar, mainly used for commercial purposes. If you put is in your mouth, its fine particles/crystals are so fine that they cannot be detected on the palate, giving it a ?smooth? feel in the mouth. It is used for high quality, smooth icings and cover pastes. You can just mix it with a liquid, to produce a fondant cream. It mixes readily with syrups, juices, liquors, alcohol, water and fats. It has no additives
Soft Brown Sugar has additional moisture to ordinary brown sugar. It provides treacle like flavour without bitterness, a dark golden colour and moistness to fruit cakes, puddings and cookies.
Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol, present in fruits. It has higher GI index than crystalline sugar, so it is absorbed slowly and causes a very small rise in blood sugar.
Sugar Crystals are made from raw cane sugar and are suited for use in coffee. They are known as ?misri? or mishri? in India.
Sugar Cubes Lite are low calorie sugar cubes with reduced calories. They are available in white and Demerara varieties. A cube has 35% of the calories of a normal teaspoon of sugar.
Treacle is same as Molasses, a dark syrup, strongly flavoured, almost black in colour. It is used in rich fruit cakes and sauces.
Vanilla sugar is a vanilla flavoured sugar, made by leaving a vanilla bean in a jar of granulated sugar for a week or two.
Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol, which acts as a sweetener. It is found in plants and is used as a substitute for sugar. It is less slowly absorbed than glucose and sucrose but its safety is still a controversial issue. Thus it has a very limited use.
