Sugared Words

Sugars occur naturally throughout the plant kingdom and beyond.  Honey, corn syrup, maple syrup are only a few of the popular sugars we enjoy that do not come from sugar cane or sugar beet.  I may get around to looking at them one day but for now this is a list of terms used in the traditional sugar trade, meaning sucrose.

Chemically the word sugar describes any of a wide range of carbohydrates also known as saccharides. While several sugars are used commercially in food manufacturing, including glucose, fructose, lactose, dextrose etc. in domestic terms sugar normally refers to sucrose produced from either sugar cane or sugar beet.

Granulated Sugar – also known as Table Sugar is the most common form of sugar.  It’s an odourless, white refined crystalline product sieved and graded for an average grain size of 0.5mm.  Chemically it is over 99% pure sucrose.

Selectively sieving granulated sugar gives other products with varying crystal sizes for different household applications.

Pearl Sugar, also known as Sanding Sugar, Decorating Sugar or Sugar Nibs are coarse grained sugars designed for decorating cakes, cookies etc.  The large crystals, 1mm across or more,  reflect light and add what is known professionally as ‘sparkle’. 

Preserving Sugar is granulated sugar with a larger than average grain size, around 0.7mm.  This alters the behaviour of the sugar when used for jam or jelly making.  The larger crystals dissolve more slowly and do not lie on the bottom of the pan or cause the preserve to froth.  This avoids the risk of burning, reduces the amount of stirring needed and makes it easier to skim impurities off the surface.

Gelling Sugar, also known as Jam Sugar or Jelly Sugar is different from preserving sugar because it contains added pectin to help jams set.  It sometimes also contains citric acid as a preservative.

Caster Sugar, known in America as Superfine Sugar, has a crystal size of 0.35mm.  Originally designed to fit through the holes of a sugar caster or sprinkler, it is now more usually used for baking, the smaller crystal size means that it dissolves more quickly.

Icing Sugar, also known as Powdered Sugar or Confectioners’ Sugar, is a milled to a fine powder and used principally for icing cakes or making sugar based decorations.  It normally includes small quantities (1% - 3%) of starch from corn or wheat, or tri-calcium phosphate to prevent caking and help it flow.

Various manufacturers add different ingredients to powdered sugars to give them special properties.  For example in the UK, British Sugar produces Fondant Icing Sugar containing dried glucose syrup which is supposed to give “a smooth, glossy, soft iced finish”, and also Royal Icing Sugar containing dried egg white, which produces a harder icing capable of holding its shape in piped or moulded decorations.

Sugar Loaf

A Sugar Loaf is a normally conical mass of crystalline sugar weighing anything from 3 or 4 lbs up to 30lbs.  The shape derived from the moulds used in the final stage of refining. Liquid sugar was poured in to the wide end of the mould and impurities were allowed to escape through a hole in the pointed end.  The resulting loaves were then exported.  This was the normal form of sugar retailed in Europe until the early 20^th century when granulated and cubed sugar became available.  Traditionally, lumps of sugar are broken off using specially designed Sugar Snips.

Cubed Sugar was first produced by the German sugar company JJ Langen & Son at their plant in Cologne in 1875.  Henry Tate, founder of Henry Tate & Sons, bought a licence that same year and started production at his Liverpool refinery.  Sugar Cubes are made by compressing granulated sugar, and offer the benefit of easy handling and a standardised quantity, especially for addition to tea or coffee.

Rock Sugar, also known as Rock Candy or Candied Sugar is a form of confectionary produced by letting a super-saturated solution of sugar crystalise on a suitable surface, traditionally a stick or string.  The resulting large crystals are sometimes coloured with food colouring and scented.  This type of confectionary is very old, at least 1,000 years, and originates in India and Persia.  Rock sugar is sometimes added to tea or coffee.

Low Calorie Sugar, also known as Half Spoon Sugar or Light Sugar is white granulated sugar with added artificial sweeteners aspartame, acesulfame-k etc.  The sweeteners make the sugar sweeter than normal so you can use less, (half a spoon!), although the resulting loss of volume can be a problem in baking so some low cal sugars add maltodextrin, a flavourless and easily digested food starch, to add bulk.

Grades of sugar

Brown Sugar refers to any number of refined sucrose products which contain a residue of molasses.  Molasses are present in raw sugar juice and sugar refining is all about separating the sugar from the molasses through successive steps of boiling and filtering in order to produce pure White Sugar.  However molasses contain all of the mineral nutrients in sugar and also provide colour and flavour, so that brown sugar products, produced by ending the refining process prematurely, have always been popular for cooking and addition to coffee; the darker the sugar the higher the proportion of molasses. Molasses produced by sugar beet are normally considered unpalatable to humans so that sugar produced from beet is normally refined to white sugar and then coated by artificially adding cane molasses back in to the refined product.  Brown sugar produced from cane is therefore sometimes described as Natural Brown Sugar.

Light Brown Sugar typically contains around 3.5% molasses and comes under a variety of names.

The adjective Golden applied either to granulated sugar or caster sugar is a comparatively recent piece of marketing.  Sometimes described as ‘unrefined’ it is of course partially refined to the same general level as other light brown sugars and contains small quantities of molasses.

In the UK natural light brown sugar is often referred to as Demerera Sugar after the Demerera colony in present day Guyana, which was formerly the main source.

In the USA it is often referred to as Turbinado Sugar after the centrifuges or turbines used to refine it.

Darker sugars contain a higher proportion of molasses up to about 7%.  They are often called Soft Brown Sugar since the increased moisture levels make them denser than most sugars and cause the crystals to stick together instead of flowing. This kind of sugar has a pronounced flavour of molasses and for that reason and the increased moisture level it should not be substituted for any other sugar unless the recipe calls for it.

Muscovado Sugar, also known as Barbados Sugar, is a particularly rich, dark brown sugar popular in the UK where it is used in baking.  The name is derived from the Portuguese word mascavado meaning separated and refers to the refining process.

Molasses is the residue produced when the juice of the sugar cane or beet is refined and the sugar removed.  Just as sugars are available with varying levels of molasses still included, molasses is produced with differing levels of sugar left in, which obviously affects its sweetness.  It is normally sold as a dark brown or black viscous liquid with a rich but bitter taste.  It is used in baking, for example in gingerbreads, parkins or Christmas pudding.  It is also used as the base for dark rum and dark beers including stouts and porters.

Technically Treacle is any uncrystallised syrup produced during sugar refining which would include molasses.  In fact Harold McGee says in his great work, On Food & Cooking, that molasses is called treacle in the UK.  Molasses comes from the late Latin word mellaceus meaning ‘like honey’.  Treacle comes via the French triacle from Latin theriaca, which means a ‘antidotes against poison’ and refers to the medieval practice of using sugar and syrup as medicine.  Once again commercially available treacles are sold in different grades from light amber coloured treacles to thick black viscous treacles.

Golden Syrup

Golden Syrup is a product traditionally made by British sugar refiners, Tate & Lyle, although now owned by American Sugar Refining Inc.  It was invented by Scottish sugar refiner Abram Lyle in 1883 as a byproduct of sugar refining.  A light, golden coloured treacle it is exceptionally sweet owing to a high proportion, 35%, of inverted sugar.  Inverted sugar is produced by splitting the disaccharide sucrose into its constituent monosaccharides, glucose and fructose.  Inverted sugar tastes sweeter, is moister and is less prone to crystalisation than sucrose.  Golden Syrup is popular in baking, especially syrup sponge and treacle tarts and is also used like honey on bread or toast.

Black Treacle is a form of dark molasses popular in the UK.