"Brownulated" Sugar

[outRIAAge]

I moved to the West Coast ten years ago, and have been searching in vain for "brownulated" sugar. My motivation was that I don't use sugar much, so the brown sugar I'd buy would solidify itself between uses.

"Brownulated" sugar is sold by Domino on the East Coast. Here's the Cooks' Illustrated take on it, which isn't all positive. The great advantage is that it stays as separate grains.

But now Kenji at Serious Eats has deconstructed the stuff and came up with a recipe to make your own, with whatever characteristics you want.

His closing statement: "Set aside that blowtorch and step back from the stove. There's a new caramel in town, and it has the power to change every recipe you've ever known" may be a bit strong, but it's certainly giving me ideas.

 

[GotGarlic]

Put a piece of bread in the container with the brown sugar and it will be fine.

Btw, that article was written by Stella Parks, the baking expert at Serious Eats, not Kenji. He doesn't much like baking

 

[Cheryl J]

Put a piece of bread in the container with the brown sugar and it will be fine.

Btw, that article was written by Stella Parks, the baking expert at Serious Eats, not Kenji. He doesn't much like baking

That's what I do too, for as little as I use brown sugar. It keeps it soft and fresh for quite a long time. After a few months the slice of bread has to be replaced.

 

[Silversage]

First, there is a difference between caramel and molasses. The SE article is referring to making caramel. Brown sugar contains molasses.

Unless you are buying turbinado, demerara, or moscavado sugar, you are probably not buying what you think you are. Commercially manufactured brown sugar is simply a very fine white sugar with some molasses added back to it. If you don't want to keep it on hand, just keep a bottle of molasses in the pantry.

One tablespoon of molasses plus one cup of white sugar is the equivalent of one cup of brown sugar. This is not just a substitution - it's the actual equivalent - it's how brown sugar is made.

 

[Mad Cook]

First, there is a difference between caramel and molasses. The SE article is referring to making caramel. Brown sugar contains molasses.

Unless you are buying turbinado, demerara, or moscavado sugar, you are probably not buying what you think you are. Commercially manufactured brown sugar is simply a very fine white sugar with some molasses added back to it. If you don't want to keep it on hand, just keep a bottle of molasses in the pantry.

One tablespoon of molasses plus one cup of white sugar is the equivalent of one cup of brown sugar. This is not just a substitution - it's the actual equivalent - it's how brown sugar is made.

I don't think we have turbinado sugar here but we have demerara, which is the real mcoy, but we also have something called "London Demerara sugar" which is refined (white) sugar with molasses added to make it look brown. I always try to buy unrefined "brown" sugars, whichever type I need - better taste - better for you - better results in cakes, etc..

 

[GotGarlic]

I don't think we have turbinado sugar here but we have demerara, which is the real mcoy, but we also have something called "London Demerara sugar" which is refined (white) sugar with molasses added to make it look brown. I always try to buy unrefined "brown" sugars, whichever type I need - better taste - better for you - better results in cakes, etc..

Sugar is sugar. Brown sugar is not measurably better for you.

 

[Mad Cook]

Sugar is sugar. Brown sugar is not measurably better for you.

No, it isn't but unrefined sugar has to be better than the refined white suff with all the guts take out of it.

I only buy cane sugar because beet sugar doesn't taste as good.

And I'm going to be contentious here - in my experience, jam made with beet sugar doesn't set as well as that made with cane sugar.

 

[GotGarlic]

No, it isn't but unrefined sugar has to be better than the refined white suff with all the guts take out of it.

I only buy cane sugar because beet sugar doesn't taste as good.

And I'm going to be contentious here - in my experience, jam made with beet sugar doesn't set as well as that made with cane sugar.

No, it doesn't "have" to be, and it's not. I like the flavor of brown sugar, too, but it's not healthy by any means.

 

[jennyema]

No, it isn't but unrefined sugar has to be better than the refined white suff with all the guts take out of it. .

"So is the raw stuff really more virtuous? Sugar in the Raw could not be reached for comment, but a spokeswoman for the Wholesome Sweeteners brand of raw sugar explained to me that, like refined sugar, raw—technically called Turbinado—sugar comes from sugarcane (refined sugar can also be derived from beets). The main difference between the two is in the boiling of the cane juice: The juice for refined sugar is boiled several times to remove all the molasses, whereas Turbinado sugar is boiled only once.

The residual molasses gives Turbinado sugar "some flavor and texture other than just sweetness," says Katherine Zeratski, a registered dietitian with Mayo Clinic. But it doesn't provide any significant nutrition. Refined and raw sugar are "calorically identical," Zeratski notes. And while Turbinado sugar does contain calcium, iron, and potassium, it contains them in trace amounts.

 

[outRIAAge]

I will try the bread trick, and I always have blackstrap molasses on hand, so I'll try the brown sugar "recipe" given above. From the description, I believe I grew up eating "London Demerara" - large "brown" crystals that when quickly rinsed, turn white? After dipping a spoon in the bowl, the grains took minutes to stop moving, allowing my nasty big sisters to convince me it was covered in "bugs," so they could have my share.

Also, thanks to Silversage for pointing out that caramel and molasses are completely different things: duh! From the comments, commercial brown sugar sounds rather like commercial "whole-wheat" flour: a reconstructed facsimile only vaguely like the original.

The reason I need the sugar to keep for a long time is that I only use it when cooking. Other than that, my sugar intake is zero. Yes, I know that processed foods and sodas and so on have tons of added sugar slipped into to them, but I have no interest in those things.

In closing, I think the "brown sugar is healthier" nonsense dates from the '70s, when everything brown was held to be morally superior to white (and giving me a lifelong prejudice against brown rice that I've only now managed to get over).

 

[Cooking Goddess]

The bread trick works. I used to use white bread; then I found this cute little guy in a small kitchenware shop...my evil vice when we're on vacation, along with little pottery shop hand-made bowls. Anyway, my brown sugar friend:

Moisten the rough clay, let it absorb any surface "wet", and put it in the airtight container with the sugar. Or, apparently, dried fruits and chewy cookies per the instructions at Brown Sugar Bear - BedBathandBeyond.com.

 

[Katie H]

The bread trick works. I used to use white bread; then I found this cute little guy in a small kitchenware shop...my evil vice when we're on vacation, along with little pottery shop hand-made bowls. Anyway, my brown sugar friend:

Moisten the rough clay, let it absorb any surface "wet", and put it in the airtight container with the sugar. Or, apparently, dried fruits and chewy cookies per the instructions at Brown Sugar Bear - BedBathandBeyond.com.

Your little bear is adorable, CG. I've seen them and other clay critters to be used for the same purpose but I've never succumbed to their allure. I have too many other cooking addictions.

But...what I've been doing for years and years is using a broken piece of clay flowerpot for the same purpose. Those of us who garden always have broken pots and clay shards. One day the light bulb went on and I selected some nice-sized pieces of a broken pot and ran them through the dishwasher a couple of times. Since then they've been doing the job a little bear would do.

Alton Brown would be proud of me. My flowerpot went from a un-itasker to a multi-tasker.

Heck, if you feel extravagant, just go to the home center, buy a new pot and whack it. Might even ease a frustration or two along the way.

 

[outRIAAge]

This has been a real education: just what a cooking forum is supposed to be. As the topic is sugar, I wouldn't be going off-topic to ask how many kinds of sugar do you use?

About the only sugar I don't use is standard white. I go through about a pound of commercial brown every year, but for different purposes I also use (sulphured) molasses, lactose and invert sugar (for beer), maple syrup and maple sugar (for bacon), malt, palm sugar (but only when making desserts: light brown is fine for cooking), and corn syrup (as distinct from high-fructose corn syrup, which is plain evil) for ice cream, where it makes a real difference to the texture.

 

[Andy M.]

...As the topic is sugar, I wouldn't be going off-topic to ask how many kinds of sugar do you use?...

White, confectioners, light and dark brown sugars, maple and corn syrups, molasses. On occasion, jaggery.

 

[Cheryl J]

CG, what a cute little bear! I didn't know you could use clay pottery, or clean shards as Katie mentioned, to accomplish the same thing as bread.

A year or so ago, I made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and gave half to my daughter and SIL. They really like soft cookies, so I threw a slice of white bread into the Tupperware container before I gave it to them. My daughter told me SIL had the most puzzled look on his face when he opened the container and saw a piece of bread in there.

 

[Silversage]

Confectioners, super fine white, light and dark brown, turbinado, demerarra, muscavado, palm sugar, maple sugar, corn syrup (both light and dark), molasses (both regular and blackstrap), maple.syrup, agave syrup, golden syrup, coconut flower syrup, honey are all in my cabinet.

Don't ask.how many salts, oils, mustard, or vinegars I have!

 

[blissful]

I didn't know and have never tested that cane sugar or beet sugar firmed up better in a jam or jelly.....nor did it occur to me to check that.

I only buy white sugar, I don't eat it, I taste something sweet made with sugar 3 times a year and when I need brown sugar I put molasses in white sugar. DH eats it, likes baked goods, enjoys sweet drinks, food. Now that we are older and no kids at home, not much want for sugary anything.

 

[outRIAAge]

Don't ask.how many salts, oils, mustard, or vinegars I have!

Oh, DO tell But maybe that would be going too far off-topic...

 

[Addie]

That little bear is cute. I have seen them so often in kitchen catalogs. But it was never a top priority for me. A slice of bread will do for now. But I do like the idea of the broken pottery piece. I think I will go to HD and see if they have any broken pieces.

 

[jennyema]

That But I do like the idea of the broken pottery piece. I think I will go to HD and see if they have any broken pieces.

I'd think twice about that ...

From my first alma mater, North Dakota State University (nursery school!)

"Tera cotta flowerpots: Some clay containers are designed for food use. However, clay pots from the gardening center are not meant to be in direct contact with food. The clay in garden pots may contain heavy metals, such as lead."