"Brownulated" Sugar

[erehweslefox]

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.

WORD on this Sage. I am not from the South, so I tend to use maple syrup, grew up with it and I still get a gallon a year from family farm. This kind of makes me solve any sugar problems with Maple syrup, just because I have it around. For instance Molasses is not in my cooking vocabulary.

Should be, but maple syrup? honest. Quite Good.

 

[GotGarlic]

From the comments, commercial brown sugar sounds rather like commercial "whole-wheat" flour: a reconstructed facsimile only vaguely like the original.

It's pretty much like the original. It's done to standardize the amount of molasses in the product so items made from it are more predictable.

 

[erehweslefox]

learn new things every day, so brown sugar is regular sugar plus molasses? I've got two types of brown sugar, light and dark, so that's all a con?

I am going to immediately convert most of my brown sugar to muffins. Thank god I have extra blueberries. I might have to go into the Strategic Flour Reserve.

Better just to use molasses I guess? I'm a maple syrup type, molasses is rather southern.

Eventually, by that I mean 'when I have a good recipe that needs it' I'll talk about beets.

 

[GotGarlic]

learn new things every day, so brown sugar is regular sugar plus molasses? I've got two types of brown sugar, light and dark, so that's all a con?

I am going to immediately convert most of my brown sugar to muffins. Thank god I have extra blueberries. I might have to go into the Strategic Flour Reserve.

Better just to use molasses I guess? I'm a maple syrup type, molasses is rather southern.

Eventually, by that I mean 'when I have a good recipe that needs it' I'll talk about beets.

A con? I don't really know what to say to that.

Better to use molasses for what? It's not better or worse than maple syrup; it's just different. Use whichever one you want the flavor of.

 

[GotGarlic]

btw, in my cabinets I have white granulated, confectioners, light and dark brown, turbinado, agave, maple syrup, corn syrup, local honey from four different producers, regular molasses and sorghum molasses. I'm a curious cook

 

[Addie]

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."

Thank you. Kind of reminds me of the red clay in Mexican pottery.

 

[rodentraiser]

I feel almost deprived. I never knew there were so many different kids of sugar. All I use is regular, light brown, and powdered sugar.

Interesting what you all say about putting bread in the brown sugar, though. I (finally!) got a set of canisters with rubber seals and my brown sugar stays perfectly soft in one of those. I was all set to throw some bread in but I decided to wait and see what happened first. The sugar never got hard, so I just left it go.

Years and years ago (OK, decades ago - yeah, I'm an old fart), a friend of mine brought back a jug with a cup over the top of it from a trip to Mexico. She told me very specifically NOT to drink out of the cup because the pottery contained lead. In fact, she said most of the time the cups are broken at the border so people aren't tempted to use them to drink from.

I don't know if that's just Mexican pottery or all pottery, though.

 

[Andy M.]

Lead in clay is a universal problem, not just a problem in Mexico. It's the pottery manufacturer's responsibility to ensure they use lead-free clay for food vessels.

 

[Addie]

I feel almost deprived. I never knew there were so many different kids of sugar. All I use is regular, light brown, and powdered sugar.

Interesting what you all say about putting bread in the brown sugar, though. I (finally!) got a set of canisters with rubber seals and my brown sugar stays perfectly soft in one of those. I was all set to throw some bread in but I decided to wait and see what happened first. The sugar never got hard, so I just left it go.

Years and years ago (OK, decades ago - yeah, I'm an old fart), a friend of mine brought back a jug with a cup over the top of it from a trip to Mexico. She told me very specifically NOT to drink out of the cup because the pottery contained lead. In fact, she said most of the time the cups are broken at the border so people aren't tempted to use them to drink from.

I don't know if that's just Mexican pottery or all pottery, though.

Red pottery. And if any of the pottery was done in red paint. Which Just so happens to be a favorite color of Mexico. They both are loaded with natural lead.

Remember the "Old" Fiesta tableware? The dishes came in all colors. It was found that the red dishes had lead in them from the red paint. If you used one of the cups for acidic drinks like orange juice, it would leech out the lead into the juice. Those red dishes today are highly prized and very rare. Unused, but prized none the less. Some states now require antique dealers to mark those cups inside and dishes so that they can't be used.

 

[Addie]

Lead in clay is a universal problem, not just a problem in Mexico. It's the pottery manufacturer's responsibility to ensure they use lead-free clay for food vessels.

The problem with the red clay and red paint from Mexico, is with the tourists. Since this problem was discovered, the border police have stopped it from coming over the border. It is destroyed just as soon as it is confiscated.

When I lived in Texas, we were only a little over an hour from the border. When we went to cross, on the American side, we were always given a pamphlet warning us about bringing these items back into the U.S. Eventually Mexico realized this was hurting their tourism purchases. So over the years they have gotten better about the color red when it comes to tourists and what they will buy.

I don't know if on the American side those pamphlets are still handed out, but it wouldn't hurt if they still were.

 

[taxlady]

Bread to keep the brown sugar soft? Hmm, never thought of that. I have used: lettuce, cabbage, orange peel, apple peel, a wet paper towel taped to the lid of the canister, but never tried bread.

If my brown sugar turns into a large, very hard lump, I use the rasp attachment on my meat grinder. I get a something that looks like white sugar, except brown and then it doesn't harden again. And yes, I have used the add-molasses-to-white-sugar method and it works fine.

Thanks for the link to the article and recipe for toasted sugar. That was interesting and I'm going to give it a try.

 

[jennyema]

Remember the "Old" Fiesta tableware? The dishes came in all colors. It was found that the red dishes had lead in them from the red paint. If you used one of the cups for acidic drinks like orange juice, it would leech out the lead into the juice. Those red dishes today are highly prized and very rare. Unused, but prized none the less. Some states now require antique dealers to mark those cups inside and dishes so that they can't be used.

I have a vintage red Fiestaware platter that I use all the time. But just as a serving platter

 

[Addie]

I have a vintage red Fiestaware platter that I use all the time. But just as a serving platter

I loved those dishes as a kid. I would see them in my friends house, and wish my mother would get them. They were so colorful and made the table look inviting.

When I lived in Washington, there was an antique shop just down the street from my home. He had a whole set of them, and the owner had a big warning label on all the red pieces.

 

[rodentraiser]

Bread to keep the brown sugar soft? Hmm, never thought of that.

My mom used to make some sort of soft chocolate cookie, and she would put a slice of bread on top of those in the cookie jar to keep them soft.

 

[Addie]

Bread to keep the brown sugar soft? Hmm, never thought of that. I have used: lettuce, cabbage, orange peel, apple peel, a wet paper towel taped to the lid of the canister, but never tried bread.

You can also use a marshmallow. Anything that will absorb the moisture from the sugar.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Addie, you want moist brown sugar. If the moisture is absorbed, you have a brown brick. The bread adds moisture to the canister and softens the sugar.

 

[taxlady]

Addie, you want moist brown sugar. If the moisture is absorbed, you have a brown brick. The bread adds moisture to the canister and softens the sugar.

Agreed.

My "wet paper towel taped to the lid of the canister" doesn't absorb water.

 

[GotGarlic]

You can also use a marshmallow. Anything that will absorb the moisture from the sugar.

It's the other way around. You put an object that contains moisture in the container to prevent the sugar from drying out.

 

[Addie]

Addie, you want moist brown sugar. If the moisture is absorbed, you have a brown brick. The bread adds moisture to the canister and softens the sugar.

You're right. And I thought that too. But the place I saw about the marshmallow said just the opposite. Because if you leave whatever in there, eventually the bread, marshmallow, etc. will become very dry and hard.

 

[GotGarlic]

You're right. And I thought that too. But the place I saw about the marshmallow said just the opposite. Because if you leave whatever in there, eventually the bread, marshmallow, etc. will become very dry and hard.

They become dry and hard because they're *losing* moisture to the sugar.