# "Brownulated" Sugar



## outRIAAge (Jul 10, 2016)

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.


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## GotGarlic (Jul 11, 2016)

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


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## Cheryl J (Jul 11, 2016)

GotGarlic said:


> *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.


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## Silversage (Jul 11, 2016)

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.


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## Mad Cook (Jul 11, 2016)

Silversage said:


> 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..


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## GotGarlic (Jul 11, 2016)

Mad Cook said:


> 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.


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## Mad Cook (Jul 11, 2016)

GotGarlic said:


> 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.


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## GotGarlic (Jul 11, 2016)

Mad Cook said:


> 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.


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## jennyema (Jul 11, 2016)

Mad Cook said:


> 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.


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## outRIAAge (Jul 11, 2016)

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).


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## Cooking Goddess (Jul 11, 2016)

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.


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## Katie H (Jul 11, 2016)

Cooking Goddess said:


> 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:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




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.


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## outRIAAge (Jul 11, 2016)

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.


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## Andy M. (Jul 11, 2016)

outRIAAge said:


> ...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.


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## Cheryl J (Jul 11, 2016)

*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.


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## Silversage (Jul 11, 2016)

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!


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## blissful (Jul 11, 2016)

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.


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## outRIAAge (Jul 12, 2016)

Silversage said:


> 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...


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## Addie (Jul 12, 2016)

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.


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## jennyema (Jul 12, 2016)

Addie said:


> 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."


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## erehweslefox (Jul 12, 2016)

Silversage said:


> 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.


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## GotGarlic (Jul 12, 2016)

outRIAAge said:


> 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.


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## erehweslefox (Jul 12, 2016)

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.


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## GotGarlic (Jul 12, 2016)

erehweslefox said:


> 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.
> 
> ...



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.


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## GotGarlic (Jul 12, 2016)

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


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## Addie (Jul 13, 2016)

jennyema said:


> 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.


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## rodentraiser (Jul 13, 2016)

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.


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## Andy M. (Jul 13, 2016)

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.


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## Addie (Jul 13, 2016)

rodentraiser said:


> 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.
> 
> ...



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.


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## Addie (Jul 13, 2016)

Andy M. said:


> 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.


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## taxlady (Jul 14, 2016)

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.


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## jennyema (Jul 14, 2016)

Addie said:


> 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


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## Addie (Jul 14, 2016)

jennyema said:


> 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.


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## rodentraiser (Jul 14, 2016)

taxlady said:


> 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.


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## Addie (Jul 15, 2016)

taxlady said:


> 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.


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## Cooking Goddess (Jul 15, 2016)

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.


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## taxlady (Jul 15, 2016)

Cooking Goddess said:


> 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.


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## GotGarlic (Jul 15, 2016)

Addie said:


> 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.


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## Addie (Jul 15, 2016)

Cooking Goddess said:


> 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.


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## GotGarlic (Jul 15, 2016)

Addie said:


> 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.


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## RPCookin (Jul 16, 2016)

All I do is seal it up tight in a ziplock bag with all of the air squeezed out (think rolling the bag like a sushi roll, with just a small part left unsealed for the air to escape).  Even here in Colorado with no humidity to speak of, the sugar stays soft for months.


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## taxlady (Jul 16, 2016)

RPCookin said:


> All I do is seal it up tight in a ziplock bag with all of the air squeezed out (think rolling the bag like a sushi roll, with just a small part left unsealed for the air to escape).  Even here in Colorado with no humidity to speak of, the sugar stays soft for months.


Some of us don't use it that often, so we need stronger methods.


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## RPCookin (Jul 17, 2016)

taxlady said:


> Some of us don't use it that often, so we need stronger methods.


 A one pound bag of brown sugar will last us a year or more.  The only time I use any at all is in a couple of my BBQ sauce recipes, and then only a tablespoon or 2 at most for a pint of sauce.  My wife is type 2 diabetic so she never uses it for anything unless she making cookies or something for a church dinner or similar.  It would be hard to use it much less than we do.


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## erehweslefox (Jul 17, 2016)

RPCookin said:


> A one pound bag of brown sugar will last us a year or more.  The only time I use any at all is in a couple of my BBQ sauce recipes, and then only a tablespoon or 2 at most for a pint of sauce.  My wife is type 2 diabetic so she never uses it for anything unless she making cookies or something for a church dinner or similar.  It would be hard to use it much less than we do.



If you have excess brown sugar in your lives, mail it to me, and I will quite quickly muffinize it.


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## Mad Cook (Aug 1, 2016)

GotGarlic said:


> 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.



No sugar can be described as healthy. Unrefined just happens to be my preference. It isn't messed about as much as refined sugar and don't get me started on "London Demerara Sugar" which is a travesty - ie highly refined white sugar mixed with a little molasses to make it look brown. 

I don't use a lot of sugar anyway so I feel perfectly entitled to indulge myself.

Going off at a tangent, if I need white sugar I always buy Tate & Lyle's fairtrade cane sugar but it seems to have vanished off the shelves here and been replaced by T&L's sugar labelled "produced in Britain" or words to that effect, which means it's beet sugar (bleuch!). Not sure what T&L are playing at


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