Refined Sugar Buying Guide | WhatSugar Blog (2024)

From Sugar Cane

From Sugar Beet

• ​Explore belowalmost twenty types of refined sugar, starting by the favorite of all sweeteners—the tablesugar.

• Refined cane sugars in solid formaresold in several crystal sizes, and various moisture and molassescontents.

• They contain from 91 to 99.96% sucrose and often havesmall amounts of invert sugar, which is fructose plus glucose.

• The most widely available refined sugars in stores are granulated, powdered, and brown (light or dark) sugars.

• Refined cane sugars in liquid form contain from 50 to 80% sucrose, and 20 to 50% invert sugar (glucose plus fructose).

• White sugars from cane are produced in various crystal sizes, from coarse (0.75 to0.6 mm)to medium (0.5 to 0.3 mm) to small-size (0.3 to 0.02 mm).

• From the sugars with largest to smallest crystals: sparkling > sanding > granulated > fine >extra fine > superfine > ultrafine > powdered 6X > powdered 10X > powdered 12X > fondant.

• Despite their crystals sizes,all white sugars have the same sweetness and provide the same calories. Finer crystals, such as powdered and fondant sugars, contain 3 percent cornstarch (or tapioca starch) added to prevent lumping.

• Table sugar, labeled as granulated, is themost recognizable and used sweetener of all, being the favorite among home cooks.

• What manufacturers call granulated sugar is the type of refined sugar with midsize crystals ranging from 0.3 to 0.55 mm.

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• Table sugar may be called and labeled asFine Granulated and Extra Fine Granulated, depending on the manufacturers' designation.

• Fine Granulated Sugaris granulated sugar with a more narrow range of crystal size, from 0.32 to 0.42 mm.

• Extra Fine Granulated Sugaris granulated sugar with slightly smaller crystals, rangingfrom 0.3 to 0.35 mm.

• Granulated, Fine Granulated & Extra Fine Granulated Sugars in storesmay be from sugar cane, sugar beet, or a blend of both.

• In a Sugar Refinery, granulated sugar isthe starting point for white sugars with finer crystals, such assuperfine,ultrafine& powdered.

• Table sugar, either from cane or beet, is considered one of the purest food products, containingaround 99.95%sucrose.

• Being the most familiar and versatile type of sweetener of all, itis considered the gold standard of sweet taste.

• It has a familiar clean, pleasant sweetness from start to finish, that hitsquickly, without lingering. No secondary taste or aftertaste.

• Read all about it in one of myblog posts titled What is Granulated Sugar?or explore all posts about sugars here.

• Superfine is a refined sugarwith smaller crystals than regular granulated sugar; crystal sizeranges from 0.2to 0.3 mm.

• Compared to table sugar, superfine sugardissolves faster and gives a smooth texture to icing, frosting,and fillings.

• As it dissolves more rapidly than large crystals, if eaten alone it seems sweeter on the tongue than table sugar.

• Having finercrystals, superfine sugar has more surface area per spoonful and appear whiter than larger crystals such as table sugar.

• Superfine sugar, just like table sugar and other white sugars, is almost pure sucrose (about99.95%) withthe rest being mostly water.

• It is typically produced by grinding granulated sugar and then screened to size; promoted as a "quick dissolve sugar".

• Also called bar sugar as it dissolves faster in alcoholic cold beverages, butbartenders make their own simple syrups withtable sugar.

• In somecountries, such as Brazil, superfine sugar is the most common type of sugar available to consumers. Not in the U.S.

• Ultrafine is arefined sugar with smaller crystalsize than granulated & superfinesugar; crystals size are from 0.1to 0.2mm

• It dissolves the fastest of all white sugarsand gives even, smoother texture to icing, frosting, and fillings than superfine sugar.

• As it dissolves more rapidly, if eaten alone it seems sweeter on the tongue than regular granulated sugar and superfine sugar.

• It has more surface area per spoonful and appears whiter than larger crystals, such as granulated and superfine sugars.

• Ultrafine sugar, just like table sugar,contains around 99.95 percentsucrose butit is not as widely available in stores.

• Most professional bakers use this granulation as their all-purpose sugar; it produces a finer crumb in cakes & greater spread in cookies.

• When you usein place of table sugar, you get lighter texture cakes, smoother (fewer cracks) cookies and more delicate meringues.

• Powdered or Confectioners is a refined sugar with smaller crystalsize than granulated, superfine and ultrafinesugars.

• Crystals size average isless than0.1 mm;due to its fineness nature, it is very prone to caking, lumping, and dust explosion!

• Ananti-caking agent (starch) is added to powdered sugars to absorb moisture and let it free-flowing.

• To prevent caking, lumping, and dust explosion, it usuallycontains around 3% starch by weight, resulting in afloury taste.

• A variety of powdered sugars with different crystal sizes are made in a refinery; crystals are separated through special sizescreens.

• The fineness of the crystals is indicated by a number before an 'X'which is derived from the sizes of the meshes.

• The higher the number before the 'X', thefiner it is; themost common is 10X, followed by 6X (the coarsest) and 12X (the finest).

• Due to the addition of an anti-caking agent, powdered sugars contain approximately 97 percentsucrose.

• As the name implies, confectioners (or 's), is used in confections, icings, baked goods, as a garnish for decorative purposes.

• Fondant sugar is the type of refined sugar with thesmallestcrystalsize, typicallyless than0.02 mm.

• Just like powdered sugars, fine crystals in fondant sugarare very prone to caking, lumping, and dust explosion.

• To maintain it free-flowing and to keep it from absorbing moisture, it has about3% starch by weight, resulting in afloury taste.

• Sugars with finer crystals have more surface area per spoonful and so,fondant sugarappearswhiter than table sugar.

• Fondant sugar has about 97 percentsucrose and the most widely available brand is India Tree, featured below.

• Coarse sugars are glossy transparentcrystals larger than granulated sugaroften with additional ingredients (food coloring,...).

• They don't readily dissolve, and because they are clear crystals, they attract and reflect light, resulting in sparkle.

• The most common are sanding (0.6 to 0.7 mm), sparkling (0.65 to 0.75mm), androck sugar, the largest of all refined sugars.

• Traditional coarse crystals are the purest refined sugarscontaining over 99.96 percentsucrose.

• Coarse sugars arecrystallized from very high purity sugar syrups, underslow-boiling rates and extendedtimes.

• Rock sugar, rock candy, sugar crystals, or sugar swizzle sticks are easy tomake at home but are also widely available in stores.

• With patience & time, you can make your own sugar crystalsfrom a hot saturated solution of granulated sugar. Cool it down & wait!

• For a glossy finish, coarse sugars may be polished with a coating of carnauba wax, a wax from a Brazilian palm tree.

• Another common ingredient to seal it from air and moistureis confectioner's glaze, a natural resin produced from tree saps by a beetle.

• Advantage: to decorate the tops of baked goods, such as cookies and cakes,as they give sparkle and do not melt during baking.

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What isDecorative Sugar?

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• Decorative (aka decorating ordecoratif) sugar is a term that can refer to many types of sugars used to decorate a sweet.

• It includes sugars that do not melt easily such assprinkles, jimmies,nonpareils, dragées, and pearls sugars.

• It is rarely pure sugar. It is mostly sugarand may contain 3to 10 ingredients,often being: sugar + starch + confectioner's glaze.

• The production method istraditionally done by pushing sugar through an extrusion die.

• Decoratives such as Belgium and Swedish pearl sugars (usuallyfrom beet)are made by crushing blocks of white refined sugar.

• The most widely available brown sugars are not naturallybrown;they are blends of sucrose crystals &molasses (cane syrups).

• Three types of brown cane sugar are sold in stores: light (or golden), dark, and free-flowing.

• The color and rich taste of brown sugars are determined by the amount of molasses remaining or added to the crystals.

• Used in baked goods, brown sugar provides moisture, a slight molasses flavor, andallows them to stay chewy.

• Read the following blog post What is Brown Sugar? to compare refined brown sugars with the unrefined ones.

• If you are looking for the unrefined brown sugars, read my blog post What is Unrefined Sugar, Anyway?

• Regular brown sugars from cane are produced in a Sugar Refinery by two different methods. One method results incrystals that are brown on the outside only,while in the other,crystals are brown all the way through.

• In the Coated or Painted Method, raw sugar is refined all the way to white granulated sugar and its surface is coated or ‘painted’ with a small amount of molasses; resulting crystals are brown on the outside only.

• In the Crystallization Method, brown sugar is made by redissolving raw sugar, and then concentrating and recrystallizing it, so that it retains some molasses; resultingcrystals are brown all the way through.

• It is not easy to say whether one brand of brown sugar is just painted or is brown all the way through;one way or another, both brown sugars give a molasses flavor to your recipe.

• Light (golden) or dark brown sugarstend to be sticky, and become dry, hard and lumpy due to loss of moisture during storage particularly after the original package is opened; that's why free-flowing brown sugar was developed.

• Regular brown sugars vary in flavor and color;Light or golden brown sugar contains 2-3% molasses and consequently hasa mild flavor;Dark brown sugar contains 6-8% molasses.

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​ DETAILS:

Composition: 93 to98%sucrose and1.5 to 5%invert sugar (glucose + fructose)

Water content: light brown is 2 to3% water;dark brown,2.5 to3.5% water

Crystalsize: the average istypicallybetween 0.27 and 0.42 mm. ​

• Free-flowing brown sugar has less moisture than regular brown sugars; the term "free-flowing"meansit pours easily anddoes not clump, cake or harden as regular brown sugars do.

• Produced by a method called CoCrystallization, which starts with extremely fine sugar crystals, from 0.003 to 0.03 mm,that are cocrystallized (agglomerated) with a cane syrup.

• Each granuleof free-flowing brown sugar consists of many tiny crystals that are held together by the syrup in a porous sponge-like structure, which does not tend to dry and become hard and lumpy.

• Promoted as "the pourable" and "the easy-to-measure" brown sugar, it is as sweet as regularbrownand table sugars and soshould be a cup for cupreplacement for these sugars.

• When substituting this sugar for regular brown sugars, you should measure 'equal volume', not 'equal weight', because it is much lighter due to being muchless moist.

• It contains 91 to94 percentsucrose, 2.5 to 3 percentinvert sugar (glucose plusfructose), andabout 0.75 percent water. It is promoted to besprinkled over cereal and oatmeal.

• Lump sugar is granulated sugar that is moist with water.It is then compressed or molded into a particular shape and allowed to dry.

• It isan agglomerate of medium-size crystals that once dried, maintain itsshape; themost common arecubes andtablets.

• Rough cut cubes are called European style cubes and available in white, brown (white with caramel), or demerara (raw sugar).

• The termgourmet sugar is usually used to refer to handmade lump sugarsold in a variety of shapes andcolors.

• Commonly used to sweeten hot drinks, they usuallycontain approximately 99 percentsucrose and 0.5 percentwater.

• Beet sugar is refined sugar from sugarbeet, a root that grows in temperate climates, including U.S. farms in elevenstates.In the United States, beet sugar is the dominant sugar, accounting for 55 percent of the refined sugar consumed each year.

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• Contrary to cane sugar -- which is available inunrefined,raw andrefined forms --beet sugar is sold as a refined sugar only.Beet sugars are produced in a Sugar Factory.Put simply, beet juice is collected, its water is boiled off, and sugar crystals are separated from everything else.

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• In the United States, onlygeneticallymodifiedvarieties of sugar beets are planted. Therefore, organic sugar from beet is not produced in America. If you find a refined beet sugarin a store with the "non-GMO project verified"seal, it isimported from Europe.

• Although the term sugar beet is composed of two words, to simplify, I use itconnected - sugarbeet - or simply "beet". To learn all about beet sugar, read my blog posts below :

What exactly is sugar?

Beet Sugar vs Cane Sugar

White Sugar: Is it from cane or beet, anyway?

What is granulated sugar?

What is refined sugar?

How is sugar made?

What is brown sugar?

Sucrose: One sugar, 70 names