Recently appeared on our shelves brown sugar in the West has long won the recognition of fans of a healthy lifestyle. For its manufacture, tropical plants such as palm and reed are used. Our distant ancestors added unrefined sugar to food.
A sweet product from beets familiar to us began to be extracted relatively recently - in 1802, it was then that factories for its production began to function in Germany.
At first, he was classified as a drug and sold exclusively in pharmacies. In ancient times, brown sugar was a sign of wealth and even a luxury item. Bloody fights were fought for him. Cane sugar was first introduced to Russia at the end of the twelfth century.
When processing the product in question, molasses remains on it, coating the sugar crystals with a thin film . That is why it is brown.
Reed syrup is rich in useful minerals and substances. That is why brown sugar, whose benefits are high enough, is more expensive than its "white brother". This product contains more calcium than yogurt, milk and some types of cheeses.
Nutritionists in the West have long recommended replacing beet sugar with cane sugar. They explain this by the fact that in the latter - fewer calories. But this is not so. One hundred grams of refined sugar contains 409 kilocalories, and a similar amount of brown contains all 413. Therefore, replacing beet sugar with cane sugar will not bring the desired reduction in caloric intake. However, in America and Europe, all “healthy” foods include only brown sugar or honey (natural).
The natural reed product is also rich in iron, potassium, copper and chromium, since it is extracted as a result of rough processing (only five industrial operations are carried out, and twenty in the production of white beetroot). Also, coffee and tea connoisseurs believe that brown sugar, unlike refined sugar, does not reduce the taste of the drink. This delicacy is perfect for baking, it makes the taste of gingerbread, cakes and cookies piquant.
Choose brown sugar. What should I look for?
Find it on store shelves is not difficult. But which kind is most useful? Choosing this product, it should be borne in mind that brown color is far from always an indicator of its natural origin and unrefined.
Natural sugar (cane) brown has its own specific aroma, taste and color due to molasses. However, sometimes manufacturers replace it with dyes.
Types of natural product:
- Demerara. It differs in golden brown color. You should carefully read the information on the packaging, because it can be either natural unrefined or mixed with molasses white refined sugar.
- Muscovado. May contain varying amounts of molasses. The more molasses in it, the darker it is. The crystals of this type of product are smaller than that of Demerar, they have a pronounced caramel smell and stickiness. Muscovado can even be black with a fairly strong smell of molasses.
- Turbinado is a large dry crystals from golden to brown. This natural raw sugar is extracted by partially cleansing molasses using water and steam.
- Black Barbados or soft molasses. This product is distinguished by a pronounced aroma, dark color, softness and humidity.
The main thing you should focus on when buying natural cane sugar is the “unrefined” mark on the label. It is in this case that the delicacy will not only taste good, but also, to some extent, useful.