Eight Sugar Varieties
When you think of sugar, the first thing that you are likely to think of is the white table sugar you add to a cup of coffee. However, there are many different kinds of this sweet additive, although many are only used within the commercial baking and confection industry. Here are eight types of sugar and a little information on their uses.
1. White or Regular Sugar The most common form of sugar, you can find it a variety of textures ranging from fine to extra fine. It is easily available and is used to sweeten drinks and in regular baking.
2. Fruit Sugar (Fructose) Fruit sugar is finer than white sugar, and its crystals are of a uniform size. It is perfect for sweetening beverages since it is more difficult to mix the larger crystals of other sugar varieties into a liquid. This type of sugar is used in almost all ready-made sweet powdered drinks, pudding powders or gelatins.
3. ‘Baker’s Special’ Sugar This superfine, quick-dissolving sugar variety is perfect for sprinkling on the top of cookies, cakes and the like. You can buy it in most large supermarkets and grocery stores.
4. Super, Ultrafine or Bar Sugar This is the best type of sugar to use when making delicate cakes or meringues. It is also often used to sweeten fruits. British cooks use it frequently to sweeten pastries and it’s called “caster” or “castor” because of the shaker it is packaged in.
5. Coarse Sugar Coarse sugar is made by crystallizing sugar syrups. It has a distinctive flavor because of its high molasses content. Unlike the sugar varieties above, course sugar crystals are large. This variety is typically used to make candy, fondants and liquors.
6. Sanding Sugar Sanding sugar also has large crystals and is frequently used in the baking and confection industry. This type of crystal reflects light well to give the finished product a sparkly appearance.
7. Brown Sugar You’ll find a number of different kinds of brown sugar, such as light, dark and turbinado. It has a high molasses content and is often used in baking. Turbinado is often used to sweeten tea, because of the molasses flavor.
8. Confectioner’s (Powdered) Sugar A baking sugar reserved mainly for making icing, whipped cream, and candies. Confectioner’s sugar is finely ground white sugar that is sifted to a powdery texture. To keep it from forming clumps, a tiny amount of cornstarch (about 3%) is added. Confectioner’s sugar is available in three different textures. The finest confectioner’s sugar is the one you see on grocery store shelves. There are two coarser-grained varieties, but these are reserved mainly for industrial production of baked desserts and candies.
While most people only use two or three of the above sugars in their regular cooking and baking, you might want to experiment with some of the others. The flavors are a little different, as are the textures. You may find that one of the less common types will suit your baking and cooking needs better than that teaspoon of your regular table sugar!
Competent contributing article author Anya really loves providing her wealth of inspiring tips and hints about home baking. Not to mention her number one top-secret happens to be her place for finding edible toppers and edible Christian motifs.
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