Barbados Sugar
A rich, moist and attractive dark brown sugar with a
rather strong taste of molasses.
Brown Sugar
A generic term used to refer to a wide range of sugars
including treated refined sugars, raw sugars, and
organic sugars.
Beet Sugar
- Sugar which is extracted from the sugar beet plant.
Candy Sugar
This term refers to large white sugar crystals which
are grown from sugar which is highly refined.
Cane Sugar
Sugar extracted from sugar cane.
Castor Sugar
Sugar that is formed of very fine particles that can
easily be dissolved in baking or cooking. Not to be
confused with Icing Sugar or Powdered Sugar.
Chinese Sugar
Also sometimes known as rock sugar, this is sugar that
is sold in large crystallized lumps. There are two main
varieties of Chinese sugar, one with golden tones to it,
and another that is opaque and white.
Coarse Sugar
A term referring to sugar in which the grains are
larger than common sugar. These large grains
have a wide range of food applications, perhaps most
notably in decorative baking.
Coconut Sugar
Also known as Palm Sugar, Coconut Sugar is extracted
from the sap of the Palm tree. It is an attractive
golden brown color, and comes in a variety of textures,
from gooey soft to hard, depending on the processing it
has undergone.
Coffee Sugar
Specially treated sugar with a light syrup layer over
the sugar crystal which imparts a unique flavor when
used in coffee beverages. This is a dark brown sugar
which contains much of the natural vitamins and minerals
from whence it came.
Corn Sugar
This is another term for Dextrose.
Date Sugar
Whilst not technically a sugar, date sugar is produced
by grinding up dried dates. The result is a
highly nutritious, and sweet powder which is often used
in baking and other recipes. The plus side of Date Sugar
is that it contains iron, fiber, and many other minerals
and vitamins. The downside is that it is expensive, and
does
not dissolve in water.
Demerara Sugar
- A coarse golden brown sugar which is harvested from
Mauritius, the sugar crystals retain
a fine layer of syrup that imparts the flavor of
molasses to other ingredients when it is used in baking
or cooking.
Dextrose
A glucose sugar refined from cornstarch. Most often used
in animal feed and pet food.
Foots Sugar
- A dark brown sugar with a high liquid content and very
syrupy, viscous nature.
Fructose -
A natural sugar found in fruits, berries, melons, and
even some vegetables. This is the
sweetest of all the natural sugars. Fructose is
destroyed when sucrose (white table sugar) is being
refined from
raw sugars, which often contain some fructose before
refining begins. Fructose is normally commercially
produced
by enzymatic hydrolysis from starch.
Fruit Sugar
Another term for fructose.
Gelating Sugar
- This is a blend of standard granulated sugar and
pectin. It acts as a gelling agent in some foods, and is
commonly used for making jelly.
Glucose
A natural sugar, glucose is produced by many plants
during the process of photosynthesis, and is also
produced by conversion of other non carbohydrate
intermediates inside the liver and kidneys of many
animals, including humans. Commercially it is produced
by enzymatic hydrolysis of starches. Some examples of
sources of starch from which glucose can be produced are
potatoes and maize, but there are many others.
Granulated Sugar
Sugar in granule form. Most refined sugar comes in
granulated form because sugar crystals grow in a fashion
that lends itself to granulation, and granules naturally
pack down well for transport. They are also, generally
speaking, easier to handle for consumers than lumps of
sugar which must be broken down in order to be used.
Grape Sugar
Another word for glucose.
Sucrose -
Also known as table sugar, white sugar, or refined
sugar, sucrose is the most commonly traded sugar
on the market today. Refined from sugar beet and sugar
cane, sucrose is an easily digested micro nutrient that
provides a quick rush of energy to the human body. In
its most refined form it is a sparkling white, free
flowing, odorless sweetener.
Icing Sugar
- This is powdered sugar, generally ground down from
ICUMSA 45 refined sugar.
Invert Sugar
Sugar that is 50% glucose and 50% fructose.
Jaggery - Unrefined
cane sugar very high in minerals, and regarded as being
a healthy alternative to refined sugar.
It is organic, having no chemicals added to it at any stage of its
production, and is even regarded by many as being
a medicinal sugar. It is said of Jaggery that consuming
it helps with ailments such as indigestion, coughing,
and constipation.
Starch Sugar
Sugar derived from starch. See Glucose and Fructose.
Java Sugar
- See Coconut Sugar.
Maltose -
A rare natural sugar.
Malt Sugar
Same as Maltose.
Milk Sugar
Same as Lactose.
Lactose
A natural sugar found in milk. Causes many allergy
problems in humans and other animals who may
be unable to process it. Humans and animals with this
affliction are called lactose intolerant.
Molasses
Thick, sweet, viscous liquid which is added to refined
sugar to make brown sugar. Molasses is a by product of
sucrose production that has many uses in its own right,
as animal feed, for instance, or as a means of darkening
refined sugar to make it appear brown.
Organic Sugar
Sugar grown without any chemical interference and
without chemical refining.
Panela /
Panocha / Piloncillo
This is sugar that is partially refined from Mexican
cane. It is regarded by some
as being more healthy because it retains much of the
organic matter from which it was extracted, including
some vitamins and minerals.
Palm Sugar
See Coconut Sugar.
Raw Sugar
- Sugar which has undergone no refining whatsoever.
Refined Sugar
Sugar which has undergone refining processes including
some or all of the following: Affination, Carbonization,
Phosphation, Boiling,
Rock Sugar
Sugar formed into rocks by dipping string into a
refined sugar solution and allowing crystals to form
around it. Also sometimes known as Rock Candy.
Sanding Sugar
Another term for Coarse Sugar.
Sugar Loaf
Refers to a lump of refined sugar formed into a cone
shape.
Types of Sugar