A spoonful of sugar…

The reaction to last week’s article was amazing. Thank you for everyone who sent messages and emails!

Autumn is baking time so I thought we look at sugars this week. Sugar is made from sugarcane stalks or sugar beets. The sweet juice is extracted, purified, filtered and crystalised – the result is raw sugar that has a golden colour.

The white sugar as we know it is made by removing the molasses. Granulated and caster sugar are the same – they are just differently ground. Caster sugar is used in baking as it dissolves quicker than granulated and the texture of the cake or biscuits will be finer.

When making a meringue with caster or granulated sugar, it helps to warm the sugar in the oven first before using. Icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar is again the same as white sugar; it has just been ground to a smooth powder (you can make it yourself if you have a coffee grinder – if you haven’t ground coffee in it).

When using icing sugar, it pays to sift it before adding it to any mix as it can be tightly packed in the package. Icing sugar is used to make the deliciously delicate macarons.

In baking, brown sugar is often used (especially in festive baking) but even with brown sugar there are differences. Demerara sugar is quite closest to raw sugar as it has been minimal processed. It has the texture of granulated sugar, a lovely golden brown colour and has a light caramel flavour.

I personally wouldn’t use demerara sugar in baking but love it in a crumble mix as it gives a crunchier texture. I also use it in my tea (yep, I like sweet tea) but it takes a while to dissolve.

Light and dark brown sugar are made by adding molasses to the sugar mix which gives it the almost wet texture. The molasses also adds the light to stronger caramel flavour to any baking.

Both sugars can be substituted for each other but the result will be of a lighter or darker colour and the taste will differ slightly.

Also, if you are using baking soda in your recipe, stick with the sugar listed in the recipe as using dark brown sugar can affect the final bake considerably as the molasses in the sugar reacts with the soda.

Brown sugar is also heavier in weight, so replacing white with brown sugar might need some adjustment.

When making chutneys, I often use dark brown sugar to achieve the dark colour and deep flavour you would expect from a good chutney.

The darkest sugar is muscovado sugar which has been even less processed than demerara sugar. It looks very similar to dark brown sugar but has different flavour notes as the natural molasses has been retained. The flavour is treacle-like which is perfect in gingerbread and rich fruit cakes.

All sugars should be stored airtight and away from light – I store it in glass jars.