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San Francisco Baking Institute Newsletter
Sugar Definitions
by Kate Good
S
ugar is defined as a sweet, crystallizable material that is primarily, if not
completely, sucrose. Sucrose is composed of fructose and glucose. It is white in
color, but can be brown when less refined.
The typical sources for sugar are sugarcane
and sugar beets.
Refined Granulated Sugar
Granulated Sugar is made from sugar cane
or sugar beets and is commonly used in
baking and cooking.
Castor Sugar or Superfine is composed of
sucrose granules that are similar in size
to superfine. It is named after the small
container used for serving sugar in British
homes.
Addendum to
The Baker Has a Sweet
Job: A Sugar Overview
Spring 2009
Lump Sugar is composed of white, separate
granulated crystals that are formed
into cubes or rectangles. Lump sugar is
commonly used to sweeten hot drinks.
Coarse Sugar is large, clear crystals of
sucrose used as garnish to add an attractive
sparkle to baked goods. One type of coarse
sugar is sanding sugar.
Crystallized Sugar is white, glossy crystals
that come in superfine, fine, medium, and
large crystal sizes. Colored crystallized
sugar has added food coloring.
Candy Sugar is a colorless sugar composed
of large crystals formed from the slow
crystallization of sucrose used in candy
production.
Pain de Sucre is a white crystallized sugar
compressed in a conical shape.
Baker’s Special Granulated Sugar is fine
granules of sucrose that are used in many
bakeries. This sugar produces a finer crumb
in cakes and greater spread in cookies.
Pearl Sugar is opaque, white, irregular
sucrose granules that do not easily dissolve.
It is used mainly as a topping on baked
goods but can be used as flavoring in pâte à
choux and rolls.
Confectioner’s Sugar or Powdered Sugar
is sucrose that has been ground to a fine
powder. It is used in icings, confections,
and baked goods and can also be used as a
garnish for decorative purposes.
Sucre Neige is a combination of dextrose,
starch from wheat, a vegetable fat, and an
anti-binding agent. It is used for décor
because it does not easily melt.
Partially-refined Cane and Beet Sugar
Brown Sugar is composed of fine granules
of sucrose that range in color from golden
brown to dark brown. It is directly
obtained from dark syrups during the
refining process of cane sugar, and is
also produced by adding molasses to
refined sugar. Brown sugar is used in the
production of baked goods and lends a
slight molasses flavor to the product.
Mill White, Plantation White, Crystal,
Superior, and Blanco Directo Sugars are
semi-processed sugars from cane or beets
that have been chemically whitened;
they contain impurities. These sugars are
primarily used in countries that produce
sugar cane.
Raw Beet Sugar is sucrose crystals that are
covered with molasses and range in color
from brown to light yellow. Raw sugar is
obtained from the source syrup during the
sugar refining process which is allowed to
crystallize.
Muscovado Sugar is obtained from cane
sugar through a process where a dark
syrup is allowed to crystallize, resulting in
moist, sticky, golden brown large sucrose
crystals. When it is produced in Barbados,
it is known as Barbados sugar. This is often
used as a sugar replacement to enhance the
flavor profile.
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Sugar Definitions, continued
Jaggery, Gur, Piloncillo, Papelon, and Panela
are earthy cane sugars that are composed
of crystalline sugar enveloped in cooked
cane juice. The flavor varies from a mild
caramel to a strong molasses. These are
sold in dense clumps, and are used for
enhancing the flavor profile of desserts
and confections. These clumps are used by
grating or chopping the sugar. This sugar
can be used wherever brown sugar is called
for. In Mexican baking, it is often used in
bread puddings.
Turbinado Sugar is raw sucrose partially
washed of its molasses during the centrifugation process. Turbinado sugar crystals
are large and yellow-gold in color. They are
crunchy and good for baking and melting.
Demerara Sugar is named after a region
in Guyana and comes from the first
crystallization of light cane juice. It is
composed of large, yellow-gold crystals
that are stickier than Turbinado sugar.
The crunchy texture of demerara makes it
ideal as a topping on desserts, cookies, and
fruit dishes; it is also commonly used as a
sweetener in teas and coffees.
Molasses is the by-product of the cane sugar
refining process and comes in three grades.
Light molasses is from the first boiling of
cane sugar, dark molasses is from the second
boiling, and blackstrap molasses is from the
third boiling. Molasses is frequently used
to enhance the flavor profile in breads and
pastries.
Highly Processed Syrups and Powders
Invert Sugar is an oily odorless white paste
or odorless liquid that is obtained by the
inversion of saccharose, heating it with
water, an acid, and baking soda (hydrolysis).
Common brands of invert sugars are
Nulomoline, Trimoline, and Freshvert.
Corn Syrup, Glucose, or Glucose Corn Syrup is
made by extracting starch granules from the
kernels of common dent corn, treating them
with an acid and/or with microbial
( 2 )
or malt enzymes. The sweet syrup is then
clarified, decolorized, and evaporated to the
desired concentration. It is composed of
long carbohydrate molecules, not sucrose.
Atomized Glucose or Glucose Powder is
commonly used in ice creams, sorbets,
and confections.
Other Sugars
Dextrose, also called Glucose, as in the
monosaccharide, is a fine, white powder
that is extracted from cornstarch and
dissolves well in water. It is not formed
of sucrose molecules. Dextrose is less
sweet than sucrose and is often used as a
bulking agent in chocolates and chocolate
products. Because the dextrose powder
does not dissolve easily, it is used in
dusting sugars such as sucre neige. One
unique quality of dextrose is that creates a
cooling sensation in the mouth because it
takes so much energy (or heat) to dissolve
the crystals
Lactose is the sugar found in milk; it is
composed of two simple molecules, glucose
and galactose. Its common form is a white
crystallized powder that is used more for
its physical bulk than for sweetness; it is
seldom used in its pure form.
Fructose is the sugar commonly found in
fruits and vegetables. It is the sweetest
sugar and it absorbs and retains water most
effectively. Fructose can be purchased in
fine, crystallized powder form. Because
fructose metabolizes slower than glucose
or sucrose, it causes a slower rise in blood
glucose levels which makes if preferable
for people with diabetes. Fructose is often
used in fruit-based desserts, sorbets, and
confections because it is complementary to
fruit flavors.
“Natural” or Lightly-processed Sugars
Honey is a naturally inverted sugar syrup
that is produced by bees; it contains
fructose, glucose, and water. Honey is
dense liquid ranging in color from dark
brown to amber, and its flavor varies
depending on from which flowers the bees
gathered nectar.
Maple Syrup is the boiled tree sap of the
maple tree, and it takes forty parts of sap
to make one part syrup. It has a caramellike flavor and is popular on items such
as pancakes or pairs well with pumpkin
flavors. It is among the least refined sugars.
Maple Sugar is made by concentrating the
sucrose in maple syrup to the point where
it will crystallize when it cools. This forms
coarse crystals that are thinly coated with
the remaining maple syrup.
Barley Malt Syrup is made from soaked and
sprouted barley that is dried and cooked
down to a thick syrup. Because this syrup
is slowly digested, it is gentler on blood
sugar levels than other sweeteners.
Rice Syrup is made by soaking and
sprouting rice which is then dried and
cooked down to a thick syrup. It is usually
made from a combination of rice and
barley. It has deep, earthy flavors.
Agave Nectar comes from the core of the
Mexican agave cactus, the same cactus which
produces sap for tequila. It is composed of
70% fructose and 20% glucose and ranges
in color from pale to dark amber, similar
to honey, but it is less viscous and dissolves
easier in liquids than honey.
Sorghum Syrup is made from the stalk juice
of sweet sorghum and is composed mainly
of sucrose. Sorghum is a cereal plant that
is normally used for its grain. Sorghum
syrup is produced in small quantities in
the Southern and Midwest regions of the
United States; it has a distinctive pungency.
Date Sugar is a powder made from dried,
ground dates.
Fruit Juice Concentrates are made by
cooking down peach, pineapple, grape
and pear juices to produce a sweeter,
more condensed product. Freezing the
concentrate increases the shelf life.
Sugar Definitions, continued
Birch Syrup is made from the sap of
birch trees, specifically the species Betula.
It takes 100 parts of sap to produce 1 part
syrup. The resulting syrup is almost an
equal mixture of glucose and fructose and
has a final sugar concentration of about
70-75%. Birch Syrup is reddish-brown in
color and has a more caramel-like flavor
than maple syrup.
Mugolio Pine Syrup is made from the
young cones and buds of mugo pines in
Italy. The cones and buds are stored in
the sun until they slowly expel syrup. This
syrup is then cooked with sugar over a low
fire until it is hazel brown. Mugolio syrup
is extremely expensive, so it is usually used
as a garnish in plated desserts.
Treacle is a thick, brown syrup produced
during raw sugarcane refining which has
a distinctively strong flavor that is slightly
bitter. It is commonly used in Great Britain.
Golden Syrup is also known as light treacle
and is popular in Great Britain. It is a byproduct of the sugar refining process and
is golden in color with a mild, caramelized
flavor. Golden syrup also contains a
moderate amount of invert sugar. It is used
in cooking and baking, as pancake syrup,
and as an ice cream topping.
Alternative Sweeteners
Saccharin, commonly known by its trade
name, Sweet ‘n Low, was first discovered
in 1879 and has been the topic of much
controversy. It has been used in the United
States since 1901 and is a popular sweetener
because it can be made inexpensively, and it
is 300-500x sweeter than sucrose. Saccharin
does not degrade at high temperatures so
it is heat stable and can be used in baked
goods. Saccharin is also commonly used
drinks. It has a bitter aftertaste.
Aspartame, best known by its trade
name Nutrasweet, is a white, odorless,
crystalline powder with a clean sugar-like
taste, no bitter aftertaste, and a sweetness
180-200x that of sucrose. It is formed
by two amino acids, aspartic acid, and
phenylaline. A methyl alcohol is added
to form a methyl ester. Aspartame is
one of the most thoroughly tested food
additives approved by the Food and Drug
Administration; it was approved in 1981.
However, people with a rare hereditary
disease, phenylketonuria, must watch their
intake of aspartame because it contains
phenylalanine. Aspartame is not heat stable
so it should not be used in baked goods.
However, it can be used in beverages,
breakfast cereals, desserts, chewing gum,
and as a tabletop sweetener. Aspartame is
also the main ingredient in the low-calorie
sweetener Equal.
Sucralose is a white crystalline solid
“produced by the selective addition
1
of chlorine atoms to sucrose.” It was
approved by the FDA in 1998 as a tabletop
sweetener, and for use in baked goods,
nonalcoholic beverages, chewing gum,
frozen dairy desserts, fruit juices, and
gelatin. In 1999, it was approved as an allpurpose sweetener for all foods. It is 600x
sweeter than sucrose, tastes like sucrose,
and has no bitter aftertaste. Because it is
so sweet, it is mixed with maltodextrin
which is a starchy powder, so that it will
measure more like sugar. Sucralose does
not affect blood sugar levels, which makes
it an option for diabetics. It is commonly
known by its trade name, Splenda.
Xylitol is a sweetener found in many
fruits and vegetables and is also naturally
produced by the human body during
carbohydrate metabolism. It is approved
for used in food, pharmaceuticals, and
cosmetics. Xylitol is used in commercial
products such as chewing gum, confections,
toothpastes, mouthwashes, pharmaceuticals,
and dietetic and diabetic foods.
Stevia is a sweetener derived from the leafy
green foliage of the Stevia plant, stevia
rebaudiana Bertoni. The extract Rebiana
is isolated and blended with dextrose to
create a sweetener that is 300-400x sweeter
than cane sugar. It is good for sweetening
sauces and liquids, but most baked goods
require sugar or other bulking agents to
achieve proper results.
Isomalt is a sweetener made by chemically
modifying sucrose. It is commonly found
as a white powder or small white beads.
Isomalt is classified as a polyol, which is a
sugar replacer. It is useful for sugar work
because it does not brown easily, pick up
moisture, or crystallize easily.
Acesulfame K is also known as acesulfame
Potassium and is about 200x sweeter than
sucrose. It was first approved in 1988 for
used as a tabletop sweetener, but it is now
approved for use in baked goods, frozen
desserts, candies, and beverages. Acesulfame
K is commonly known as Sunett and is used
in over 4,000 products worldwide. It has an
excellent shelf life and does not break down
under high heat so acesulfame K can be
used in cooking and baking.
Neotame was approved for use by the FDA
in 2002. It is a white, crystalline powder
that is free flowing, water soluble, and
heat stable. It can be used in baked goods,
but, beware, because it is 7,000-13,000x
sweeter than sucrose. It is produced by the
Nutrasweet Company.
Cyclamate is an alternative sweetener that
was approved for use in the United States
at one time, but was been banned by the
Food and Drug Administration because
of its possible link to bladder cancer. It is
currently approved for use in at least 50
other countries. n
Endnotes
1 Bennion and Schule, 273.
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