Aspartame © Denzil GreenAspartame is an artificial sweeter that is 180 times sweeter than sugar. It loses its sweetness, however, when exposed to heat in baking or cooking, or when mixed with an acid. It is sold as a white crystal powder that has no smell and no aftertaste. It is made from two amino…
Sugar
Cane Syrup
Cane Syrup is a thick, sweet syrup made from sugarcane juice, boiled down. It can be pale or dark. The sugarcane is allowed to grow as long as possible before any frost occurs. The harvested canes can be held for up to 1 month before squeezing them, providing they’re not allowed to freeze. The juice…
Gelling Sugar
Gelling Sugar is special sugar for making preserves from fruit. Gelling Sugar contains pectin in it, so you don’t need to buy additional pectin. The ingredients in the sugar are white sugar, pectin, and citric acid. Some brands may also include sodium benzoate as a preservative. There are different “strengths” of Gelling Sugar. The stronger…
Granulated Sugar
Granulated sugar is sugar that comes in pure, fine white grains. In the Western world, from about the 1800s on, whenever a cook says “sugar”, s/he means “granulated sugar” unless otherwise specified. Granulated sugar can come from either sugar cane or sugar beet. To make granulated sugar, juices are extracted from the plant being used,…
Icing and Frosting
What frosting and icing mean probably depends partly on where you are, and partly on what your mother and grandmother thought they meant.In the UK, usually only the term “icing” is used. In America, “icing” is used colloquially, but people have tended to use frosting in writing, perhaps because it sounds like a more proper…
Invert Sugar
Invert Sugar is sugar composed of smaller sugar crystals. To make it, water is added to regular sugar to form a syrup, along with an acid such as citric acid or tartaric acid (aka lemon juice and cream of tartar.) The syrup is heated. The heating breaks the sucrose in the sugar down into equal…
Jean-Étienne de Boré’s Birthday
The 27th of December is the birthday of Jean-Étienne de Boré, the man who first produced granulated sugar. And the world has been sweeter ever since.
Lavender Sugar
Lavender Sugar is sugar that has been infused with the aroma of lavender. To make, put sugar in a jar with lavender blossoms, either fresh or dried, then put the lid on the jar, and let sit. The longer it sits, the more flavour it will have. You may find you need to sift the…
Malt Sugar
Scientifically, Malt Sugar, aka Maltose, is two glucose molecules joined together, making it a “dissacharide.” The formula is C12H22O11·H2O. More prosaically, it is a sugar made from grains by malting them. The grains might include barley, rice or wheat. It can come as a thick, sticky clear or amber-coloured syrup sold in tins or tubs,…
Raw Sugar
Raw Sugar © Denzil Green Raw Sugar is sugar that has not yet been refined enough to become white sugar. It is a golden colour with coarser granules than white sugar. It is slower to dissolve, and gives a warmer flavour with more honey undertones. It is made from sugar cane; beet sugar doesn’t usually…
Sanding Sugar
Sanding Sugar is larger, polished grains of sugar. The grains are about four times larger than those in granulated sugar. The grains may be uncoloured, or come in different pale (artificial) colours. It is similar to “Sparkling Sugar”, and like it will reflect light, but it is smaller and has paler colours. To make Sanding…
Snow White Sugar
Snow White Sugar is very fine granulated sugar that has been tumbled with fat. Because it already has fat in it, it won’t dissolve as easily when sprinkled on baked goods such as cakes, pastries or sugar doughnuts. It is made from refined granulated sugar, dextrose, wheat starch and palm oil. It is sold in…
Sparkling Sugar
Sparkling Sugar is edible glitter. It is sugar crystals coloured with food grade carnauba wax added, and coloured with artificial food colours. It also comes in pure white, which has no food colour added, just the wax. The white just adds shimmer. It has a slightly higher moisture content than granulated sugar. For consumers, Sparkling…
Sugar Cutters
Sugar cutters were everyday tools used for breaking such large pieces of sugar up into “lumps” or pieces. There were two general types. One for use by grocers, and another type for home use.
Vanilla Sugar
Sugar that has been flavoured with vanilla. Very popular in German cooking especially. Nice sprinkled over fresh fruit such as strawberries, etc. Take vanilla beans or leftover pods, place in a jar that can be sealed tightly, and cover with sugar. It doesn’t really matter how much sugar you use; probably a cup or two…