Last week when we were in Cincinnati, I noticed a different package in the baking aisle at Meijer: beet sugar, which as far as I know, I haven’t tried. So I bought a package — so far so good, can’t really taste a difference in my coffee… I’m baking something for SHF this week, and now that I’ve done a bit of research I’m kinda nervous about what the results may be:
Here’s more info on cane sugar vs. beet sugar, from from SFGate.com. There are several other articles if you care to Google, none of them very encouraging when it comes to baking. Yikes!
Another reason to be thankful for my co-op, which lists information on their catalog — the choices are dizzying but I am starting to understand why.
There’s
- granulated cane sugar
- ecosweet cane sugar (ecologically grown, without chemicals)
- raw sugar (what’s left after processing the sugar cane to remove molasses)
- turbinado sugar (fine-grained, crunchy sugar made by concentrating sugarcane juice without chemicals)
- demerara sugar (large, golden crystals, partly-refined and treated with steam to remove impurities)
- milled cane (unrefined sugar subtly flavored with molasses)
- evaporated cane juice sugar (which does not undergo the same amount of processing as refined sugar so it retains more nutrients)
- sucanat (unrefined sugar, grainier than regular sugar, with molasses added)
- rapadura sugar (pure sugar, processed by squeeze-drying, without separating from molasses)
— maybe one of these days I’ll post pics of these different kinds of sugar!
And in the future, I’ll stick with my co-op’s offerings.
It’s like jungle out there with all the different types of sugar! Thanks for enlightening me a bit more, I’ll continue to use my zucchero di canna biologico thinking of you!
Hi Stef – I try to use turbinado sugar when doing marinades – it adds a nice character to it, though it can be somewhat hard to get. Nice list of the different sugars.
interesting, but where’s the beet sugar in that list? i’m still confused as to what’s special about it… or is that soort of the point? 🙂
LOL, mage, that’s true, i don’t make much sense, do i? the link i pointed to (i didn’t forget to put that in, did i?) basically says that beet sugar doesn’t act the same way cane sugar does, though it’s less expensive to produce. the puzzler is that some manufacturers apparently don’t label their sugar beet or cane, so you’re left to guess — and you’re lucky if it’s cane sugar you get. but if you happen to pick up an unlabelled bag of sugar and strange things start happening in your kitchen (and your baked goodies) — it may be that beet sugar was the culprit. which is why i’m sticking with my coop choices — besides the fact that there are healthier options out there, i know exactly what i’m getting when i get it. i hope that makes more sense now:D
I still don’t have any idea – other than do not bake w/ beet sugar (although I still do not have any clarification on why you do not bake w/ beet sugar)- on the benefits of beeet sugar as opposed to cane. Can diabetics use beet? Does beet raise the insulin levels as cane? How is beet sugar metabolized?
I recently made a batch of fudge using a recipe that I had used many times before. It turned out very grainy. After going over the recipe and looking at my ingredients the only variable I found was the sugar. I had purchased some sugar on sale and it was beet sugar. A bit of research on line sent me to an article that proved me right. My advice is to buy the best product for recipes. When your creations end up in the trash as mine did you have saved nothing. In fact the less expensive sugar will in the long run cost you more.
I suppose this is a lame question, but after watching 20/20 recently I am to assume that white sugar is no worse for me than “raw” sugar. Do you agree? Thank you. (I understand that “raw” (brown) sugar is refined to a point as well as white sugar. Still, is there no more quality healthwise in the raw sugar? Turbinado? Thanks
Cynthia Stevenson’s questions re: diabetics and beet sugar, insulation levels and metabolization are what I would like info on. Was this ever addressed? and Where? Appreciate any info.
Beet & Cane sugar have the exact same chemical make up, therefore would react the same to a diabetic The difference comes from their trace minerals. Beets are grown underground, while canes are grasses. They also have very different growing requirements thus they absorb different minerals. These trace minerals are what causes havoc when baking, making jelly, etc
My interest was the recent discovery that my 20 year old is allergic to Cane Sugar. So despite the reduction of quality in baked goods, we are looking for Beet Sugar to use when we need to use sugar at all.
My daughter age 22 has also recently discovered that she is allergic to Cane Sugar (as well as all Corn products and some other foods). We are interested in trying beet sugar as well. So far she has been using other types of sweeteners but they are all in liquid form (Agave nectar, pure maple syrup, and rice syrup). It will be wonderful to be able to use a granule form of sweetener again if that is something that she can have.
I recently found out in May of 2006, that my son was allergic to sugarcane. After researching recipes and substitutes for months, his Doctor suggested using beet sugar (Fructose) sugar from a health food store. My mother in law baked brownies with it and my son surprisingly loved them! And wouldn’t you know, he hasn’t had a rash in months!
I have been baking with beet sugar.4 layer pumpkin dessert and made all my christmas cookies.A baker in my town told me to try it, since my father is a diabetic. All my old recipes turned out great.
Thanks for all the comments, everyone! I actually was just curious about the product when I bought it. I never knew about the diabetes connection until people started commenting and asking. I’m sorry that I’m not more knowledgeable about this, but I’m sure people that make it here through this post appreciate your comments and clarifications.
Just a side note: Beet sugar is used in a lot of foods processed in the midwestern US, because this is where a large amount of beets are grown. Cane sugar is more commonly used in areas where cane sugar is grown, like Hawaii. Best Yet and Springfield contain beet sugar. C&H and Safeway contain cane sugar.
One more important thing about beet sugar grown in the USA is that it is now a Genetically Modified crop, unlike cane sugar. Too bad.