Article - Unrefined Sugars

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Below is an article about unrefined sugars, by Delia Smith.

 

On a side note ... A Little Ol'Factory now carries a full line of

sugars, including both light and Dark Brown Muscovado Sugar (on the site

now). We will be listing any day now (as soon as I get the chance) the

other offerings which include Demerara Sugar, Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar

and Organic Granulated Sugar. In addition to being wonderful tasting (so

much better than refined white sugar) each of these sugars make

amazingly elegant body scrubs!

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

Celebrating The Colors of Autumn - ON SALE NOW

Virgin Red Palm Oil & Brown Muscovado Sugar

<http://www.alittleolfactory.com/> http://www.alittleolfactory.com

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Unrefined sugars

These are made from pure unrefined sugar cane. This means the colour and

flavour that is naturally present in sugar cane has not been refined out

to make the sugar pure white. The most recent addition to this range is

unrefined icing sugar. I love its flavour and pale-caramel colour when

made into icing, and so would now tend not to use white. Golden caster

sugar is another favourite I use for baking. Important exceptions to

this general recommendation are sugar for making caramel, for perfect

white meringues, and to ensure a bright colour when making jams: in

these cases you should use conventional white sugar.

 

When you are looking for a brown sugar the word unrefined is vitally

important because some alternatives are just white sugar plus colouring.

Demerara is a traditional unrefined sugar, produced so as to have larger

and crunchier crystals than granulated sugar. Unrefined Dark Muscovado

has plenty of natural molasses and a sticky texture; unrefined Light

Muscovado is slightly less sticky and strong-tasting.

 

Golden granulated and golden caster sugar

What strikes you about these two is first their free-flowing quality,

and secondly their colour, which has all the golden sparkle of

champagne. The granulated is for the sugar bowl; use it for tea or for

sprinkling over cereals. The caster is suitable for a sugar shaker when

you need an extra bit of sweetness on fruit. It's also an absolute star

in meringues, and I now won't make a sponge cake with anything else.

 

Demerara sugar

Here there is more 'brown' flavour, but still with a sparkling

appearance. This sugar has a distinctly free-flowing, crunchy texture

that's good for sprinkling, but is also great for baking that needs a

bit of extra crunchiness. If you like sweet coffee, then this is the

best.

 

Light brown soft sugar

This is a moist, fine-grained sugar suitable for all home baking that

requires a fudgy flavour but a light colour. Perfect for Dundee cake and

light, rich fruit cakes.

 

Dark brown soft sugar

I use tons of this one, loving its moist, fine-grained texture and

fudgy, dark-brown flavour. This sugar says gingerbread, ginger biscuits

and flapjacks, and is a particular favourite of mine in pickles and

chutneys.

 

Light muscovado sugar

This is the one to choose if you want to make your own toffee. It is

fine-grained, moist and with shades of toffee flavour already present. I

now use it for sticky toffee sauce and for caramel ice cream.

 

Dark muscovado sugar

Now we're talking not just home baking but barbecues, marinades and

Mauritian creole cooking - at Le Touessrok hotel in Mauritius I tasted

it in a sweet, spicy sauce served with chicken. Also (provided you're

not Scottish), this is the one to sprinkle over the surface of hot

porridge on a cold winter's morning, then add some single cream and it

marbles and melts together - it's to die for.

 

Dark molasses sugar

Open the packet and take a long, deep inhalation and you are instantly

in Mauritius. But it's a bit of England, too - Christmas pudding,

mincemeat and rich, dark fruit cakes. This also makes the best brandy

snaps of all.

 

Molasses

This is the dark-ebony syrup that's left over after sugar has been

refined - in unrefined sugars the molasses is included in different

degrees. It's very concentrated, so only a little is needed. When I

first started cooking you could buy dark (as opposed to golden) syrup.

Now it's no longer available, but a little molasses added to golden

syrup gives the same effect. One important point, though: now that

molasses is widely available, always use it in place of black treacle in

recipes - more expensive, but lots more rich, luscious flavour.

 

Golden syrup

A very British favourite, something that should always be available for

sauces, puddings, butterscotch, sticky-toffee sauce, treacle puddings or

spread thickly on home-made bread with a generous amount of butter.

 

Maple syrup

Once you get into the habit of pouring maple syrup over porridge or

Greek yoghurt and using it in place of sugar to sweeten all kinds of

things, you're sure to get addicted. Note: once opened it needs to be

stored in the refrigerator and used within three months.