CHAR: Proof is in the cooking

Sugar is sugar is sugar. Right? That’s what I thought until reader Linda McCracken shared a recent experience with me.McCracken was making her tried-and-true peanut brittle recipe. You know, the one she has used for 43 years without ever failing — until now.

She cooked it for 31⁄2 hours, and it just wouldn’t set like it was supposed to. She started experimenting with ingredients to figure out what was wrong, and she finally solved the mystery when she used pure cane sugar rather than the store brand sugar she used at first.


Tammy Roberts, a nutrition specialist with the University of Missouri in Barton County, said she had the same experience when teaching a jams and jellies class this summer.

McCracken called the company that produced the store brand sugar and found out that the sugar is a mixture of two kinds of sugar — beet sugar and cane sugar. There is no way to tell by looking at the package what kind of sugar is in the package and in what percentage, which can change with each batch that is packaged.

After doing some research online and consulting with Roberts, I found that the sugar industry will not acknowledge a difference between beet and cane sugar. Both are sucrose and are chemically the same. But there are experienced cooks out there, such as McCracken, who will say their experience tells them the two kinds of sugar produce different results when used in baked goods. The difference is quite pronounced in some foods and not so much in others.

Foods that have to set, such as jams, jellies and candies, seem to be affected most by the use of beet sugar. But it may not end there. According to an article published 10 years ago by the San Francisco Chronicle in which their staff tested and blind-tasted creme brulee, cookies and cakes made with beet and cane sugar, the products made with cane were superior. McCracken found that when she made chocolate chip cookies with the sugar mixture containing beet sugar, the dough was too runny.

Sugar packages do not specify that they contain beet sugar. The package simply states “pure sugar,” which it is. Cane sugar producers, however, seem to take pride in the fact that their sugar is “pure cane sugar,” and it usually is specified on the package.

So if you find a recipe not behaving the way you think it ought, you might just look at which kind of sugar you are using.

source: bolivarmonews