What Is Sugar and How Can I Use It?

Brown sugar is white sugar coated or cooked with molasses, and that molasses is the whole story. It is what makes the sugar damp and clumpy and gives it the butterscotch smell when you open the bag.

It also makes brown sugar behave differently in a bowl than plain granulated.

Light brown sugar carries about 3.5 percent molasses; dark brown runs closer to 6.5 percent. That is a small difference on paper and a real one on the tongue. Light is gentle and caramel-ish; dark is fuller, almost toffee, with a faint bitterness behind the sweetness.

Most recipes that just say "brown sugar" mean light.

The molasses does more than flavor. It holds water, so brown sugar bakes moister and chewier than white, and it browns faster and deeper in the oven.

Powdered sugar is granulated sugar ground to a fine dust and cut with about 3 percent cornstarch so it pours instead of clumping. You will see it sold as confectioner's sugar in the United States and icing sugar in Britain and Canada; all three names point to the same thing.

That cornstarch is the whole story. It keeps the powder free-flowing, but it also dissolves instantly in liquid and in fat. That is why this is the sugar for frostings and glazes, and for the snowy finish dusted over a brownie.

It is not a drop-in for granulated, though, and the reason is the same starch that makes it so handy. Recipeland lists powdered sugar in nearly 2,800 recipes, almost all of them desserts and finishes rather than batters.

Molasses  is a viscous byproduct of the processing of sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar. The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet, the amount of sugar extracted, and the method of extraction. Sweet sorghum syrup is known in some parts of the United States as molasses, though it is not true molasses.

Cane molasses is a common ingredient in baking, often used in baked goods such as gingerbread cookies.

There are a number of substitutions that can be made for molasses. For a given volume of molasses, one of the following may be used (with varying degrees of success): an equal volume of honey, dark corn syrup, or maple syrup, or ¾ that volume firmly packed brown sugar.

Superfine sugar is granulated sugar milled to a smaller crystal, sized between regular table sugar and powdered sugar. In Britain and Australia it goes by caster (or castor) sugar, and the two names mean the same thing.

The fine crystals dissolve almost on contact, which is the whole point. They blend into cold drinks and whipped egg whites without the gritty undissolved specks coarse sugar can leave behind.

It is not powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is ground to a flour-like dust and cut with cornstarch to keep it from caking, so it clouds liquids and behaves differently in baking. Superfine has no starch and stays a true crystal, just a small one.

"Sugar substitute" is the catch-all label for anything that sweetens food in place of table sugar with little or no calories. It covers the packets at the coffee counter, the boxed baking blends, and the bags of erythritol or monk fruit on the baking aisle.

People reach for these to bake for diabetics or to lower the calories and carbohydrate in a favorite recipe.

The first thing to understand is that these products split into two very different groups. Treating them as interchangeable is where most baking goes wrong.

Palm sugar is boiled down from the sweet sap of palm trees, usually the coconut palm or the palmyra. Tappers reduce the sap in open pans until it thickens and sets, which is why it arrives as hard blocks, discs, or paste rather than loose crystals.

The flavor is its whole point: deep caramel and butterscotch with a faint smoky edge, less sharply sweet than refined sugar. That rounded, savory-leaning sweetness is why it anchors so much Southeast Asian cooking.

Sugar syrup is just sugar dissolved in water, cooked into a clear liquid sweetener. The standard simple syrup is equal parts by volume, 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water; a "rich" syrup runs 2 parts sugar to 1 part water for more sweetness in less liquid.

The reason to keep a jar on hand is cold drinks. Granulated sugar sits grainy at the bottom of iced tea or a shaken cocktail because it has no heat to dissolve in, while a syrup blends in instantly with no stirring and no grit.

Beyond drinks, it sweetens sorbets and granitas, and a quick brush of it keeps cake layers moist and helps glazes and fruit glisten.

Turbinado sugar (also known as "raw sugar") is a partially refined cane sugar that retains a portion of its natural molasses.

This gives it a light golden-brown color, large sparkling crystals, and a mild caramel or toffee-like flavor. Unlike white granulated sugar, which has all the molasses removed, turbinado sugar is spun in a centrifuge (a turbine, hence the name "turbinado") to remove only some of the molasses, leaving it less processed.

Colored sugar crystals are large, dyed sugar grains used to decorate the tops of baked goods. The crystals are far coarser than granulated, the same kind of sanding sugar you see on bakery muffins, just tinted for cookies, cupcakes, and holiday treats.

The whole point is that the crystals are too big to melt in the oven. They hold their shape and color through baking, so they stay sparkly and add a faint crunch instead of dissolving into the surface.

This is a topping, not a sweetener you stir into batter. Mix it in and you lose both the sparkle and the texture; all you would get is a little color and grit.

In the US, raw sugar is an umbrella term rather than a single product. It covers partially refined cane sugars that keep a little of their molasses, which is what gives them golden crystals and a light caramel flavor. Turbinado and demerara both fall under it.

The word "raw" is mostly marketing. True unrefined cane sugar is not sold for table use, so what reaches the shelf has been processed, just not stripped all the way to white. It is a step less refined, not unprocessed.

Sugar crystals are coarse, large-grain sugar meant for decoration, the kind sprinkled on cookies, muffin tops, and candied fruit so the crystals stay crunchy through the oven rather than melting flat.

Use them as a finishing sugar, not a measured baking sugar. For granulated sugar's roles in a recipe and how to measure it, see sugar.

Date sugar is not really sugar in the refined sense. It is whole dried dates ground to a coarse powder, so you are using the entire fruit, fiber and all, rather than something extracted and crystallized out of it.

That origin sets its one big limit: date sugar does not dissolve. The ground fruit particles soften but never melt, so they stay gritty in anything you want smooth.

Sucanat is a brand name for whole dried cane juice, sold as small tan-to-brown granules. The name is a contraction of "sugar cane natural."

Where white and brown sugar are spun in a centrifuge to separate the molasses from the crystals, sucanat skips that step: the cane juice is pressed, heated, and dried with all its molasses left in. That is why it looks grainy and porous rather than glassy and crystalline. It also tastes stronger than supermarket brown sugar, closer to a dark brown sugar with a pronounced molasses note.

In baking it behaves like a strong brown sugar and works well in dark, sturdy bakes. It carries the molasses depth in a Sour Cream Banana & Walnut Bread and deepens the flavor of Fat-Free Fudge Brownies. Substitute it roughly cup for cup for brown sugar, but expect a coarser, sandier texture. The hard granules do not dissolve or cream as readily, so for smooth batters or frostings give it extra mixing time, or pulse it finer first.

Do not confuse it with turbinado, which is centrifuged to keep only a trace of molasses. Turbinado is a crunchy, mostly refined crystal with a hint of color; sucanat keeps the full molasses and the deeper flavor that comes with it. For how molasses affects moisture and browning, plus general storage, see sugar.

Sugar cane is the raw grass stalk that cane sugar is pressed from, not a measured baking sugar. The fibrous canes are chewed, juiced fresh, or cut into skewers for grilling shrimp and other foods.

If a recipe wants a sweetener you can measure, it means refined cane sugar instead. For that, see sugar.

Rock sugar is sugar grown into large, hard crystals, sold as chunky lumps that are either clear or a pale amber yellow. The yellow kind keeps a faint trace of molasses; the clear is more refined. Both taste cleaner and milder than granulated, with none of its sharp edge.

That mellow sweetness is why it is the sugar of choice in much Chinese cooking.

Jaggery is the traditional unrefined sugar of South and Southeast Asia. It is made by boiling down sugarcane juice, or sometimes date or palm sap, until it sets into dense blocks or cones.

Because nothing is spun off or refined out, it keeps its molasses and minerals along with a deep caramel flavor that plain sugar loses. The taste is its whole point: warm, smoky, almost fudgy, with an earthy mineral edge behind the sweetness.

Color runs from golden to dark mahogany depending on how long it was cooked and whether it came from cane or palm.

In Indian kitchens it sweetens far more than desserts. It rounds out the tang in a Pulikacchal tamarind rice paste and balances heat in chickpea curries like Chhole Alu. It is also the backbone of sweets like modak and chikki, and it sweetens vegetable braises such as Meetha Kaddoo.

The blocks are rock hard, so jaggery does not scoop like white sugar. Chop or grate it, or melt it in a splash of warm water before stirring into a dish. If a recipe gives a cup measure, pack the grated jaggery the way you would brown sugar.

For a swap, brown sugar or palm sugar comes closest because both carry molasses. Use them roughly cup for cup, knowing the flavor will be milder and cleaner.

For how molasses behaves in baking and how to store sugar, see sugar.

Pearl sugar is sugar pressed into hard, opaque white nibs that are made to resist heat. Unlike granulated, it does not melt or dissolve in the oven, so it survives baking as distinct crunchy white pockets.

That heat resistance is the whole reason to use it. It is the signature crunch and burst of sweetness folded into Belgian and Liege waffle dough, scattered over Scandinavian buns, and pressed onto choux buns and cookies like Finnish Fingers just before baking.

Press it onto the surface or fold it in, then bake as usual; the nibs stay white and crisp. There is no real substitute that behaves the same way, since ordinary sugar simply melts in.

For everything else about sugar, see sugar.