What Is Brown Sugar?

Brown sugar is a blend of pure, white sugar and molasses. Dark and light brown sugars are most commonly found in home kitchens and are used in a number of recipes from baked goods to savory sauces and glazes on main dishes. If you need some brown sugar in a pinch, it's easy to make at home.

How Brown Sugar is Made

Brown sugar starts off as regular white cane sugar and then has molasses added to it in varying degrees. The only difference between dark and light brown sugars is the amount of molasses mixed into the white sugar base. Some recipes will call for one or the other, but they can be interchanged depending on personal taste. You can make your own brown sugar by adding 2 tbsp. molasses to 1 cup of plain white sugar.

Turbinado and Muscovado Sugars

All sugar, before it is refined, has a slightly brown color due to the natural molasses that exist in the cane juices. Turbinado and Muscovado are unrefined sugars made purely from the juice extract of the sugar cane. Once the cane juice is extracted, it goes through an evaporation process which leaves behind large, slightly brown sugar crystals. The brown color is not due to any additives, but comes from the slight carmelization of the molasses during the evaporating process. Turbinado is the lighter of these two sugars. Muscovado, considered a British specialty, is coarser and contains more moisture than Turbinado, making it a little stickier. Both of these can be used in place of brown sugar in recipes.

Clumping

Brown sugar has a naturally moist constitution due to the molasses content and will clump if it dries out. You can soften it by placing it in a microwaveable bowl alongside a cup of water and microwave for a minute. This will allow moisture back into the sugar.

Storing Tips

The best way to store brown sugar so it doesn't clump is to keep it in an airtight container. The sugar should be stored in a cool, dry location such as your pantry. You can also store it in your refrigerator or freezer, but allow it to return to room temperature before using. A piece of bread, fruit rind or cracker left in the sugar while storing may help prevent clumping.

Uses for Brown Sugar

Brown sugar shows up in many baked goods recipes, or as a topping for crisps, cobblers and muffins. Because it has that distinct molasses flavoring, it is also used in savory dishes like baked beans, as a glaze for ham, carrots, or sweet potatoes and in homemade barbecue sauces.

Nutritional Information

Brown sugar contains 17 calories in every packed teaspoon used. It doesn't have any fat but it does have a carbohydrate count of just under 5 grams per teaspoon. Turbinado sugar carries about 20 calories per teaspoon and the same number of carbohydrates. In comparison, refined white sugar has about 15 calories per teaspoon and 5 grams of carbohydrates.

References

• Storing Brown Sugar
• Nutritional Information
• About Turbinado and Muscovado Sugars