sugar-sources-msg - 3/5/17
Modern sugar sources. Types of sugar.
NOTE: See also the files: Roses-a-Sugar-art, sugar-paste-msg, honey-msg, Sugarplums-art, candy-msg, carob-msg, sugar-msg.
KEYWORDS: sugar cost refining medieval honey turbinado brown molasses sugarcane period history
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NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.
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Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 04:24:21 EST
From: CorwynWdwd at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - sugar raspings
Stefan,
Dunno where you are right off the top of my head, but considering your
address, you MIGHT try a hispanic market. Believe it or not, cone suger is
still available there. I honestly don't know if it's exactly like the Medieval
product. It's dark, but it is molded into the cone shape that sugar loafs have
always LOOKED like. Check it out and see if this is a reasonable substitute.
Corwyn
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 08:01:07 -0600 (CST)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming)
Subject: SC - Re: sugar raspings
Greetings! Stefan wrote:
>I would assume these are slivers of sugar sliced from a sugar cone.
>Or would these just be large particles rather than slivers?
"Rasping" is the clue. Rasping involves a grater-like tool rather than
a knife, although a serrated knife might work.
>What is the best modern source? Just use granulated sugar? Make
>a sugar syrup and dry into a block of sugar and then shave slivers
>off with a peeler or grater of some sort? Or is there a ready-made
>suger confection, such as for cake decorations, that would approximate
>this?
You could probably get by with just granulated sugar. You might want
to try "turbinado" sugar which has larger crystals, or a mixture of
both. Modern sugar cones (which I found in a German import shop here
in Cleveland) would produce a "fine-ish" crystal if it were rasped, but
I suspect that as one "rasped" the cone, larger chunks might fall off.
The question would be...Would the cook then select the smaller crystals
to put on the food, picking out the larger chunks or perhaps smashing
them down, or would they be going for a larger-crystal size?
Alys Katharine
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 19:34:07 +0000
From: Gilly <KatieMorag at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: SC - sugar raspings
At 01:12 15-2-98 -0600, Stefan li Rous wrote:
>What is the best modern source? Just use granulated sugar? Make
>a sugar syrup and dry into a block of sugar and then shave slivers
>off with a peeler or grater of some sort? Or is there a ready-made
>suger confection, such as for cake decorations, that would approximate
>this?
Cones of sugar can be purchased at Colonial Williamsburg. No idea if they
do any sort of mail-order business, though.
Alasdair mac Iain
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 15:57:29 EST
From: Varju at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - sugar raspings
A mail order source for cone sugar is :
Jas. Townsend &sin, Inc.
P.O. Box 415
Pierceton, NJ 46562
1-219-594-5852 --Information
1-800-338-1665-- orders
Cone sugar : Catalog number SG-953
$2.50 a 7 oz cone of natural brown sugar.
All this information is from the most recent catalog so it should all be
correct.
Noemi
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 98 10:19:34 -0600
From: rudin at okway.okstate.edu
Subject: SC - Grating Sugar
I am woefully behind on reading the list postings so forgive me if
someone has mentioned this already. I just got the latest King Arthur
Flour catalog. They are selling small cones of unrefined sugar from
Mexico that, IIRC, they are calling piloncillos. (Of course, I left
the catalog at home this morning!) The piture looks like brown sugar
but the description simply says "unrefined" sugar. I was wondering if
these might be comparable to the cones of sugar used in the MA. The
catalog actually specifies that this is meant to be grated and they
even sell a little grater to do it with. I can post more info on
Monday if anyone is interested or call them at 800-827-6836 or visit
their web page at http://home.kingarthurflour.com
[King Arthur Flour Company
PO Box 1010
Rt. 5 South
Norwich, VT 05055
1-800-827-6836]
I don't have any affiliation with them (unless lusting after several
things in their catalog counts!) I just thought the sugar cones were
interesting.
Mercedes
rudin at okway.okstate.edu
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 13:35:58 EDT
From: THLRenata at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Redheads (actually re: sugar)
Katja writes:
>>Seriously, I thought I'd found a reasonable facsimile of cone sugar in the
King Arthur Flour catalogue, but it's compressed raw sugar. The local cooking
laurel here, Mistress Michaele del Vaga, told me that the sugar would have
been refined, in keeping with the medieval noble's desire to have everything
pure and white (such as flour). I'm wondering how they refined it in period.
Any comments?<<
Cone sugar can usually be found in the Latin or Hispanic section of the
supermarket (if your local store has one) under the name piloncillo. It smells
and tastes like browm sugar but is very, very hard. I mostly use it for
demos, and have to break the cones with a hammer to pass out pieces.
While I've been too lazy to refine it into white sugar myself (so far) I would
think that to do so one must melt it -- without added additional liquid (very
tricky -- use a pot with a very heavy bottom and stir the sugar constantly
until it liquidfies) and then bring it to a boil and remove the resulting scum
that rises to the top. Then continue boiling until the whole batch re-
crystalizes -- pour it into a pan *before* it sets in your pot. When it cools,
chip off pieces and grind them to the desired constancy in a mortar.
Elizabethan recipes I've seen say to boil and scum the sugar, then go on with
the recipe, thereby avoiding the setting phase of the refining operation.
Warning -- be very careful with hot sugar! If it splashes on you it is like
napalm -- it sticks and causes terrible burns. Likewise, try to keep it off
your stovetop, where it will harden to a rock-like consistancy that won't
scrub or even chip off!
Renata
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 08:57:12 -0400
From: "Alma Johnson" <chickengoddess at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Sugar Questions
>I've taken blake sugre to mean an unrefined sugar, similar to Mexican pilon
>or piloncillo or panela (which are produced by boiling down sugar cane
>juice in an iron kettle>
For piloncillo without the flies, the Baker's Catalog from King Arthur Flour
is the place to go.
They can be reached at 1-800-827-6836 or at http://www.kingarthurflour.com .
Rhiannon Cathaoir-mor
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 07:36:24 EDT
From: Balano1 at aol.com
Subject: SC - Sugar Questions
Turbinado and muscovado sugars are less refined sugars and are sometimes sold
as 'raw sugar'. They usually have a larger crystal than the more processed
sugars and have a decidedly molasses-ey taste. I have seen them in most of
the markets where we've lived around the US. You can sometimes find the
little brown packets of raw sugar with the white sugar and chemical sweeteners when you order coffee or tea out.
- Sister Mary Endoline
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 09:21:05 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Re: Sugar Questions
"Black sugar" is the result of the first boiling and skimming of juice from
the crushed cane. The product is a molasses laden sugar which resembles
fudge. This is next to impossible to find in the US.
Muscovado is sugar which is more refined, but still retains some molasses.
The derivation of the word is confusing. It is either Portuguese or
Spanish. The Portuguese derivation would mean "less refined" or "impure".
The Spanish derivation would mean "more refined."
Turbinado is raw sugar which has not been refined to pure white, but from
which the molasses has been removed.
Mucovado and turbinado are both used as marketing terms rather than true
descriptions, so the actual product may vary.
Originally, white sugar was all that was imported into Europe. By the 15th
Century, the wily Venetians were importing "black sugar" and refining it, so
they could pocket the refiner's profits. This suggests that the less
refined sugars would be more available in later period cooking than in
earlier period cooking with exceptions for sugar producing regions.
Bear
From: EAM <SPly at nospam.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Sugar in period/SCA
Date: 22 Oct 1998 20:14:19 GMT
Organization: Serendib Polymathics
Craig Levin, clevin at ripco.com writes:
>the product could be either like brown
>sugar, turbinado, or white sugar. Brown, naturally, was cheaper
>than the others. It came in "loaves." I've seen _modern_ sugar
>loaves made from brown suar, and they're kind of neat. More like
>cones the size of an ice cream cone than like loaves of bread,
>IMO.
More than you ever wanted to know about sugar, from someone who does
extensive late-period cookery and used to live just around a river bend
from the C&H plant:
Brown sugar, as we know it now, isn't like 'brown sugar' in period. The
stuff you get in boxes and bags at the grocery store is ordinary, modern,
white, granulated sugar, with a portion of the molasses added back for
color, texture, and flavor. This is why it's vaguely moist and packs
into the measuring cup.
Period brown sugar would have been more on the order of the brown sugar
cones you can buy in Mexican markets called 'piloncillo' (or less- polite
things related to the cones' perceived resemblance to male sexual
organs). These really are unrefined sugar, with all the molasses left
in, and the form hasn't changed much in centuries. They're not typically
very big, ranging from about 2"/ 5 cm to 4"/ 10 cm high, and are about
1"/ 2.5 cm across the base, and the texture is about what you'd expect
for solidified cooked-down cane juice, fairly hard and uniform.
Turbinado sugar is partially refined (in centrifuges, hence the name) and
usually coarsely granulated. Raw sugar in the markets is a similar end
product, but is usually made by a different process. (Truly raw sugar,
made directly from the cane juice, is awfully hard to find outside of
piloncillo, although it does occur as a particularly snooty kind of
British coffee sugar.) These sorts of products have a portion of the
molasses left in, and are therefore light brown in color (or 'blond' as
one manufacture advertizes it); the health- food crowd makes much of the
fact that there are some vitamins and minerals in the molasses that are
therefore present in turbinado/ raw sugar and absent in white sugar.
It's tempting to think that period sugar would have resembled raw sugar,
since it's deliberately 'more natural' that white sugar, but at least
some of it didn't. Receipts for sugar- based illusion foods specify 'the
whitest and best' sugar to make simulated plates and glassware from what
we would now call gum paste. These recipes clearly expect that the sugar
is actually _white_, and appearance is more important than taste in these
applications.
White sugar is pure or nearly pure sucrose, with every trace of molasses
removed. In period (well, late- and post- period, which is all I'm
really familiar with), it came in cones like modern piloncillo, only
perhaps a bit larger (up to 6"/ 15 cm high and 4"/ 10 cm across the
base). The cook crushed bits of the cone or scraped it to get something
pretty much resembling modern granulated sugar. Colonial Williamsburg
used to sell cone sugar, wrapped in the traditional blue paper, since the
form continued through their period and later, and you can see
representations of them (with and without the blue wrapping) as charges
on some guild and wealthy- Victorian- grocer heraldry, or hanging outside
very old grocery shops as signs. You can get lumps of white sugar, very
similar in texture to the Williamsburg cones and that are intended for
tea and coffee, at your friendly neighborhood gourmet store; the brand I
buy has a parrot on the label (and I believe is called 'Perrico', which
is Spanish for parrot...).
Molasses is the liquid part that is separated out from the solid sugar in
the manufacture; it can be fairly light (close to the original cane
juice, just cooked down) to 'blackstrap', which is what's left after
you've cooked and squeezed every bit of sucrose you can out of the
original juice. Such vitamins and minerals as are in cane juice (not a
lot, anyway) stay in the molasses or are broken down by the heat. If you
live in or mail order from Louisiana, you can get 'cane syrup', which is
cane juice boiled down but otherwise un- messed- with, and is wonderful
stuff. (British 'golden syrup' is similar, but not in the same league,
taste- wise, since I believe these days they add corn syrup for density.)
-- Elizabeth
From: EAM <SPly at nospam.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Sugar in period/SCA
Date: 23 Oct 1998 03:49:24 GMT
Organization: Serendib Polymathics
Daniel W. Butler-Ehle, dwbutler at mtu.edu writes:
>British "demerara
>sugar" is also available from such sources, but again I don't
>know what's special about it (or if it would be of any interest
>to medievalists).
The Demerara sugar I've had was pretty much like turbinado sugar, except
maybe a little more golden. Nice stuff, but not worth paying extra over,
say, Hain.
The Demerara is a river in Guyana, whence this sugar originally came.
-- Elizabeth
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 08:50:43 -0000
From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>
Subject: Re: SC - SC: Castor Sugar
Adamantius wrote:
>I've heard it said that caster sugar is named for the fact that it could
>be cast (i.e. sprinkled from a gizmo like a salt shaker) on things like
>fritters, doughnuts, that kind of thing.
That gizmo is in fact called a castor. - Castor or caster sugar is somewhat
coarser than icing sugar (confectioner´s sugar) and my sources say the
nearest American equivalent to castor sugar is superfine sugar.
Larousse says that in Britain castor sugar is mostly boiled to a small
crystal size, not crushed or ground.
Nanna
Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2006 07:37:41 -0700
From: Susan Fox <selene at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sugars
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Debra Hense/Kateryn de Develyn wrote:
> I found the following two sugars in my SuperTarget store. Maybe
> they are in one near you too.
> Billington's: Dark Brown Molasses Sugar and Light Brown Muscovado Sugar
> I found them in the sugar/flour baking supplies section. For a
> pound they run about two dollars less than Williams-Sonoma.
> I like both for their flavor. When working with a medieval recipe
> calling for black sugar - I use the dark brown molasses sugar.
> When calling just for sugar - I tend to use the light brown
> muscovado sugar.
> You should try them in your recipes instead of plain white. It
> adds a whole new level of flavor.
> Kateryn de Develyn
Oh yes, great stuff!
In parts of the US where Latin American products are sold, they offer
"piloncillo", Mexican cone sugar, made in the same way as hundreds of
years ago. I use it in cooking and sometimes place it on the table with
a grater so diners may "strew with sugar" to their own taste.
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/piloncillomexicansugar.htm
Selene
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 11:27:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tom Vincent <tom.vincent at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sugars
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Here's a great summary of the various types of sugar:
http://www.foodsubs.com/Sweeten.html
I also love a good coffee sugar for the exotic look it gives a dish
when sprinkled on top.
There's a new variety called GemSugar -- that is sugar colored with
herbs -- which sounds intriguing.
Sort of like all the salt varieties that were introduced a few years
ago (red, black, every variety of sea salt, etc.).
Duriel
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 16:59:47 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] powdered sugar question take 2
To: <dailleurs at liripipe.com>, "Cooks within the SCA"
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> I am curious as to what the grain size of medieval powdered sugar would
> be...would it be like our bakers sugar, or finer?
>
> --Anne-Marie
From a mortar and pestle experience, it will be finer than baker's sugar,
but I didn't get it down to a super fine powder like the modern powdered
sugar.
Bear
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:43:28 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] hard brown sugar versus soft brown sugar
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Rose Levy Beranbaum did a full run down on sugar on her website
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2005/12/sugar.html#more
Rose's Sugar 101 (Bible) was published in Food Arts Magazine April 2000
She won an award for the article--
http://www.thecakebible.com/articles/articles-rosessugarbible.html
Johnnae
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 18:25:42 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] sugar cane
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Uh, Bear, isn't "evaporated Cane juice" kinda the same stuff as sugar?
>
> Lady Anne du Bosc
>> As a small aside, Smuckers is producing some soft drinks, ginger ale,
>> vanilla cream soda, root beer, etc., with evaporated cane juice rather
>> than high fructose corn syrup. They've got great flavor.
>>
>> Bear
Sugar (sucrose) is "really" evaporated cane juice, or more precisely, it is
a multicrystallized sugar having been processed multiple times. Evaporated
cane juice is made in a single process where it is cooked out of the cane,
filtered for impurities and cooked down to original consistency (I haven't
found a good enough description of the process to figure out if the actually
cook down to crystal and rehydrate). Presumably the product retains more of
the character and nutrients of the natural cane juice.
Bear
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2007 09:10:17 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sugar sponge
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
"Candy, or Sugar-Candy, is a preparation of sugar, made by melting and
crystallizing it six or seven times over to render it hard and transparent.
It is of three kinds, white, yellow and red. The white comes from the loaf
sugar, the yellow from the cassonado, and the red from muscovado."
(Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 1771)
Muscovado sugar is sugar from the first boiling of the cane juice which has
not been "clayed" (set into clay molds to remove the molasses). Muscovado
is "black sugar" and one source I encountered also refers to it as "red
sugar." A second source says the red sugar candy referred to in the clip
from the Encyclopedia Brittanica above is produced by the addition of Indian
fig juice. Since I haven't found any corraborating sources the comments on
red sugar and red sugar candy consider them suspect.
Demerara sugar is a further, but not fully refined, sugar still containing
some molasses. Turbinado is a partially refined refined raw sugar that has
been steam cleaned (removing contaminents and more of the molasses than in
Demerara).
While Muscavado and Demerara are place names, the etymology of turbinado is
obscure. I suspect, but have not been able to confirm, that Turbinado sugar
is named for the process.
Bear
Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:30:14 -0400
From: Suey <lordhunt at gmail.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Sugar sponge
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Terry Decker wrote:
>
> . . .Muscovado sugar is sugar from the first boiling of the cane
> juice which has not been "clayed" (set into clay molds to remove
> the molasses). Muscovado is "black sugar" and one source I
> encountered also refers to it as "red sugar." A second source says
> the red sugar candy referred to in the clip from the Encyclopedia
> Brittanica above is produced by the addition of Indian fig juice.
> Since I haven't found any corraborating sources the comments on red
> sugar and red sugar candy consider them suspect.
>
> Demerara sugar is a further, but not fully refined, sugar still
> containing some molasses. Turbinado is a partially refined refined
> raw sugar that has been steam cleaned (removing contaminents and
> more of the molasses than in Demerara).
>
> While Muscavado and Demerara are place names, the etymology of
> turbinado is obscure. I suspect, but have not been able to
> confirm, that Turbinado sugar is named for the process.
Kitchen Dictionary: turbinado sugar
<http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=45>.
http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=45
states:
"The term turbinado comes from the technique used in the making of
this sugar. The sugar is spun in a cylinder or turbine. Turbinado sugar is brown looking like brown, but paler in color with a subtle molasses flavor. It can be used in recipes that call for brown sugar.
Two popular brand names for turbinado sugar are: Muscavado and Demerara."
Other sources uphold Terry's statement that turbinado sugar is not
the same as Muscavado and Demerara but if we are talking about sugar spun by
steam turbine engines aren't we talking about sugar processing technical changes that begin in the late 19th or early
20th century ?
My queries have to do with food items not later than Nola. I just
don't think Mr. Nola would buy that one that type. . .
Suey
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 19:11:22 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sugar sponge
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
The process for turbinado would be to spin the spin the sugar in some form
of container and inject steam into the container to remove non-sucrose
particles. It is not necessarily a process that would require a steam
turbine engine, which is a different critter mechanically. I do suspect
that the process is 20th Century and developed in Hawaii (with the
caveat that I have no clinching evidence for either assertion).
There is some evidence turbinado process is a modern variant of an earlier
washing technique for sugar, but I don't have enough details to determine
whether the process referred to is the slow moisture cleaning done in
claying or a different kind of washing. Claying was the common medieval and
renaissance technique. If there is a different washing technique, then it
may not be pre-17th Century.
Bear
Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:31:16 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Rose's Sugar Bible
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
This might help with the descriptions of modern sugars that we
commonly find in our North American markets.
Johnnae
http://www.thecakebible.com/articles/articles-rosessugarbible.html
Rose's Sugar Bible
Rose Levy Beranbaum
Published in; Food Arts Magazine, April 2000
/Sugar 101 Wherein Rose Levy Beranbaum, the high priestess of pastry,
answers all your questions and learns that the wide, wide world of sugar
is, indeed, a very, very sweet place to live./
Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:53:52 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sugar sponge
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
**Sugar in the raw http://www.sugarintheraw.com/
which comes from Maui
is Turbinado Sugar is made using 100% pure Hawaiian cane sugar from the
initial pressing of the cane, allowing the natural molasses to remain in
the crystals. The flavor is sweet and rich. The color is natural amber.
Sugar In The Raw is a natural, unrefined sugar made from sugar cane
grown in Maui. Juice is extracted from the sugar cane, and then
crystallized through evaporation. These crystals are rinsed with a very
small amount of water to remove just enough stickiness to make the
product free flowing. We pack this turbinado sugar and market it as
Sugar In The Raw.
Johnnae
Terry Decker wrote:
> The process for turbinado would be to spin the spin the sugar in some form
> of container and inject steam into the container to remove non-sucrose
> particles. It is not necessarily a process that would require a steam
> turbine engine, which is a different critter mechanically. I do suspect
> that the process is 20th Century and developed in Hawaii (with the caveat
> that I have no clinching evidence for either assertion).snipped
> Bear
Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:51:23 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sugar sponge
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
I checked the indexes of the books on sugar that I bought in Hawaii
and "turbinado" isn't mentioned in the index of those three, so onto
other sources.
I've requested The sugar cane industry : an historical geography from
its origins to 1914 by J.H. Galloway.
Will see what it has.
There's this description here:
The crude juice is improved by removing impurities with slaked lime and
carbon dioxide, and it is evaporated to form a brown syrupy product
which can be readily converted into molasses. This was the source of the
brown sugars (such as turbinado, Muscovado and Demarara) that were
common in the 17-19th centuries. Sugar in impure form and molasses were
brought to New England, and trading interests helped ensure that excess
molasses was converted into rum. Refining of crude sugar results in
white crystal sugar, which can be used in granulated or powdered forms
or as lumps. In previous times, sugar loaves were marketed, while rich
banquet hosts had their chefs produce sugar sculptures similar to ice
sculptures.
http://unitproj1.library.ucla.edu/biomed/spice/index.cfm?displayID=23
McGee in On Food and Cooking, 2004, talks about:
Factory Brown Sugars
"Factory" brown sugars were originally produced during the initial
processing of the cane juice into
unrefined sugar. These include demerara, turbinado, and muscovado sugars.
Demerara (named after a region in Guyana) came from the first
crystallization stage of light
cane juice, and took the form of a sticky large yellow-gold crystals.
Turbinado was raw sugar partially
washed of its molasses during centrifugation, is also yellow-gold and
large but not as sticky as
demerara. Muscovado was the product of the final crystallization from
the dark mother liquor; it was brown,
small-grained, sticky, and strong-flavored." page 674
Johnnae
Terry Decker wrote:
> What they don't say is when and where the process for making turbinado sugar
> was invented. Sugar In The Raw is the best known commercial brand.
>
> Bear
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:25:56 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] old recipes - Cinkites
<<< This looks very interesting - but what do they mean by "confectioners' (not
powdered) sugar"?
Sandra >>>
Confectioner's sugar is industrial grade powdered sugar without the
additives. I would expect you could use modern powdered sugar without a
problem.
Bear
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:37:08 -0800 (PST)
From: Arianwen ferch Arthur <caer_mab at yahoo.com>
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] powdered sugar vs confectioner's sugar (memories)
I remember seeing the pink vs the blue boxes of powdered sugar? and wondering the difference but never asking, then I went to work in Australia and discovered there that the pink box was pure sugar and the blue boxes had corn starch added (to help with caking?)
I went back to work in US and voila, blue boxes only, yes with corn starch listed on the ingredients box?
(C&H? was pink and blue, I know Spreckles but remember it as always in yellow and my grandmother scathingly insisted on C&H as it was pure cane sugar not beet sugar)
and I do remember reading that if you didn't have powdered sugar you
could put it in the blender, but the one time mom had me try that I don't think she was too pleased with the result especially for the effort involved
Other than reading the cornstarch on the labels these are memories and interpretations of things said, nothing I have researched or read about in passing, but I am curious what others know/remember
Arianwen ferch Arthur
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:28:31 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] ground powder sugar
<<< My stainless steel grinder (which I use for the sugar) does get coated
easily when I am grinding down. I like to use beet sugar, and maybe that
is where the coating comes from. It isn't always a white product like
cane sugar. And the odor too. I have to take it apart and put it in the
dishwashera between powderings. :-))
Aldyth >>>
The primary difference between beet and cane sugar is that beets convert
carbon dioxide to sucrose using a three carbon molecule while cane uses a
four carbon molecule. The two sugars can be differentiated at the isotopic
level, but that should not cause any problems.
Powdering pure sucrose should result in a white product, so color and odor
makes me wonder. It may be that you are using a beet sugar that retains
some of the "molasses" and that powdering it releases that into your
powdered sugar. Humans do not like the taste of beet "molasses" which is
why it is commonly used in producing animal fodder. If the beet sugar is
releasing a minute amount of "molasses," then that might explain the
problems you are encountering.
Bear
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