There are a lot of different types of sugar, and some of them you may not have heard before! If you know more about sugar, there is a high chance that you can pick the right one for your purpose. Sugar is much more than just a spice!
There will be an ultimate list of the most popular forms and types of sugar in this post. And you can find the most interesting facts and information about them! I believe that you’ll be super amazed! Are you ready? Let’s run through the article now!
7 Popular Types Of White Sugar You Should Try
I’m sure that there are more sugar types in the world than you could ever imagine, especially the white sugars! Many of them are really common that you probably use every day, but some of them are only for professional purposes. Let’s find out what they are!
1. White Granulated Sugar (Table Sugar)
White granulated sugar is made from cane or beets. It is the go-to type of sugar for literally everything in your kitchen! It’s the most well-known and typical sugar that you can use for baking or cooking, from appetizers to desserts!
Granulated sugar is often crystal-white and medium grains. It attracts moisture, so you will see it create clumps over time. But don’t worry; these clumps are easy to break, and they don’t affect the quality of your sugar.
If you’re wondering whether sugar can get spoiled, then like salt, it may last forever. This is a great point of white granulated sugar that you don’t have to worry too much about its quality over time.
Learn more about this typical white granulated sugar!
2. Confectioner’s Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
Confectioner’s sugar is actually a finer version of white granulated sugar. It includes finely powdered sugar with some corn starch to avoid clumping. Professional bakers and confectioners always use this sugar for their work, especially in making icing and frosting.
Confectioner’s sugar, or powdered sugar, is lightly sweet, but the grains are too tiny that you may need a huge amount of it in your dish to “activate” the taste buds. It dissolves easily in water. People usually use it to top baked items like cakes or donuts.
You may want to know how long the powdered sugar lasts to store it properly. The great news is this type of sugar will never get bad in an airtight container! So you should find a perfect jar to keep your confectioner’s sugar in.
3. Baker’s Special Sugar (Caster Sugar/ Superfine Sugar)
Baker’s special sugar is very similar to confectioner’s sugar, so it can be a great replacement for this powdered sugar. It is also called caster sugar, or superfine sugar, including tiny crystals that easily dissolve in liquid and egg whites.
For that special characteristic, you may find it in Angel food cakes, buttercreams, or meringues. Bakers also top cookies or donuts with caster sugar.
You can actually make baker’s special sugar at home with granulated sugar!
4. Fruit Sugar
Do you know that fruit sugar is not actually from fruit? It gets its name because people often sprinkle it on fruit for preservation. It tastes exactly like granulated sugar. The only difference is that the sugar crystals in fruit sugar are much smaller than that of granulated sugar.
Fruit sugar is famous as the main ingredient in puddings or gelatin. You may find fruit sugar under the names like “ultra-fine” or “instant dissolving.”
5. Coarse Sugar
Coarse sugar is another type of sugar with the same characteristics as white granulated sugar, even sweetness. The thing is, coarse sugar contains much larger crystals than other types, which is an excellent ingredient for alcoholic beverages and fondants.
You may find coarse sugar in many different colors at the store, or you can dye them with some drops of food coloring. This sugar type doesn’t dissolve as easily as confectioner’s sugar, so bakers usually use it as topping for baked items.
6. Sanding Sugar
Sanding sugar is named after its actual size, which is around the size of sand grains (about 0.6 – 0.7 millimeters). It has a special cylinder shape and looks sparkling with bright shades like blue and yellow.
You may often find sanding sugar as decoration on cookies with royal icing. It will add a crunchy texture to baked items. It can also withstand the heat really well that may not melt quickly in the baking process.
Here’s basically how you apply sanding sugar on covering apples!
7. Pearl Sugar
Pearl sugar has a special feature that doesn’t melt while baking since it is made from compressed white sugar that doesn’t dissolve in liquid. Therefore, bakers like to use this type of sugar to stuff inside or decorate baked items like cakes, cookies, and waffles.
8 Amazing Types Of Brown Sugar You May Miss
You should know that brown sugar is actually white cane or beet sugar with some extracted molasses. The more molasses added, the browner the sugar gets! And there are also many different types of brown sugar that you may miss! Let’s explore them all!
8. Cane Sugar
Raw cane sugar usually has a light yellow-brown or blown color. Since it is less processed, the final product still keeps the raw color and is more flavorful than white granulated sugar.
The special thing about cane sugar is that it is very versatile and can be made into any type of product, including granulated sugar. You can use it in any recipe calling for sugar, such as cookies, cakes, donuts, etc.
However, you may not want to use cane sugar for some items that need to be in bright colors like lemonade, lemon cake, or light cocktails. This type of sugar may add a splash of dark shade to your dish.
9. Coconut Sugar
Coconut sugar is a plant-based type of sugar made of coconut palm sap with some water. It is a natural sweetener with a light sweetness for vegan dishes. You can use coconut sugar to top a bowl of granola, mix in sauces, parfait, or cakes and cookies mixture!
Coconut sugar is minimally processed, so its flavor and color may vary based on the coconut species that the maker uses. It can also depend on the palm tree sap collecting method, the harvest season, or the way they reduce the sap while processing.
You may want to use cane sugar as a replacement for coconut sugar in most recipes. They have the same characteristics and colors! Also, using it in place of white or brown sugar is not a bad idea!
10. Light Brown Sugar (Golden Sugar/ Golden Yellow Sugar)
Light brown sugar is a rich and moist sugar type to add moisture and intense sweetness to cupcakes, cookies, and many baked items. It also consists of a light caramel undertone that will cheer up your taste buds!
You may also want to use light brown sugar in BBQ sauces for a light sweet taste. The moisture of this sugar can help it hold tight onto the meats, thereby becoming a great cover for dry rubs.
11. Dark Brown Sugar
With double molasses amount added, dark brown sugar tends to be moister, browner, and heavier than light brown sugar. It also seems to get clumps easier over time.
Dark brown sugar has a caramel-like taste, which gets along really well with sweet desserts, pie filling, baked items, or even sauces and rubs.
You can easily tell light brown sugar and dark brown sugar apart!
12. Free-Flowing Brown Sugar
Free-flowing brown sugar is also known as brown granulated sugar. Compared to other types of brown sugar, it has less moisture and a powdered texture that many people use to add more flavors to their oatmeal or cereal for a filling breakfast!
13. Turbinado Sugar
Turbinado sugar is a type of granulated sugar with bleached crystals extracted from the molasses. It has a lovely golden brown color with larger grains and more complicated flavors that can be a perfect sweetener for your coffees or teas!
Since turbinado sugar is less refined than white granulated sugar, it seems to be healthier than the white types of sugar. Like many other sugars, it can also be a crunchy topping for your baked stuff!
Although people consider turbinado sugar a raw sugar since it grows naturally and has a caramel taste, it is actually a processed sugar type that doesn’t contain impurities and is safe to use.
14. Muscovado Sugar
Muscovado sugar is a great option if you want to give your baked goods a classic butterscotch taste! It is the least-processed sugar type on the market, thereby consisting of a unique flavor that will remind you of puddings or candies.
Muscovado sugar is super rich, granular, moist, and tacky. This sugar type is usually used for everything related to chocolate, savory sauces, and glazes to enhance smoky flavor with a dark brown color.
Compared to the classic brown sugar, muscovado sugar has larger granules and much stronger molasses taste. It is really famous in Indian cuisine but is not well-known in Western countries.
Let’s have a quick review of the amazing muscovado sugar!
15. Demerara Sugar
Demerara sugar originates from the British colony of Demerara. It consists of large, crunchy grains and a rich flavor. It is perfect to join in sweet desserts, baked items, or beverages. You can easily find demerara sugar in any grocery store because it is popular.
If you wonder what sugar type they use to top crème brûlée, there’s a high chance that it is demerara sugar! The bakers may also sprinkle it on sugar cookies for a delectable sweet treat! You may want to make a bourbon-based cocktail with a rimmer from demerara sugar!
6 Amazing Liquid Sugars For Your Cold Drinks
If you are going to add some sweeteners to the cold beverages, consider sugar in liquids since they dissolve easier than those grain sugars. Below are the two most-used liquid sugars that I highly recommend for you!
16. Sugar Syrup (Simple Syrup)
Sugar syrup, or simple syrup, is an easy mixture made of melted sugar and water in a 1:1 ratio. You can totally make this syrup at home with super simple ingredients! Use any type of sugar you have and melt it down, then add water and other additives.
The flavor of sugar syrup relies mostly on what sugar type it is made from. Bartenders use it to sweeten cold drinks or cocktails. Other types of sugar with grains cannot easily dissolve in cool or room temperature liquids. You may also want to use it for marinades or glazes.
Let’s make some sugar syrup for your cocktails!
17. Invert Sugar
Invert sugar is a combination of fructose and glucose. These two molecules free float in the mixture since they are separated through hydrolysis. It is actually a sibling of sugar syrup that can easily dissolve in cold liquids with a plain sweet flavor.
Chefs tend to use invert sugar in marinades, glazes, sauces, and cold beverages like cocktails because of its convenience. You can always use it in place of simple sugar, but remember that it is a chemical liquid that may not be good for your health.
18. Honey
Honey is such a familiar sugar product to all of you, right? You’ll be amazed by the many varieties of honey existing in the world! It includes a light to intense sweetness and gorgeous golden to dark hues that differ from type to type.
You can use honey as a sweetener for almost everything, from sweet desserts to savory sauces and dishes. Add some honey to your marinades or salad dressings for a delectable dish!
How about getting to know the characteristics of different honey types?
19. Molasses
Molasses is basically the result of sugarcane extraction. It is a really thick syrup-like liquid that appears in dark to almost black color. The darkest type variation of molasses is blackstrap molasses.
You can always use black honey to stand in place of molasses. Molasses consists of an intense, smoky, and pretty sweet taste that can join in barbecued meats, baked beans, and sweet treats like cookies.
20. Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is also a typical syrup with a caramel-like flavor and a fluid, not dense texture. It can be a mouth-watering topping for pancakes, waffles, French toasts, or a flavoring item for cookies and pies. You can also use it to glaze meats for a BBQ party!
I can talk all day about the uses of maple syrup! You may find it in ice cream, hot cereals, fritters, fruits, sausages, and bacon. It can also be a sweetener for baked beans, granola, applesauce, winter squash, and hot beverages like tea, coffee, and toddies.
The definitions of maple syrup may differ between many countries. In America, “maple syrup” has to be made completely from maple sap to get its name. In Canada, the sugar, usually sucrose, must take at least 66 percent in the maple syrup to be labeled “maple.”
21. Sorghum Syrup
Sorghum syrup includes a thin texture and slightly sour flavor. People usually top cakes, biscuits, or bread with this type of syrup. You may also want to use it in marinades to enhance your dishes. It is a very affordable type of liquid sugar!
A famous breakfast of people in the Southern United States includes sorghum syrup and hot biscuits. You can use it in top pancakes, cereals, cornmeal mush and grit, and many more dishes in cooking.
So, Which Will Be The Best Sugar Type For Your Dish?
After reading this list of sugar varieties, I hope that you have somehow imagined the characteristics of sugar so that you can choose the most suitable type for your cake or any sweet treat! They all have a distinct appearance and taste that you should notice!
If you have any questions about this topic, please don’t hesitate to ask me below this article. Also, like and share it to spread the word to your family and friends if you think they need to know about different types of sugar! Sharing is truly caring, right?
