Nourishments—

Sugar: How Sweet It Is

By Nancy K. Crevier

“Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down,” sang the consummate nanny Mary Poppins in the 1960s movie of the same name, giving credibility to the sweetener that has been vilified as frequently as it has been glorified through the ages.

As early as 510 BC, India had discovered how to extract and export the sweet harvest of the sugar cane, although sugar was not discovered by western Europe until 11th Century AD. The sweet little crystals were quickly absorbed into the culture and culinary repertoire of the west, although as recently as the 18th Century, sugar was still referred to as “white gold.”

By the year 2000, Americans were consuming an average of 32 teaspoons of sugar per person each day. Sugar is used in baking, in cereals, in candies, and in just about every other division of consumables. It is used to sweeten hot drinks and iced drinks, carbonated beverages, and juice-based drinks. It is hard to think of any edible that does not have sugar, in one form or another, as part of its make up.

For most people, the word sugar brings to mind just one thing: white, granulated sugar. But as home bakers become more demanding, table sugar has been joined on the shelf by a multitude of sugar products. Recipes specify “dark brown,” “light brown,” “ultra-fine,” “confectionary,” “powdered,” “Barbados,” or “Demerara,” and even “evaporated cane sugar,” leaving the average baker knee-deep in confusion. And that does not even take into account the glut of sugar-like sweeteners, artificial sweeteners, or liquid sweeteners that crowd the shelves.

Is organic sugar superior to natural sugar? Can one sweetener be substituted for another? Health-conscious consumers are plagued by information that elevates the status of one type of sweetener over another. What is the difference, and is sugar the devil in disguise or the cherub of the palate?

Granulated, or refined, table sugar is still the most common form used in home baking and cooking in America. Derived from either the sugar cane or sugar beet, granulated sugar is pure sucrose, composed of fructose and glucose. It creates volume and texture in baked goods, helps them brown, adds tenderness, and even acts as a preservative due to its ability to hold moisture.

Superfine sugar is simply granulated sugar with the finest of crystals, making it ideal for meringues and delicate cakes or cookies. Take it a few steps further, and granulated sugar becomes the silken powder known as confectionary or powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is the sugar of choice when making icings or other confections that require a completely smooth finish.

For decorative purposes, the large crystals of sanding sugar give a sparkly touch to the tops of baked goods.

Brown sugar is actually a form of granulated sugar to which molasses, removed during processing, is added back in to the finished product. How much molasses is reintroduced determines whether brown sugar is light or dark in color, and how strong the molasses flavor comes through.

Brown and white sugars are equally sweet, but because brown sugar is less dense, it needs to be tightly packed into the measuring cup. Substituting brown sugar for white sugar will result in a baked good with a more pronounced molasses flavor, and a slightly different texture.

Other brown sugars include raw, turbinado, Barbados and Demerara. After the sugar cane has been processed and most of the molasses removed, what is left is “raw” sugar, a light brown, grainy sugar that is further refined to remove any contaminants.

Turbinado sugar is cleaned by steam and spun in a turbine, hence its name. It retains a stronger molasses flavor than does plain raw sugar. It can be used in place of brown sugar, although the texture of the baked good will not be as fine as when common brown sugar is used.

Barbados and Demerara sugars are used more frequently in England than America. Barbados is a very dark brown in color with a strong flavor. The lighter Demerara brown sugar is used in teas or cereal.

Evaporated cane juice undergoes a lesser degree of processing than does refined granulated sugar and retains more of the nutrients of the sugar cane, primarily vitamin B2.

Liquid sugars include molasses, barley malt, rice syrup, maple syrup, corn syrup, honey, and any number of infusions made from dissolving granulated sugar in a liquid. They cannot be substituted cup for cup with dry sugars. Recipes designed specifically for liquid sweeteners provide the best results, unless a great deal of experimentation is desired to offset the balance of moisture and the variations in natural acidity.

Opting for organic sugar over traditional sugar is more a matter of personal choice based on ecological and socioeconomic reasons. Organic sugars are produced from sugar cane grown without the use of any pesticides or herbicides. Buying the pricey product does help sustain small, earth-friendly farmers, and protects the health of field workers. Nutritionally, the differences are subtle and so far as cooking results go, other than a small change in color and flavor from traces of molasses, organic sugar can be substituted for conventional sugar.

From birth to old age, the sweet taste of sugar is favored by nearly everyone. But sugar has earned a bad rap. It has been labeled addictive, fattening, a stepping stone to diabetes, the cause of hyperactivity, an appetite spoiler, and the cause of tooth decay.

If sugar is to be implicated in obesity, it is mostly due to overconsumption, not the product itself. At 15 calories a tablespoon, sugar is not a high calorie food. Yet sugar is shunned by many dieters in favor of foods sweetened with zero calorie artificial sweeteners — foods that are high in fats, the real culprits of obesity.

According to the University of Michigan health system website, ingesting large amounts of sugar at once may cause a drop in blood sugar levels a few hours after it is consumed, causing symptoms of dizziness, tiredness, or even hunger, but for the average person, the effects are not long lived and relatively harmless. And despite anecdotes of high-flying youngsters fueled by sugary snacks, the same website declares sugar to be an innocent bystander in hyperactivity syndromes.

Nor is diabetes caused by sugar; in fact, there are times when diabetic low sugar due to an imbalance of insulin in the body has been remedied by the intake of sugar or a sugar-laden product.

The argument goes on as to whether sugar is truly addictive. Disciples of William Dufty’s book Sugar Blues will point to examples therein that would seem to support that sugar has measurable physical symptoms related to craving, tolerance, and withdrawal. On the other hand, The Sugar Association at sugar.org denies that sugar creates a medically identifiable compulsive behavior.

“People like tasty foods,” they assert, “but liking them is not the same as addiction.”

What is not harmless is eating large amounts of sugar on a regular basis, particularly because sugar not removed from the teeth promptly can lead to tooth decay.

In moderate amounts, sugar sweetened treats can provide a healthy level of satisfaction, whether made from brown or white sugars, powdered or liquid. And that can make the medicine of life go down pretty smoothly.

Angel Food Cake

1½  C egg whites (11 to 12 large eggs)

1½ C (150 g) sifted confectioners sugar (sift before measuring)

1 C (100 g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)

1/4 tsp salt

1½  tsp cream of tartar

1 C (200 g) granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Special equipment: a 10-inch tube pan (about 4 inches deep) with a removable bottom

Let egg whites stand in bowl of a standing electric mixer at room temperature about one hour before making cake. (They should be about 60° F, slightly below room temperature.)

Set oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350° F.

Sift together confectioners sugar, flour and salt onto a sheet of wax paper using a triple sifter or fine sieve.

Beat whites in mixer until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat at medium speed until they form soft peaks. Add granulated sugar gradually, beating, and continue beating just until whites are thickened and form soft, droopy peaks. Beat in vanilla.

Sprinkle one fourth of sifted dry ingredients over whites and fold in with a rubber spatula gently but thoroughly. Fold in remaining dry ingredients, one third at a time.

Gently pour batter evenly into ungreased tube pan and bake until top is light golden, cake retracts a bit from pan and springs back when touched lightly, and a tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Invert pan onto neck of an empty wine bottle or a large metal funnel and cool cake completely.

To remove cake from pan, run tip of a long, narrow knife between outer edge of cake and pan. Tilt cake pan on its side and gently tap bottom edge against counter. Rotate pan, tapping and turning a few more times, until cake appears free. Cover pan with a metal rack or cardboard round and invert, tapping pan firmly to loosen cake. Lift pan from cake. Slice cake with a serrated knife, using a sawing motion.

If your eggs are not especially fresh, you may need more than a dozen to get 1½ cups of whites.

A handheld mixer and a large wide bowl also work well.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

(from Gourmet magazine, November 2001; adapted, including comments, from The Baker’s Dozen Cookbook, Morrow, 2001)