When only sugar appeared on the table in humans, hehad a brown color. Produced so valuable by the standards of ancient times, the product of sugar cane. Then he learned how to refine and extract from other plant materials. On the territory of Russia, sugar was imported back in the XI century, but the price of the product allowed it to be purchased only by the grandees. And only at the beginning of the XIX century began to establish the production of sugar from a special variety of beets.
On the shelves of stores today can be found aswhite refined sugar or granulated sugar as well as the brown version. Whether refined brown sugar is harmful or there is no difference between them, analyze the “flights” and determine what is true and what is not. And also talk about how to distinguish a fake from this brown sugar.
What types of sugar are
In industry, sugar is distinguished by the source of raw materials. For the production of confectionery products, the following types are used: cane, beet, palm, maple.
Any of these types of sugar are refined.(it is cleared of impurities), but only reed can be used in unrefined form for food, because the other options have unpleasant taste shades in the unpurified state.
But not only because of the taste they clean the raw material, becausehow sugar is refined also in order to obtain pure sucrose. In the original product, in addition to the main substance, contains mineral salts, gum, molasses. Based on the cleaning method, all types of sugar can be divided into two classes:
- refined (white, refined sugar);
- unrefined (brown, with impurities).
Can brown sugar be refined?
Благодаря изыскательным производителям на полках stores can be found and unclassifiable type of sugar - brown, but refined. Roughly speaking, this is a fake for profit, since initially reed raw materials are more expensive than beet sugar, because sugar, even in its raw form, is more expensive than reed. Consequently, producers, issuing white dyed sugar for brown, can always be found.
To understand the difference between refined sugarfrom unrefined, you need to see the composition. Only cane sugar, due to its pleasant aroma, can be used in its unrefined form for food, therefore, on the package in the column “composition” there should be only such a name as “cane sugar unrefined”. If the product is made from other raw materials and has additives, then this is a marketing product, and you should not buy such a more expensive option.
Chemical composition and caloric content of white and brown sugar
The chemical composition of refined sugar (white)and unrefined cane (brown) differs in the content of various trace elements in them. The caloric value of the two species is almost the same. Therefore, those who are going to introduce cane sugar in the diet program, this figure will be upset.
| Content per 100 g | Refined sugar (any raw material) | Reed raw sugar |
| Caloric value | 387 kcal | 376-380 kcal |
| Carbohydrates | 99.8 g | 96-99.6 g |
| Proteins | 0 | 0-0.68 g |
| Fats | 0 | 0-1.3 g |
| Calcium | 3 mg | 15-62 mg |
| Phosphorus | 0 | 3-22 mg |
| Magnesium | 0 | 4-117 mg |
| Zinc | 0 | 0.6 mg |
| Potassium | 3 mg | 40-300 mg |
| Iron | 0 | 1-2 mg |
Depending on the quality of raw materials inbrown sugar contains more beneficial trace elements. But It is worth noting that their content is insignificant in order to replenish even a part of the daily need; to cover it, you will need to eat 2 kg of sugar. In order to enrich the body with microelements, you can also drink a glass of water, it also contains calcium and magnesium. In sugar, anyway, more harm than good, caloric and sucrose are to blame.
Is cane brown sugar harmful just like white?
Healthy food lovers will definitely startto assert that cane sugar in any case will be more useful, and there is some truth in this, because judging by the chemical composition, albeit in small doses, but there are useful elements. But in practice, people buying a product with a deliberately false prefix "useful" allow themselves to eat it in larger quantities. At the same time, sugar crystals are an excellent adsorbent and absorb various microelements. Therefore, according to experts, the product brought from exotic countries may contain harmful impurities.
Therefore, we can conclude that brownoption, subject to quality manufacturing and transportation, will be safer for health than refined sugar. Although excessive consumption of both one and the other will be harmful.
How sugar is refined
If you fully understand the difference between refined sugar from unrefined sugar, and whether white is more harmful than brown, then you should pay attention to the process of refining.
White sand is made using phosphate.(used in detergents, unsafe for human health). Further, by evaporation, purified refined cane is obtained, which is treated with sulfur dioxide as a preservative. And although standardization prescribes permissible norms for the use of this supplement, problems with asthmatics and allergy sufferers have recently become more frequent because of this, so in this part the harm of refined sugar is obvious.
How to distinguish an unrefined product from a fake
It is believed that pure cane sugar shouldbe dark brown, and the darker the more natural the product. In fact, the color of unrefined sugar depends on the amount of molasses (molasses, with the caramel flavor of the product contained in the raw material).
The main thing to pay attention to whena purchase is a package where the following data must be indicated: raw materials (in the case of brown sugar cane), country of origin (reed is exported from Latin America, Thailand, Asian countries), sugar variety (there may be differences in color).
There are also such indirect signs as:
- brown is less free-flowing than refined sugar;
- his crystals are of different shapes;
- has a caramel smell.
Taste and smell of white and brown sugar
Сахар-песок рафинированный имеет кристаллы с clear edges, it is shiny, white, maybe with a yellowish tinge. It is dissolved in water completely, without impurities. The taste is pure sweet, without any off-tastes. Coarse-crystalline and fine-crystalline have the same sweetness, although consumers often consider fine sugar to be more sweet. This is due to the process of complete dissolution, because the larger crystals dissolve longer.
Коричневый сахар имеет слабовыраженный caramel flavor. It is believed that if you put a spoonful of brown sugar in a glass of warm water, the artificial product will tint the liquid in caramel color. In fact, molasses, like caramel, paints a light golden color on contact. But here it is worth being careful: the natural reed version will retain its color inside the crystals, but the tinted will turn white.
