Sugar vs Brown Sugar: Difference and Comparison

Sugar is the basic ingredient in our diet. But the excess sugar may cause several health issues. It is vital to control the level of sugar intake daily in your food. Sugar can be divided into several types based on several factors.

Brown sugar is one form of sugar. Both sugar and brown sugar is used for various purposes.

Key Takeaways

1. Brown sugar contains molasses, while white sugar does not.
2. Brown sugar has a higher moisture content than white sugar.
3. Brown sugar has a slightly lower glycemic index than white sugar.

Sugar vs Brown Sugar

Sugar, also known as white sugar or granulated sugar, is a highly refined form of sucrose that has been processed to remove all impurities and molasses. Brown sugar is made by combining granulated sugar with molasses. It is used in many different recipes, from baked goods to sauces and marinades.

Sugar is a component used in food to give a sweet taste. It is also the generic name for sweet-tasting. Sugar cane is the primary raw material for producing sugar. In chemicals, simple sugar is called monosaccharides.

The combination of glucose, fructose, and galactose is monosaccharides. Disaccharides are also available. The disaccharides are nothing but double sugar or compound sugar. It is a combination of two monosaccharides.

A common example is sucrose which is table sugar and regular sugar.

Brown sugar is nothing but a type of sugar. The name brown sugar is due to its brown color. Sucrose sugar product is brown sugar. The presence of molasses makes it brown. Molasses is nothing but a viscous substance refined from sugar cane.

Brown sugar is either unrefined or partially refined. The molasses present in the sugar makes it brown sugar. But commercially, the industries add molasses to white sugar to make it brown.

Around 3.5% of molasses is present in commercial light brown sugar and 6.5% molasses in commercial dark brown sugar.

Comparison Table

Parameters of comparison	Sugar	Brown Sugar
Texture	Grainy texture	Clumpy texture
Refined	Heavily refined	Least refined
Liquid presence	Less liquid	More liquid
Moisture content	Less moisture	More moisture
Calories per 100g	387	377

What is Sugar?

Sugar is a favorite component of many people. People add sugar to their food to give it a sweet taste to the food. The human body can digest simple sugar, so the compound sugars are hydrolyzed into simple sugars.

Other than sucrose, glycerol, and sugar alcohols are also have a sweet taste. But they are not classified as sugars. Most plants have sugar in their tissues. Honey and fruits are an example of abundant simple sugar from natural resources.

Sugar cane and sugar beet are raw materials in the production of sucrose.

Sugars will rule the world with their taste. Around 2 billion tonnes of sugar are produced worldwide annually. The only sugar that cannot be extracted from the plants is lactose. Lactose is only present in dairy products.

Corn syrup is a cheap industrial product for sugar. The corn starch is converted into various sugars. Sucrose is used in food items and also used in processed food items. Every year, an individual consumes 24 kilograms of sugar.

Americans use more sugar in their foods. Compare to other countries, Americans consume more amount of sugar each year.

Sugars have many types. Coarse-grained sugar, granulated sugar, caster sugar, powdered sugar, snow powder, and screened sugars are different types of sugars. Sugar cubes and sugar loaves are two different kinds of sugar shapes.

Brown sugar and liquid sugar are the other two different types of sugar. Honey is the best example of liquid sugar. The sugar can easily be exposed to heat. The process of heating the sugar is called caramelization.

What is Brown Sugar?

Brown sugar become more popular nowadays. The industries add the molasses into sugar and sell it like brown sugar. The hygroscopic nature of molasses makes the product moist. So they were labeled as soft.

Some industrial areas add chemicals and dyes for color and taste. The particle size of the brown sugar is smaller.

The approximate size of one crystal is 0.35mm. In industries, brown sugar is produced by completely adding molasses into well-refined white sugar.

By doing this, the industries will reduce the manufacturing cost of brown sugar and make profits.

Based on the amount of addition of molasses into the brown sugar it can be classified into may. Brown sugar, raw sugar, and whole can sugar are the types of brown sugar.

If the natural sugar contains more molasses, then it has minor nutritional values and mineral content.

Turbinado, demerara, and raw sugar are other names for natural brown sugar by their characteristics. Panela, rapadura, jaggery, muscovado, piloncillo are various names of brown sugar with the degree of molasses in different countries.

Brown sugar has many health benefits. Brown sugar will cure menstrual cramps. It is used in the treatment of anti-aging skin. The insignificant amount of minerals present in brown sugar will not find in white sugar.

By evaporating the sugarcane juice and removing the molasses, the turbinado and demerara products are manufactured. The sugar crystals present in these are large and golden. It is sold as brown sugar and also sent to refine to get white sugar.

Main Differences Between Sugar and Brown Sugar

1. Sugar undergo a refinery process to remove molasses, whereas brown sugar does not undergo a refinery process.
2. When compared to sugar, brown sugar that contains molasses will affect the taste and color of food.
3. When compared to sugar, brown sugar is better for baking recipes.
4. Sugar contains white sugar crystals, whereas brown sugar contains brown sugar crystals and molasses.
5. When compared to sugar, brown sugar has less sweetness.

References

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/482027a
2. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=u7HfBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=sugar&ots=_y_hiHUPTG&sig=ApdKcqYGyW8snZ8jx4TaxbZnWEE