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Around the world people love the taste of sugar and it’s no surprise that there’s a great deal of sweetener options available. From artificial chemical sweeteners to conventional white and brown sugars to other natural sweeteners, there is a choice for every taste. But what are the differences between the sugars?

Raw Sugar – To make raw sugar, sugar cane is pressed into juice, mixed with lime juice, evaporated and then spun in a centrifuge to separate out the sugar crystals. It has a brown hue from molasses.

White Sugar – Although white sugar is created in several ways, the most common method is to take the above raw sugar syrup and mix it with a heavy syrup, spin it in the centrifuge again to remove the outer coating of raw sugar and then an ingredient (such as phosphoric acid or carbon dioxide) is used to “bleach” the sugar to give it its white appearance. White sugar is often filtered and dried a number of times to refine it thoroughly.

Brown Sugar – Brown sugar follows the same creation process as white sugar, but with the reintroduction of molasses toward the end of the process to give it the brown coloring. This adds additional moisture to the sugar and therefore as the sugar dries, it will tend to harden and clump together. This doesn’t necessarily mean the sugar has gone bad.

Other Sweetener Options – Besides these traditional sugars, there are other organic sweetener options. Many people like to sweeten their food and drinks with honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, barley malt, brown rice syrup, date sugar (made from dehydrated dates), sucanat (non-refined cane sugar), stevia herb, or rapadura (dried sugarcane juice common in Latin American countries).

The Sweet Bottom Line

Because brown and raw sugars contain molasses, they consist of some mineral content, primarily calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. These mineral traces, however, are so small that it would require consuming large amounts of brown sugar to gain any detectable nutritional result. However, the differences in raw, white and brown sugars become more significant in baking, as the role of sugar can change the texture, volume or color of baked goods. While natural sugar options are typically better than processed corn syrup or synthetic sweeteners, the healthiest option is to always consume sugar in moderation.

Author: Nathan Joynt
Nathan Joynt works with Gaiam and Spiritual Cinema Circle – advocates for health and wellness through motivational movies and personal growth solutions.

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