Brown Sugar and Other Sweeteners To Replace White Sugar

Sugar is an ingredient that is common in all households. Sweetening your cup of tea or coffee with some sugar is quite common. What is also prevalent is the use of refined white sugar either as a powder or as granules.

In recent years, there has been intense focus on studying the impact of such refined sugars on the overall health. The more common health problems associated with consuming refined sugar is diabetes, heart diseases, and excess weight gain.

To combat such intense sweet additives, as a result of these investigations, the use of brown sugar, as well as other natural sweeteners, has increased.

Brown Sugar and Other Sweeteners

Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is a sugar that still has molasses. During the processing of sugarcane juice into white sugar, a dark, sticky syrup is extracted. The syrup is molasses, and this is what gives unrefined sugar a distinct golden brown colour. In simple terms, brown sugar is white sugar with molasses mixed into it.

Let’s see what other sweeteners are available as an option to replace refined white sugar.

• Maple Syrup – Maple syrup is extracted and processed by boiling the sap from maple trees. The sap is boiled to dehydrate the syrup of its water content. Unlike white sugar, it does not go through a long process. Maple syrup still holds a lot of nutrients from the tree sap.
• Honey – Bees make honey with the nectar that they collect from flowers. The nectar gets stored in the honeycomb, and by the evaporation of water content, the viscous syrup is left behind. According to the National Honey Board, honey is strained to remove impurities and packaged. Pure honey does not have any additives.
• Date Sugar – Dehydrated dates are powdered to form granules. This is date sugar. The grinding process does not remove the fibrous particles of the dates, so date sugar contains a fair amount of fibre.
• Coconut Sugar – Sap from the coconut palm flower is extracted and dehydrated. The process leaves behind brown granules which are further powdered to form coconut sugar. The method used to make coconut sugar is free of chemicals and not complicated.
• Jaggery – Jaggery is prominently used in India; it is unrefined sugar made from sugarcane juice. One of the first steps in producing white sugar leaves behind a thick sludge-like substance that is full of molasses. This paste is moulded and sold as jaggery.

Health Benefits of Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is still sugar. The main component of any sugar is carbohydrates. The reason it is comparatively better than white sugar is due to the presence of molasses. The nutrients present in molasses are included in brown sugar but absent in refined white sugar.

According to Medical News Today, one tablespoon of molasses (around 20 gms) contains about 58 calories. A few other nutrients in molasses, each of which is approximately 5-10%, are manganese, iron, calcium, selenium, and vitamin B6. Brown sugar, like all other sugars, also gives the body an immediate rush of energy.

How Can You Make Brown Sugar At Home?

It is quite an easy procedure to make brown sugar at home. All you need is store brought molasses and processed white sugar.

Different sources claim different proportions for mixing molasses and brown sugar.

According to the website Bigger Bolder Baking, for a light brown sugar, you need one teaspoon of molasses for one cup of white sugar. For a darker brown, mix two teaspoon molasses for one cup of sugar.

However, The Spruce Eats recommends the use of tablespoons instead of teaspoons while mixing molasses and white sugar to make brown sugar.

Can Sugar Be Replaced Altogether?

It is challenging to opt for a no sugar diet. So, unhealthy refined sugar can be substituted with slightly healthier sweetening agents.

Brown sugar, honey, and jaggery are just a few of the natural sweeteners available that you can use in your daily food preparations. Using these sugar substitutes can ultimately eliminate the use of white sugar in your diet completely.