After filtering out plant trash and raw sugar crystals, millers slowly evaporate the liquid, … Its best friend is salt, though most dessert recipes don't pair them as often as they should. If you’re whisking together a marinade and you only have light brown sugar, NBD. Light brown sugar is the most common of the five sugars we'll … Because brown and white sugar are produced from either the sugar beet or sugarcane plant, they’re nearly identical nutritionally. the difference is the amount of molasses. Dark brown sugar has a very strong molasses flavor, while light brown sugar is a little drier and has a much milder flavor. (It’s more common.) To improve your sugar repertoire, make sure you also know the basics of turbinado sugar. Although there are no regulations dictating how much molasses must be added to the refined sugar to make light or dark brown sugar, most producers put about 3 percent molasses in light and 6 percent molasses in dark. Demerara is a semi-refined sugar. If a recipe doesn’t specify light or dark brown sugar, opt for the light variety. Using dark brown sugar when a recipe calls for light will give your final product a more robust taste and a darker color, and it might slightly affect the texture. Light and dark soft brown sugars have different flavour and moisture properties, so you can only replace one with the other in small quantities. The difference is that less molasses is used. The two types of brown sugar, light and dark, refer to the amount of molasses that is present. Recipe ingredients are for light brown sugar. Demerara sugar. You'll never run out of brown sugar if you keep two simple ingredients on hand: white granulated sugar and molasses. Like white sugar, brown sugar is a sweetener produced from either the sugarcane or sugar beet plant. Here are the other foods with incredible shelf lives.). Brown sugar is formed during the late stages of sugar processing. All rights reserved. Muscovado sugar is very dark brown in color and has more molasses than light or dark brown sugar. The exception is when you’re making gingerbread—the molasses flavor in dark brown sugar better complements the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Some of the benefits of brown sugar are: * It contains sugary molasses which provide more nutrients than white sugar. Ad Choices. Simply put, dark brown sugar contains more molasses than light brown sugar. For light brown sugar, that usually means 3.5% molasses. When trying to cut out empty calories, the brown sugar benefits available thanks to the molasses content are a great bonus. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Brown sugar varies from light brown sugar to dark brown sugar. Refined brown sugar (as opposed to raw brown sugars like turbinado or muscovado) is simply white sugar with the addition of molasses. Light brown soft sugar: a popular sugar for making fruit cakes and puddings where a rich, full flavour is required. (Did you know that sugar can last forever? Because acidic molasses reacts with baking soda, using dark brown sugar in place of light might cause a higher rise and/or a wider spread. Happy baking! All other variables kept as-is. Brown sugar makes baked goods more moist than white sugar because of the molasses content, says Pichet Ong, pastry chef and author of “The Sweet Spot: Asian Inspired Desserts.”This means you may have to adjust some of the other proportions in the recipe if you sub in brown sugar for white, like slightly decreasing the wet ingredients or upping the dry ones. Dark brown sugar has a deeper color and stronger molasses flavor than light brown sugar—the rich, full flavor makes it ideal for gingerbread, baked beans, barbecuing and other full-flavored foods. It also bumps up the nutritional value of brown sugar and supplies a small amount of several k… Dark brown sugar has a deeper color and stronger molasses flavor than light brown sugar. MOLASSES: A dark syrup less sweet than sugar, it has its own strong flavour more acidity. Light brown sugar is an effective dark brown sugar substitute simply because it is also a blend of molasses and sugar. You can use it as a 1:1 replacement for palm sugar in any recipe. (Note: Billington’s calls this sugar Dark Brown Molasses Sugar. But what also makes this item unique is that it isn’t quite light brown and it isn’t quite dark brown sugar. Light Brown Sugar. Dark brown sugar simply has more molasses to give it a deeper brown color than light brown sugar. But let’s take a step back: What even is brown sugar? It gets its color and distinct taste from its molasses content which varies by type: light brown sugar contains 3.5% molasses, dark brown sugar contains 6.5% molasses. For light brown sugar, that usually means 3.5% molasses. The ingredient that separates brown sugar from the others is molasses, added after white sugar is refined. This helps dark brown sugar have a more deep, complex flavor that’s closer to toffee or caramel. Light brown sugar is used more often in baking , while dark brown sugar, with a bolder molasses flavor, is delicious used as a … Just add it to the mental list, right after the toilet paper. Cooking advice that works. But if you’re baking a crumb cake that calls for a whopping 1¾ cups dark brown sugar for the streusel, you’ll probably want to get your hands on the right stuff since so much of the flavor is going to come from the additional molasses. For the most part, dark and light brown sugars can be used interchangeably in recipes, as technically dark brown sugar simply has a slighter higher molasses content. The syrup is boiled, evaporated once again to crystals, then spun dry in a centrifuge. If your recipe doesn’t specify “light” or”dark,” it probably assumes you’re going to use light brown sugar. For dark brown sugar, that amount is nearly doubled—6.5% molasses. Muscovado sugar, also known as Barbados sugar, is a type of British brown sugar. You don’t have to compensate for one type of sugar or the other by adding or subtracting any ingredients, so it’s safe to switch between the two based on what you happen to have in your pantry. Both are equally sweeter in taste but the benefits are different. Just having one is a victory! This helps dark brown sugar have a more deep, complex flavor that’s closer to toffee or caramel. Molasses. The two most common brown sugars are light brown and dark brown. The molasses also gives it a stronger caramel flavor. Bon Appétit may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Its sweetness is tempered by the addition of bitter molasses, which contributes … While light and dark brown sugar are interchangeable, they’re not exact substitutes. The first bowl contains light brown sugar, the second is dark brown sugar, and the third is dark brown muscovado sugar. (Did you know that sugar can last forever? Brown sugars tend to clump because they contain more moisture than white sugars, allowing baked goods to retain moisture well and stay chewy. Like the best possible Morning Glory muffins, but with grated butternut squash instead of carrot. if your recipe is calling for dark and you only use light, your product will probably not be as moist or flavorful as it should be, depending on what you're making. UNREFINED SOFT BROWN SUGAR: A distinctive caramel taste. Light brown sugar contains 3.5% molasses of total volume, whereas dark brown sugar is 6.5% molasses. Brown sugar is white granulated sugar that has had cane molasses added to it. Dark brown sugar actually contains nearly twice as much molasses … Â Many grocery stores also stock golden brown sugar, which falls somewhere in between light and dark. Here’s the trick to measuring brown sugar—and other common baking ingredients. Making your own brown sugar is so simple and easy and it tastes exactly like store-bought! Like palm sugar, dark brown sugar is less sweet than refined white sugar. The difference between light and dark brown sugar is simply the amount of molasses each contains. Dark brown soft sugar: looks as its name suggests, and has a richer flavour. Taste of Home is America's #1 cooking magazine. However, commonly available brown sugar is the refined white sugar with added molasses. To revisit this article, select My⁠ ⁠Account, then View saved stories. The key difference is that brown sugar has varying amounts of molasses added back into it. —W.S., Middle Grove, New York Both types of brown sugar are a mixture of sugar and molasses, with dark brown sugar containing more molasses than light brown sugar. The rich, full flavor of dark brown sugar makes it good for gingerbread, mincemeat, baked beans, and other full flavored foods. The darker the brown sugar, the more molasses it contains. The addition of molasses gives the sugar a dark color and rich, caramel-like flavor. However, if brown sugar is allowed to dry and all the liquid sugar is allowed to evaporate, brown sugar becomes a useless brick. Light brown sugar has a delicate flavor while dark brown sugar has a stronger more intense molasses flavor. Don’t worry if you’ve been using them interchangeably. Granny's Gingerbread Cake with Caramel Sauce, Sticky Toffee Rice Pudding with Caramel Cream, 6 Whole Milk Substitutes for Cooking and Baking, Do Not Sell My Personal Information – CA Residents. She is also a junior in Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. You can increase the molasses content by adding a tablespoon of molasses to each cup of … For dark brown sugar, simply use 2 tablespoons of molasses for every 1 cup of white sugar. Raw sugar is darker in colour than white sugar, but is not brown sugar. Can they be used interchangeably? Thinking about brown sugar brings to mind sweet potato casserole, coffee cake and honeybaked ham—recipes that wouldn’t be the same with plain ol’ granulated sugar. For dark brown sugar, that amount is nearly doubled—6.5% molasses! For light brown sugar, that usually means 3.5% molasses. dark has more, light has less. The darker the brown sugar, the more molasses it contains. And yet, some recipes demand light and others dark. Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, Butternut Squash, Coconut, and Ginger Muffins. It’s damp and denser than caster or demerara. The sugar is dark due to the high molasses content which in the case of this brand (Billington’s) is never removed. © 2020 Condé Nast. Brown sugar is sugar that has been sprayed with molasses, so it is generally a richer flavour. Emma Kumer is a marathon-runner, magazine-writer, and graphic design addict. And the amount of molasses is what distinguishes light brown (less molasses) from dark brown (more). This helps dark brown sugar have a deeper, more complex flavor that’s closer to toffee or caramel. Here are the other foods with incredible shelf lives. For $3.49, it’s not as cheap as regular brown sugar from most big box grocery stores. The good news is that light and dark brown sugar are interchangeable: You’re not going to ruin your cookies, your crumble, or your banana bread by swapping one for the other. Dark brown sugar actually contains nearly twice as much molasses as light (6.5% as compared to 3.5%), which gives it a richer caramel flavor. Dark brown sugar is almost the same as light brown sugar except there is a little bit more molasses added back to it than light brown sugar. The premium here is for organic labeling. This probably isn’t something you’ll notice unless you’re conducting a side by side test of two batches, but it could be a reason that your cookies don’t come out exactly like the ones in the photo. Brown sugar is essentially the same as refined white sugar. Ever found yourself in the baking aisle, wondering which variety of brown sugar to choose for your recipe? Not only does this refer to the color of the sugar, but to the volume of molasses in the sugar. Restaurant recommendations you trust. Brown sugar is … Recipes you want to make. Regular brown sugar contains up to 10% molasses, usually derived from sugar cane. While white sugar only contains sugar crystals, brown sugar is made from sugar crystals and molasses. It’s more common, a bit more versatile due to the subtler flavor, and many pro bakers (like Dorie Greenspan, Joanne Chang, and Sarah Kieffer) use it to develop their recipes. All that being said, if you’re only going to keep one kind on hand, let it be light brown sugar. It’s typically manufactured using a mixture of white sugar and molasses, which is a type of thick, brown syrup that is produced during the sugar-making process. Not really. Best for: Baked goods with liquid fat; puffier, chewier cookies (such as sugar cookies ). It’s also worth noting that the more brown sugar the recipe calls for—a whole cup as opposed to a couple of tablespoons—the bigger the impact a substitution will make. Before you make that next batch of cookies, read up on the difference between light and dark brown sugar to see which type is your best bet. It works well in cakes, gingerbread, pickles and chutneys. Dark brown sugar. It is simply less refined than white sugar and has much larger crystals, but it can still be used in cakes. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. You probably have a lengthy list of items you need to keep stocked in the house at all times: coffee, toothpaste, conditioner, coffee, eggs, beer, bandaids, coffee, hand sanitizer, laundry detergent, TOILET PAPER… You’ve got a lot to take care of, so it’s understandable that you wouldn’t always have both light brown and dark brown sugar on hand whenever a desire to bake something strikes. Brown sugar also contains slightly fewer calories than white sugar, yet the difference is minimal. The Test: Swap the 50% white sugar + 50% light brown sugar, originally in the recipe, for 50% white sugar + 50% dark brown sugar. She was a digital editorial intern for Taste of Home Magazine for Summer 2017. Light brown sugar, more versatile than dark brown sugar, is roughly 95% sucrose. Light brown sugar has less molasses per total volume of sugar (about 3.5% according to Rose Levy Beranbaum) while dark brown sugar has more (6.5%). Substitution ratio: 1 packed cup of light or dark brown sugar for every 1 cup of granulated sugar. It comes in different brown colors depending on the amount of molasses that have been added. For dark brown sugar, that amount is nearly doubled—6.5% molasses! Lighter types are generally used in baking and making butterscotch, condiments and glazes. All other variables kept as-is. It sits neatly between those two varieties. The sugar crystals are a little larger than regular brown sugar and the texture is stickier. However, more molasses does mean dark brown sugar has slightly higher levels of acidity and moisture. 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