Sweetness and Light

Many people living outside of the UK are uncertain as to what some of the sugars and sweeteners used in baking are and if there are any equivalents for them. Below lies an explanation for some of these:

Barbados sugar is a 'moist' dark brown, soft sugar with a characteristic flavour. It is often used to mask the flavour in dishes requiring bicarbonate of soda.

Caster sugar is a fine white sugar mostly used in cakes and puddings. It is also known as superfine sugar in the US.

Demerara sugar has honey-coloured crystals and is for table use. Originally this was a cane sugar produced in British Guiana but the phrase now refers to all crystallised cane sugars from the West Indies and nearby countries. A little of the colour from the cane juice remains in the sugar, with traces of minerals and other impurities; this gives it its honey colour. It is similar to Turbinado sugar available in the US.

Golden Syrup is a light-coloured syrup produced by the evaporation of cane sugar juice. It contains various sugars with some flavouring and colouring matter. It is not quite so sweet as sugar, since it contains more water and glucose. It is used to sweeten and flavour cakes and puddings, to make sauces, as a filling for tarts and in gingerbreads.

Granulated sugar is a refined white sugar with coarse granules. It is used for most sweetening purposes and is the most economical sugar.

Icing sugar is white sugar which is ground to a fine powder. It is used for making icings, sorbets, ice creams and meringues. It is also known as powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar in some countries.

Lump, loaf and cube sugars are all refined white sugar which has been compressed into cubes for convenient use. Molasses is the general term for the thick, brown syrupy drainings from raw sugar or the syrup obtained from the sugar during the process of refinement.

Molasses varies in texture, that drained from beet sugar being very bitter and disagreeable to taste.

Muscovado sugar, available in both a light and a dark form is a soft brown sugar with a characteristic flavour produced in Mauritius. It is a fine quality raw cane sugar which is unrefined and rich in natural molasses to give a distinctive full flavour and aroma. It may be used in place of soft brown sugar when more flavour is required.

Preserving sugar is specially made for jams, jellies etc. It has large crystals which dissolve slowly and produce less scum than granulated sugar.

Treacle is the sticky fluid remaining after sugar cane has been processed. Black treacle contains more of the harmless impurities than golden syrup and has a somewhat bitter taste. In many recipes molasses can be substituted if treacle is unavailable.