Have you ever wondered about the different types of sugar you can use for cooking and baking? From classic granulated white sugar to pre-colonial sugars like jaggery, each type brings its own unique flavor to your food and drinks. In this post, we’ll take a look at all the kinds of sugars and sweeteners you can use in recipes at home!
We will be taking a look at sugars relating to cooking and baking, and relating to simple syrups. Baking and pastry school taught me A LOT about the different kinds of sweeteners and how they work in recipes. Swapping sugars out works easier in recipes like simple syrups or sauces, but when it comes to baking, making swaps gets a little more complex. As I build out my recipe index I’ll be adding to this post regarding cooking and baking, so be sure to bookmark this post if you’re into the science behind recipes!
Recently, the popularity of buying unique flavored syrups has skyrocketed. But it’s actually super easy to make your own syrups at home. I’ve been making my own homemade syrup recipes to customize all of my bespoke beverages! What’s a little more complicated is knowing just what sweeteners to use. Once you understand how the flavors of different sugars vary, you can choose the exact tastes you want to play with in your recipes!
👅 how sugar affects simple syrups
Each different type of sugar will give your simple syrup a unique flavor, based on the taste of the sugar or sweetener. While the variations may be slight, if you were to host a taste-test side-by-side (something that’s TOTALLY normal to do if you ask me 😂), you would likely pick up on the differences a lot easier. Some sweeteners are more deep or earthy, while others are more crisp and clean.
🥐 how sugar affects cooking & baking
When it comes to cooking and baking, sugar plays a role flavor-wise but also texture-wise. That’s why swapping sugars isn’t always as straightforward. Changing honey for granulated sugar in a cookie recipe, for example, can totally throw the final texture of the cookie out of whack. Cooking recipes like sauces and some baking recipes like breads are more forgiving, but when it comes to recipes that use more sugar, like cakes and cookies, it’s best to only make swaps you know will work for the recipe’s final texture.
📜 a brief history of sugar
Sugar might be known for being sweet, but the history of the sugar industry is actually quite dark and complex, and may leave a sour taste in your mouth. 😬 It’s an industry that’s intensely entangled with power grabs, cultural control, and slavery. This is because the sweetness of sugar, specifically in granulated form, was very difficult to obtain. As such, it was reserved for the super wealthy. This was the case until it was mass produced to the point where it’s become a pantry staple today.
Sugar cane is believed to have first been farmed as a legitimate crop in New Guinea, Taiwan, and Southern China. It was first crystallized in India, and then Buddhist monks brought the crystallization techniques to China. Big names in sugar include Henry the Navigator, who brought sugar cane to Spain, Christopher Columbus, who brought sugar cane from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, and Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, who discovered you can extract sugar from beets using alcohol.
🍭 the different kinds of sugars for simple syrup
🌱cane sugars
All cane sugar is made from sugarcane juice. The biggest differentiation among cane sugars is refined sugar and unrefined or less refined sugar. The process of refining the sugar removes the molasses. This is what gives darker, less refined sugars their characteristic appearance and taste.
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white cane sugar
What it is: Juice from the sugarcane plant is crystallized and then put through a centrifuge to remove any remaining liquid. Think of it like when a washing machine goes into the spin cycle to remove water from your clothes! Then, it’s sent to a refinery where it’s melted down and purified even more. It’s in this stage that the molasses is removed, and that’s why the resulting sugar crystals are white!
What it tastes like: Granulated cane sugar is the most popular sugar to use in simple syrup and baking recipes, because it has the most pure, clean sweetness.
muscovado sugar
What it is: Muscovado sugar is a type of unrefined cane sugar that retains all of the natural molasses found in the sugarcane juice. It has a rich, dark color, sticky texture, and strong molasses flavor. It’s often used in baking to add depth and richness to recipes.
What it tastes like: Muscavado sugar is the most bold in taste compared to demerara and turbinado sugar.
demerara sugar
What it is: Demerara sugar is a type of raw cane sugar that is minimally processed. It has a natural caramel or toffee-like flavor and adds a deep brown color to your simple syrup. It tastes similar to brown sugar, and is sometimes used interchangeably with turbinado sugar.
What it tastes like: This sugar has a natural caramel or toffee-like flavor and adds a deep brown color to demerara syrup. It tastes similar to brown sugar, and is sometimes used interchangeably with turbinado sugar.
turbinado sugar
What it is: Turbinado sugar is a type of raw cane sugar similar to demerara sugar. It is made by extracting the juice from sugar cane and evaporating the water out of it through the use of a centrifuge, or turbine (hence the name!). This leaves behind large, amber-colored sugar crystals.
What it tastes like: Turbinado sugar has a very slight caramel flavor to it, thanks to the retained molasses in the sugar crystals. It is lightest in taste compared to demerara and muscavado sugar. It’s also a great finishing sugar for baked goods!
brown sugar
What it is: Brown sugar is white sugar that has had molasses added back into it. It can come in light brown and dark brown variations, but the two can be used interchangeably. Their flavor is also very similar. Brown sugar is more notably moist than less refined sugar, because the molasses that is added is a partially invert syrup that holds onto moisture better.
What it tastes like: Brown sugar makes a syrup that has a rich, sweet flavor that tastes more complex than regular granulated sugar thanks to the slight taste of molasses in the sugar. It’s also popular in baked goods like cookies for the moisture content.
jaggery
What it is: Jaggery is a cane sugar that is one of the first precolonial sugars. It originated in South Asia and India. Sugarcane is crushed or juiced and the juice is boiled until it thickens. Once it cools, it can be shaped into cones, discs, or bricks, or sold in granulated crystals. Some jaggery is made from palm sap, specifically the Toddy Palm, while other jaggery is made only of sugarcane. This sugar is not made in a centrifuge, unlike other cane sugars.
What it tastes like: Jaggery is deep and rich in taste because of the molasses content. It is less sweet than granulated cane sugar with a robust molasses flavor.
panela, panocha, chancaca, rapadura & piloncillo
What it is: Panela is an unrefined cane sugar traditionally found in Latin America that is similar to jaggery. It’s made by boiling and evaporating sugarcane juice. Regionally, the name can vary depending on where it is made, which can also affect the taste as well. Panela and its variations are made without the use of a centrifuge, so they are known as “non-centrifugal” sugars. Like jaggery, it can be sold in blocks, discs, or granulated form.
What it tastes like: Panela has hints of earthy, caramelized, or toffee-like flavor. Some variations, like piloncillo, have a smokier or deeper taste.
other sugars
sugar beet sugar
What it is: This type of sugar is more common in areas of the world that grow, harvest, and process sugar beets. German chemist and geoscientist Franz Karl Achard opened the first beet sugar factory in what is now known as Poland in the early 1800’s. Beet sugar is also popular with vegans and vegetarians. This is because it can be purified to a white color without the use of bone char. Bone char is commonly used in the filtration process of granulated cane sugar.
What it tastes like: While it can be difficult to detect the difference in taste, sugar beet sugar tends to have an earthier flavor compared to cane sugar. This sugar is also sold as Belgian pearl sugar and used for making waffles!
palm sugar
What it is: Palm sugar is made from the sap of palm trees. The sap is is boiled until it creates a thick syrup, which is sometimes marketed as palm syrup. Most often, the sap is allowed to harden into a cylinder, block or disc shape and sold as a “puck” or “brick” of sugar. You can cut or scrape chunks of it to be used as needed. Palm sugar can also be crystallized and sold in granular form.
What it tastes like: Palm sugar has a rich and smokey caramel-like flavor that is deeper than granulated cane sugar.
coconut sugar
What it is: Coconut sugar is made from the sap of the coconut flower bud stem on a coconut palm tree. It is similar to palm sugar, but it is made from only coconut palm trees. The sap is heated to help evaporate the moisture until only the sugar syrup remains. Once dried, this syrup can be formed into a soft paste, hard bricks, or crystallized.
What it tastes like: Coconut sugar is slightly less sweet than granulated cane sugar. It has a rich, deep, butterscotch or caramel-like flavor.
🍯 other liquid sweeteners
honey
What it is: Honey is a liquid sweetener made from flower nectar that’s been collected and processed by honeybees. It was the most widely used sweetener until granulated sugar increased in popularity and availability, dating back to caveman days! On it’s own, honey is shelf-stable, but the addition of water in a honey syrup means that the honey is susceptible to spoiling. Because of this, all honey simple syrups should be refrigerated.
What it tastes like: Honey gives foods and drinks a floral flavor, especially if it’s single origin honey made from a specific type of flower, like orange blossoms, clovers, or wildflowers. Other honey can be bolder or even earthier in flavor, such as buckwheat honey.
agave
What it is: Agave, or agave nectar, is a sweetener produced from the nectar of several species of the agave plant. This plant is most famously farmed in Mexico and made into tequila. But, the core or heart of the plant can also be made into agave syrup! Agave can be dark or light in color, depending on the processing method and type of plant the nectar comes from.
What it tastes like: It is sweet and slightly earthy in taste, similar to honey. It does dilute easier in cold drinks than honey, but making an agave syrup is still advisable because it’s much sweeter than sugar by volume. Darker agave is bolder in taste, and lighter or golden agave is more delicate in taste.
maple syrup & maple sugar
What it is: Maple syrup is a sweetener made from boiling and evaporating the sap of sugar maple trees. Maple syrup is sold in four different “grades.” These grades were updated in 2015 from “grade A” or “grade B” to all be a type of “grade A” syrup.
The labels will tell you what the flavor is, and what color to expect as well, if you can’t see it through the bottle. Maple sugar is what remains once the syrup has been boiled or cooked for longer than needed to make syrup. You’ll often see this sold as “maple candy” or in crystallized form.
What it tastes like: Maple syrup is bold, sweet, and almost slightly nutty in taste. Use the maple grading scale to select your preferred flavor profile. Words like “dark, robust taste,” “very dark, strong taste,” “amber, rich taste,” and “golden, delicate taste,” will tell you more about what to expect with your syrup. Maple sugar tastes similar to the syrup, but much lighter in flavor.
cane syrup, golden syrup, & light treacle
What it is: Golden syrup, cane syrup, and light treacle are invert syrups. They can be a byproduct of granulated cane sugar production, or they can be made specifically on their own by boiling and evaporating sugarcane juice. The names golden syrup and light treacle can be used interchangably. Although, golden syrup typically refers to a brand called Lyle’s Golden Syrup. Sometimes invert syrup is called cane syrup, which is made from cane sugar, water, and citric acid.
What it tastes like: These syrups are sweet in taste with a mild caramel flavor because of the molasses content. These are all great ingredients in recipes like ice creams, because they help keep the texture smooth and creamy, instead of grainy.
molasses, treacle, & dark treacle
What it is: Molasses is the most concentrated form of sugarcane juice. Like golden syrup & light treacle, molasses can be a byproduct of granulated sugar production, or it can be specifically made on its own. This type of syrup usually comes from the second boiling of the sugarcane juice. Treacle and dark or black treacle can be used interchangably with molasses. Blackstrap molasses is another type of molasses from the third stage of boiling and evaporating sugarcane juice. It is the most dark in color and is not widely used because of it’s very bitter taste.
What it tastes like: Molasses and treacle are very bold in flavor, with an almost burned caramel taste with hints of smoke. Molasses is what gives gingerbread it’s characteristic color and flavor. Darker molasses can have an almost bitter taste and is lower in sweetness.
date syrup & date sugar
What it is: Date syrup is extracted from dates. It is sometimes called date honey or date molasses, and is popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. Date sugar is made from dried dates, which come from the date palm.
So…let’s keep this straight: date palms = palm sugar, fresh dates = date syrup, dried dates = date sugar. 🤪 Date sugar does not melt like granulated sugar does. This means you can’t easily use it in beverages or simple syrups. If you want to make a date simple syrup, you’ll need to infuse dates into a simple syrup or dilute an existing date syrup.
What it tastes like: Date sugar and date syrup have a subtle sweet and fruity taste, with caramel or butterscotch undertones.
corn syrup
What it is: Corn syrup is an invert sweetener made from cornstarch that is most often used in baking, but you can definitely make a simple syrup out of it!
It’s often called “high fructose corn syrup” when added to foods commercially, and has obtained a pretty nasty reputation thanks to big brands adding it to foods with reckless abandon. It helps to thicken, sweeten, and enhance flavor instead of sugar, which could crystallize.
What it tastes like: Many brands of conventionally available corn syrup have vanilla flavoring added, so this impacts the taste which would otherwise be clean, bright, and sweet.
malt syrup & rice syrup
What it is: Malt syrup is sweetener that has been made from cereal grains like barley, wheat, sorghum, or rye, and rice syrup is made from rice. Typically, you’ll see brown rice syrup as the most popular form of liquid sweetener, and it is usually marketed as a health food since it’s less refined.
What it tastes like: These syrups have a more mild sweetness that can sometimes lean towards the flavor profile of molasses.
