What is the difference between the 8 kinds of sugar in China?

At present, there are all kinds of sugar available on the market. Some common sugars, including raw sugar, brown sugar, brown sugar, brown sugar, white sugar, white sugar, rock sugar, sugar cubes, etc., are from sugarcane or beet. Regarding the processing of sugar, which step of production does it come from? Let’s first use a picture to understand with you

‘Identity information’ for dark sugar
In life, we often have the situation that brown sugar, brown sugar and brown granulated sugar cannot be distinguished, and we also want to know what raw sugar is. This period of science about different sugars, let’s first take you to understand the information of these sugar raw materials, senses, sweetness, processing technology, use scenarios, etc
Two kinds of sugar can be obtained from sugarcane without splitting honey: brown sugar and black sugar, which show different colors due to different cooking times, and their names are directly related to the color, while brown granulated sugar is a by-product before splitting honey into white sugar.
1. Brown sugar Brown sugar is brownish-red or yellowish-brown sugar made from sugarcane, extracted juice, clarified, boiled and refined by lime process. The production process of brown sugar is different from that of white sugar and brown sugar. It is a kind of non-parting honey, that is, sugar made without parting treatment, so it can retain the original flavor and nutrients of sugarcane.
Brown sugar has a long history in China, Mr. Ji Xianlin believes that brown sugar in China’s specific origin time “from The Three Kingdoms Wei Jin Southern and Northern dynasties to a certain era between the Tang Dynasty, at least before the later Wei.” Brown sugar was mainly used for medicinal purposes in the early days, and its usage was recorded in ancient books such as Qianjin Yaofang and Compendium of Materia Medica, which had the effects of invigorating the spleen and nourishing the stomach, warming the middle and invigorating the qi.
Since Emperor Taizong sent his emissants to India to learn the sugarcane improvement technology, and after the open fire cooking method was popularized, the sugarcane planting area in China gradually expanded, and brown sugar gradually entered people’s homes, and also transitioning from medicinal to edible.
I am brown sugar ▼ Ingredients: sugar cane
Sensory: golden yellow to reddish-brown, sugar-like or its aqueous solution taste sweet, aromatic, should be free of burnt taste. Sweetness: lower than white sugar. Processing technology: sugarcane → press juice → add lime → physical clarification → evaporation concentration → cooling molding → Dry Application scenario: commonly used as nourishing ingredients, such as brown sugar water, brown sugar ginger soup, brown sugar longan tea, brown sugar poached eggs, etc. Highlights: non-honey, containing vitamins and trace elements, such as iron, zinc, manganese, chromium and so on.
2. Brown sugar Brown sugar is a kind of sugar that is not highly refined and has a burnt flavor with honey molding, which retains the natural nutrients in sugarcane. After a long time of refining to make it more conducive to human absorption, due to the color of the dark approximate black, it is called black sugar. In the view of traditional Chinese medicine, brown sugar is a warm and nourishing food, which is beneficial to qi, buffering, promoting blood circulation, dispelling blood stasis, warming the meridian, dispelling cold, and relieving pain.
Brown sugar has not been refined again and is crude sugar compared with white granulated sugar and rock sugar. But it also retains many nutrients, such as calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium and folate, which are not found in refined white sugar and rock sugar
Brown sugar is longer than brown sugar, and studies have shown that “brown sugar” can play a certain antioxidant effect and is suitable for the elderly.
I am black sugar ▼ Raw materials: sugarcane sense: natural color, brown to dark brown, sweet, honey aroma. Sweetness: Lower than brown sugar. Processing technology: sugarcane → press juice → add lime → physical clarification → evaporation concentration → cooling molding → Dry Application scenario: as a food ingredient, such as black sugar black tea, black sugar hawthorn plum and other dark sugar drinks and black sugar prune and other confectionery products. Highlights: Undivided honey, containing unique natural acids (e.g., glycolic acid), minerals (e.g., iron) and pigment regulatory substances.
3. Brown granulated sugar Brown granulated sugar is a by-product of the one-step process of producing white granulated sugar and is a sugar with honey. Its main component is sucrose, but also rich in phenols and trace elements, such as iron, chromium, vitamins, such as thiamine, niacin and so on.
Brown sugar is also one of the essential condiments in our lives, with high sweetness and instant solubility. With a certain amount of molasses, so its color is similar to brown sugar. But brown sugar and brown sugar are two completely different kinds of sugar, the former belongs to non-divided honey, the latter belongs to divided honey.
I am brown sugar ▼ Ingredients: sugarcane or beet Sense: brown or brown, sweet and slightly molasses. Sweetness: slightly higher than brown sugar. Processing technology: sugarcane → pressing and juicing → purifying treatment → evaporation and concentration → boiling and crystallization → centrifugation → drying Application scenario: seasoning in daily life, soaking water for drinking, etc.
Highlight: divide honey; Contains a certain amount of glucose, fructose, trace elements, vitamins and other nutrients.
4. Raw sugar
Raw sugar, also known as crude sugar, is sugarcane sugar or beet sugar produced by a simple lime clarification process in the original sugar factory, and is a raw material for reprocessing in the sugar refining process.
Raw sugar quality is low, if the bulk transport through the ocean cargo ship for a long time, inevitably mixed with harmful to human health, insects, mites, microorganisms, etc., food quality and safety standards are difficult to ensure. Therefore, raw sugar cannot be eaten directly and needs to be further refined into white granulated sugar as edible sugar.
There are two main process routes for sugar production in the world. One is the direct production of white sugar from sugarcane or beet, that is, cultivated white sugar, and the other is to make raw sugar first, and then dissolve and refine into white sugar. Sugar mills in China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and other countries and beet sugar factories in Europe and the United States mostly directly produce cultivated white sugar, but many sugarcane countries such as Australia, South Africa, Cuba, Thailand and other sugar mills mostly make sugar cane into raw sugar for export.
I am Raw Sugar ▼ Ingredients: cane or beet Sensory: light brown with a thin layer of raw molasses on the surface. Sweetness: raw sugar can not be eaten directly, sugar degree ≥98% Processing technology: sugarcane, beet → pressed juice → filtration and clarification → evaporation and concentration → boiling and crystallization → centrifugal separation → drying Use scenario: raw sugar, further refined into white granulated sugar as edible sugar. Key points: Raw sugar is only used as a raw material for sugar finishing and cannot be added directly to food or eaten directly.
White sugar’s “identity information”
Next, let’s take a look at white sugar: white granulated sugar, rock sugar, sugar cubes, and white sugar in addition to shape, what is different?
1. White sugar
White granulated sugar is the most important kind of sugar in China, accounting for about 90% of the total sugar. White granulated sugar is pure sugar cane juice, beet juice or raw sugar solution after purification, concentration, crystallization, honey separation and drying of white sucrose crystal. According to the physicochemical requirements, white sugar can be divided into four levels: refined, excellent, first grade and second grade.
At present, China has become the world’s fourth largest sugar producer and the second largest sugar consumer. The national white sugar production increased from about 260,000 tons in the 1949-1950 season to 9.7 million tons in the 2018-2019 season.
I am white sugar ▼ Raw materials: sugarcane, beet (direct raw materials); Raw sugar (indirect feedstock)
Sensory: uniform, grain or its aqueous solution should taste sweet, no odor; The appearance of sugar should be dry, loose, white and shiny. Sweetness: sucrose score ≥99.5%, the general sweetener will use white sugar as a reference. Processing technology: sugarcane, beet → juicing → purifying treatment → evaporation concentration → boiling crystallization → centrifugation → sugar washing and drying; Or: raw sugar → back dissolution → purification treatment → evaporation concentration → boiling crystallization → centrifugation → sugar washing and drying Use scenario: often used for cooking, the most commonly used sweetener in the world, and the most important variety of industrial sugar. Highlight: The most important variety of sugar, sweeteners will be based on the sweetness of white sugar as a reference.
2. White sugar is referred to as sugar, with small grain, delicate and soft texture, which is loved by people. Because the white sugar is sprayed with about 2.5% invert syrup in the production process, its reduced sugar is higher than that of ordinary white sugar.
For the reduced sugar in the white sugar, if the content is too high, it will lead to the moisture absorption of the white sugar and breed microorganisms, which is not conducive to the preservation of the white sugar, while the content is too low, it will affect the flavor of the white sugar, so the reduced sugar is listed as a mandatory index stipulated in the national standard for quality control of white sugar.
I am white sugar ▼ Raw materials: sugarcane, beet (direct raw materials); Raw or white sugar (indirect raw material)
Sensory: fine grain, white color, soft texture, white sugar due to more reducing sugar, sweet than white sugar soft.
Sweetness: Slightly sweeter than white granulated sugar.
Processing technology: beet → juicing → purifying treatment → evaporation concentration → boiling crystallization → centrifugation → injection of syrup → drying; Or: raw sugar → recolonization → purification treatment → evaporation concentration → boiling crystallization → centrifugation → injection of syrup → drying
Usage scenario: Suitable for direct consumption, but also for food color, in the making of flour products is also more soluble in dough.
Highlight: Soft, delicate, contains some invert syrup.
3. Rock sugar Rock sugar is a crystalline reproduct of granulated sugar, because its crystallization is like ice, so the name rock sugar. Naturally generated rock sugar has white, yellowish, light gray and other colors, in fact, there are all kinds of color rock sugar added to the market, such as green, blue, orange and other colors (mainly for export).
Rock sugar taste sweet, sex flat, into the lung, spleen meridian; It has the effect of tonifying qi and moistening lung. How does white sugar become rock sugar? Put the white granulated sugar into the appropriate amount of water to heat and dissolve, filter and input into the crystallization tank, so that the sugar solution can reach supersaturation, put in the crystal seeds for crystal cultivation, and then take out for dehoning and centrifugal drying, after ventilation and drying, sifting, sorting and packaging.
I am rock sugar ▼ Ingredients: sugarcane, beet (direct raw materials); Raw sugar or white sugar (indirect raw material) Sense: semi-transparent body, shiny, dry surface. The crystal sugar solution is transparent, not cloudy, sweet and odorless. Sweetness: The highest purity of sugar, the most sweet. Processing technology: white sugar → dissolution → purification treatment → recrystallization Application scenario: commonly used with chrysanthemum, medlar, hawthorn, red dates, etc., such as “rock sugar pear”, “rock sugar bird’s nest” and other tonics. It can also be eaten directly as candy, “rock sugar Xiang lotus” is a rare delicacy in Hunan cuisine among the eight cuisines. Highlight: The crystallization of white sugar, added in some tonics.
4. Sugar cube is a kind of sugar, which has a history of nearly 100 years in China. It is made from white granulated sugar of moderate grain size. Because its shape is a regular cube or cuboid, it is called a sugar cube. With sugar cubes, we can easily quantify how many cubes we eat and determine the amount of added sugar we consume.
We most often use it or add it to coffee, when it comes to coffee, we will think of sugar, which is also inseparable from its quantitative, easy to dissolve, easy to use characteristics
I am a sugar cube ▼ Ingredients: sugarcane, beet (direct raw materials); Raw sugar or white granulated sugar (indirect raw material) sense: white color, sugar or its solution has the inherent sweetness of white granulated sugar, no odor. Sweetness: the sweetness of white sugar is comparable. Processing technology: white sugar → humidification → pressing molding → drying → cooling → Packaging application scenario: mainly used for brewing coffee, tea, milk, drinks and so on. Key points: quantitative, easy to dissolve, mainly used for impact.