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Most of our grocery store sugar is beet sugar. It's just the regular stuff we use all the time. I can get cane sugar as well, but the beet sugar is available as a store brand and is much, much cheaper. The beet sugar is in the baking aisle, packaged like cane sugar, right alongside. It's all we've ever used.
Beet sugar and cane sugar are chemically identical. So is the taste. Since cane sugar has maintained its reputation as better, you may assume that sugar which is not identified by source is beet sugar.
There are beet sugars marketed as such. Waste your money if you wish. The taste difference is in your imagination. The only actual taste differences in sugars are a result of refining or processing. For example, brown sugar is refined white sugar with molasses added.
Not necessarily. Store brand sugar usually isn't noted as either at the places I go. And Safeway's sugar is cane, but Lucky's is beet. There was a test years ago. But that could change. Since I bake, I stick with cane. My sister doesn't, so she buys the store brand.
Because he was talking about the difference in taste and look, I was wondering if he's talking about Demerara sugar. It's a very light brown larger trained sugar...but I've seen it in cane only.
Brown sugars are problematic for beets, because unlike cane, there's no molasses to remove, or leave in. So to make a brown sugar from beet sugar, they make granulated and add molasses...and the texture is funny, according to what I've read.
Because he was talking about the difference in taste and look, I was wondering if he's talking about Demerara sugar. It's a very light brown larger trained sugar...but I've seen it in cane only.
No, I was talking about something else. Demerara sugar (a.k.a. Sugar in the Raw) has a very similar taste and texture, but it's very light brown, since it's made from sugarcane and probably has some molasses in it. The beet sugar I was talking about earlier is pure white. And I kind of liked its "funny" texture; it was almost like rock salt.
Another place I tried actual beet sugar was at Teavana, when they gave me a sample and told me about the benefits of using it in tea over cane sugar. I really liked the taste. I realize they may have hyped it up a little, because they wanted me to buy their product, but just saying.
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 05-19-2017 at 11:50 AM..
The Chicago forum doesn't have many "where to buy X?" threads; most are about transit and housing. Otherwise, I'd post in it. Plus, since Chicago is a big city, I'd rather learn the types of stores carrying the product, since I'm sure Chicago has them. And also, Food and Drink forum posters may be more familiar with specialty foods than Chicago forum posters.
Who cares what they have or don't have? Start your own thread. It's easy. But I think you'll be surprised at how easy it is to find beet sugar. As others have said, it's in many of the major grocery stores. You could also call food co-ops and ask if they have it.
No, I was talking about something else. Demerara sugar (a.k.a. Sugar in the Raw) has a very similar taste and texture, but it's very light brown, since it's made from sugarcane and probably has some molasses in it. The beet sugar I was talking about earlier is pure white. And I kind of liked its "funny" texture; it was almost like rock salt.
Another place I tried actual beet sugar was at Teavana, when they gave me a sample and told me about the benefits of using it in tea over cane sugar. I really liked the taste. I realize they may have hyped it up a little, because they wanted me to buy their product, but just saying.
So basically what you are looking for is some type of 'specialty' beet sugar that perhaps is not as fully refined as standard sugar, leaving some impurities that give a subtle difference to the flavor and texture.
Put grocery store beet sugar in one cup of coffee and cane sugar in another cup and you will never taste a difference.
Regular beet sugar is EVERYWHERE in the northern states; if the ingredients list on a bag of sugar simply lists 'sugar', it is nearly always going to be beet sugar, because practically everyone would rather have cane sugar due to its centuries-old reputation as the 'real' sugar.
No, I was talking about something else. Demerara sugar (a.k.a. Sugar in the Raw) has a very similar taste and texture, but it's very light brown, since it's made from sugarcane and probably has some molasses in it. The beet sugar I was talking about earlier is pure white. And I kind of liked its "funny" texture; it was almost like rock salt.
Another place I tried actual beet sugar was at Teavana, when they gave me a sample and told me about the benefits of using it in tea over cane sugar. I really liked the taste. I realize they may have hyped it up a little, because they wanted me to buy their product, but just saying.
I'm wondering if the way the beet sugar was processed made it chunkier like old fashioned rock candy. Or it had an additive of some sort. The beet sugar I've seen is granulated white sugar. You can't tell the difference at all from cane granulated sugar. They look the same, they taste the same, they sweeten the same, they don't just bake the same.
I think you need to go back to Teavana and read the package if the sugar they want to sell you. Wait...thank you internet.
To my eyes...it looks as if while they are calling this less refined, it also says caramel overtones. If you cook sugar down to a liquid form, it caramelizes. You boil it for a bit, add cream, and make caramels. Caramelization is also why barbecue sauces have sugar in them...to get that nice barbecued color.
So...it's not the beets necessarily, it's the way they've processed the sugar... maybe where they stop the processing to make the sugar have some caramelization, or overcook it to create caramelization. I have no idea. But you can certainly find German or Belgian rock sugar on the 'net at better prices than Teavana.
So...it's not the beets necessarily, it's the way they've processed the sugar... maybe where they stop the processing to make the sugar have some caramelization, or overcook it to create caramelization. I have no idea. But you can certainly find German or Belgian rock sugar on the 'net at better prices than Teavana.
Wow! I think this is what I was given at Teavana; it looked too coarse to be granualted. They told me it was beet sugar, so at least that part must be true. But the granulated variety I tried elsewhere may have been ground-up rock sugar too, or just a different kind of granulated sugar.
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 05-19-2017 at 02:00 PM..
...For example, brown sugar is refined white sugar with molasses added.
That's not true in all cases. There are brown sugars that are partially refined, and there are brown sugars, like panela (piloncillo), that are completely unrefined.
Last edited by Happy in Wyoming; 05-19-2017 at 02:38 PM..
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Wow! I think this is what I was given at Teavana; it looked too coarse to be granualted. They told me it was beet sugar, so at least that part must be true. But the granulated variety I tried elsewhere may have been ground-up rock sugar too, or just a different kind of granulated sugar.
