Difference between White and Brown Sugar - Research Paper Example

Name Institution Lecturer Course Date Differences between White and Brown Sugar Introduction Sugar is the most used form of sweetening and can take many forms either as liquid or a solid. Its history is dating back to the days of Christopher Columbus. Prior to the 18th century, sugar was a luxury in Europe and became popular as it revolutionized the food industry in the 19th century when it was looked at as a necessity. Its increasing demand led to a number of social and economic changes, for example, the need for more slave labor to facilitate the increased demand in those regions (Stanton 23).A great expansion in its production took place in the 18th century with the layout of sugar plantations in the West Indies and Americas. In those days, it used to be called ‘white gold' and it was a luxury only meant for the rich people. Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates. It is composed of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants but are only present in sufficient concentrations for efficient extraction in sugarcane and sugar beet. A great expansion in its production took place in the 18th century with the layout of sugar plantations in the West Indies and Americas (Wojtczak et al 612). This was the first time that sugar becomes available to the common people who previously had to rely on to sweeten foods. Sugar beet, a cultivated variety of Beta vulgaris, is grown as a root crop in cooler climates and became a major source of sugar in the 19th century when methods for extracting the sugar became available. Sugar production and trade have changed the course of human history in many ways. It influenced the formation of colonies, the perpetuation of slavery, the transition to indentured labor, the migration of peoples, wars between sugar trade-controlling nations in the 19th century, and the ethnic composition and political structure of the new world. Purpose and Scope of the paper There are two Main of types of sugars. The purpose of this research paper is to evaluate the differences of white sugar and brown sugar that have been used by human beings for different purposes. Background information The processing and use of sugar dates back in the Indian and Egyptian ancient industries. The word sugar is thought to have been derived from the Sanskrit literature and Sanskrit culture in India. This is because the Sanskrit literature contains a lot of documentation that is rich in sugar cane processing, in India. However, the Egyptians are thought to be the first people to convert sugar cane in to modern sugar through squeezing the juice from the sugarcanes. In Egypt, the people squeezed the juice from sugarcane and the liquid obtained was later evaporated to remain with sugar crystals. The sugarcane in Egypt is believed to have originated from Spain while Arabs in India are thought to be the first people to introduce sugar in India. After the sugar has been spread in different parts of the world, people started to refine the sugar in order to get a fine content. However, the sugar content in sugar from West Indies was high when compared to sugar content from sugars in United States of America. There is a difference between white and brown sugar. White sugar is the sugar that is refined and is the most popularly known sugar that is used in daily basis. Scientists can define white sugar as sucrose that is crystallized from the sugar cane or sugar beets. On the other hand, brown sugar is the same as white sugar only that it has molasses that are added back to it after crystallizations. The molasses are byproduct that is formed when the white sugar is manufactures. However, in terms of nutrients white sugar and brown sugar are nutritionally the same. The production of white sugar and brown sugar is different. White sugar is produced by refining raw sugar (which should not be confused with brown sugar) removing plant residue and molasses. This means that the sugarcane is squeezed and the juice that comes out of the sugarcane or sugar beets is crystallized so as to obtain white crystals. The white sugar is refined and the molasses are absent from the refined sugar (Jenkins 400). On the other hand, brown sugar is produced by reintroducing molasses to the white refined sugar. It may also be unrefined or partially refined soft sugar due to the presence of molasses in its composition. Sometimes it is referred to as molasses sugar. This implies that the white and brown sugar vary in terms of the molasses that they contain. Although some whose sugar may contain a smaller percentage of m molasses, the percentage of molasses in brown sugar is high hence the name molasses sugar. Depending on the molasses content, brown sugar is categorized as either dark brown sugar or light brown sugar. This implies that the brown sugar that has more molasses content is darker as compared to brown sugar with fewer molasses content. The texture of white and brown sugar is also different. Brown sugar contains 3.5 - 6.5% and sometimes up to 10% molasses based on the total weight, and feels moist due to the hygroscopic nature of the molasses added. This is done in order to make the final product easier and to flow for industrial handling. In addition, the presence of molasses in the brown sugar makes the sugar appear more rough and heavy than the white sugar. Molasses add the mass of the white sugar such that the more the molasses the brown sugar contains the rougher it appears. However, on the other hand, white sugar feels coarse in texture since it has been stripped of the molasses. White sugar contains 99.99% sucrose. It feels drier and coarser in texture since it contains fewer molasses which would otherwise make it more moist and rough. According to Bainkow (2013), brown sugar packs more densely due to the smaller crystal size as compared to white sugar. The size of the crystals in brown sugar is smaller as compared to those of white sugar because white sugar is able to crystallize for a longer time and form large crystals. The water of crystallization in white sugar is much when compared to brown sugar. This means that the white sugar will take up more space or volume as opposed to brown sugar when packaged. It is, however, wise to note that this difference is relatively small. White sugar has more caloric value by mass compared to brown sugar due to the presence of water. According to scientific research, 100grams of white sugar contain 396 calories, as opposed to the 373 of brown sugar. However if this analysis is done with the baseline being volume, then brown sugar contains more calories compared to the same volume of white sugar due to its dense packing. The presence of water in brown sugar makes it have less caloric value as compared to the white sugar that all the water in the sugar is used in forming the crystals hence has more caloric value due to low water content (Shaikh et al 1467). When it comes to baking brown sugar it used more due to its moisture content and its rich flavor which may change the texture and even flavor of food. This is because brown sugar is naturally moist which means that it makes the food that is baked to become moist and softer just like the brown sugar. However, users are cautious when it comes to the use of brown sugar in baking since a lot of the sugar makes the products become darker. On the other hand, white sugar is thinner and lighter in color, characteristics that make its products crispy. Although the two types of sugars are varying in terms of use, they can both be used interchangeable in baking since the flavor of the food products won’t change despite the kind of sugar used. Bakers also consider the texture of white and brown sugar when it comes to baking. A soft and moist texture is preferred when it comes to baking products hence making brown sugar to be a perfect choice when it comes to baking products. This does not mean that when white sugar is used the food will not be healthier since the two types of sugar contain almost similar calories (Bainkow 362). Due the caloric and nutritional differences, most people in various parts of the worlds are seen to use white sugar than brown sugar. This is because the use of white sugar is seen as the only healthier way and healthier form of sugar. This means that the white sugar has more usage as compared to brown sugar. According to Knight (2009), there is a smaller caloric difference between brown and white sugars only that people assume that the white sugar is healthier than brown sugar. Despite this, refined sugar which also referred as the white sugar is more expensive when compared to brown sugar. This is because white sugar undergoes a number of processes during the purification and refining process as compared to brown sugar. Hence in order to cover for the costs in the refining process, white sugar becomes more expensive than brown sugar. Findings In terms of health, white sugar and brown sugar have the same caloric content despite the fact that some have been assuming that brown sugar or white sugar is more superior to the other. The molasses that are added back to the where sugar in order to manufacture that brown sugar has a smaller nutritional contents hence making the two different types of sugar different. Although the two type of sugar has different uses, their difference arises from the fact that brown sugar is moist and can be used in baking as compared to white sugar. This does not mean that bakers are not willing to use white sugar in place of white sugar, but they only use brown to make their products soft. According to Jenkins (2013), brown sugar is darker when compared to white sugar due to the molasses added. The light and darkness of brown sugar depend on the percentage of molasses that have been added to the white sugar to make brown sugar. Hence, both brown sugar and white sugar are good for human consumption only that the characteristics of the two types of sugar makes them having different uses (Knight 200). Conclusion and Recommendations The use of sugar dates back in the ancient types of Sanskrit and Christopher Columbus in Europe. Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates. It is composed of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants but are only present in sufficient concentrations for efficient extraction in sugarcane and sugar beet. A great expansion in its production took place in the 18th century with the layout of sugar plantations in the West Indies and Americas. The contained use of sugar products let to the manufacturing of sugar products. The Egyptians are believed to be the first people to use refined modern sugar which was refined from sugar cane by evaporation of the juice from sugarcanes. The refining of sugar and manufacturing of sugar resulted in two major categories of sugar namely white and brown sugar. Despite the color differences, white sugar is a refined sugar while brown sugar is the refined sugar in which the molasses are added back. The white and brown sugar varies in terms of texture and use, but their caloric content has been found to have insignificant differences. This means that the two types of sugar are both health for human consumptions and the differences that exist does not make the two types of sugar be different. Work Cited Bainkow, V. Chapter 25 – Various Types of Refined Sugar. Manufacture and Refining of Raw Cane (2013): 361-379. Jenkins, G. Chapter 28 – Refining Qualities of Raw Sugar. Introduction to Cane Sugar Technology. (2013): 398-408 Knight, G. Roger. "A House of Honey: White Sugar, Brown Sugar, and the Taste for Modernity in Colonial and Postcolonial Indonesia." Food & Foodways: History & Culture of Human Nourishment 17.4 (2009): 197-214. Shaikh, J. G., A. A. Malik, M. Khalid, I. Khan and N. Rashid. Quality Assessment of Ultra Refined Sugar by Determining Color and Turbidity. Life Science International Journal 4.2 (2010): 1467-1470. Stanton, Maya. "Sugar Blossoms." American Spa 17.12 (2013): 22-26. Hospitality & Tourism Complete. Web. 9 May 2014. Wojtczak, Maciej, Aneta Antczak, and Krystyna Lisik. "Starch Content in Various Types of Cane Sugars as a Criterion of Quality and Authenticity." International Journal of Food Properties 17.3 (2014): 610-616. Read More