Sugar, sugar, do do do do do dooo…
You know you love Archie comics.
Well, I know I do.
Speaking of sweet things, here’s another sweetener option that, like turbinado sugar, is also made from the sugar cane – evaporated cane juice.
Well, to be totally accurate, turbinado sugar is a type of evaporated cane juice – it’s made through evaporation after all! Its distinct large, bronze crystals have just earned it a special name.
There are actually a number of different types of evaporated cane juice – Sucanat, Rapadura, Demerara, milled cane, ahhhh! It can make picking one out kind of confusing. Let me share what I’ve learned after many grocery trips and package comparisons and internet searches…
All evaporated cane juice is produced from freshly cut sugar cane that has been pressed to extract its juice. And all evaporated cane juice is created when that juice is boiled off to leave behind sweet sugar goodness. The biggest difference between the different types is how much sugar cane molasses they contain. The more molasses, the less the cane juice was processed. You can generally figure this out by how dark – molasses-filled! – or light – not-as-molasses-filled – the sugar is.
But wait! The fun doesn’t stop there! Evaporated cane juice can also be ground to a super fine powder to create unrefined powdered sugar. A little cornstarch is added to prevent caking and it’s good to go.
Unrefined powdered sugar has a honey-gold color and a richer flavor than white, refined powdered sugar because it still holds on to some of the sugar cane’s molasses. It also retains some good vitamins and minerals.
Check out Wholesome Sweeteners and Billington’s for a selection of evaporated cane juice and unrefined powdered sugar. In baking, they can be substituted cup for cup for their refined counterpart.
Do you have a favorite type of evaporated cane juice?
sweet + natural 
Haha – I too love the Archie comics!! Such a classic 🙂
Great information, as always!! I like Sucanat out of those.
thanks for the info! hmm.. my mom has these big canisters of crystallized sugar that is brown.. she said it was raw sugar. would that also be the same as from the sugar cane?
I actually don’t know all that much about the sugar, evaporated cane juice, etc. so this info is very helpful – thanks 🙂
I LOVE ARCHIE COMICS! I even watch the Archie’s weird mysteries show. hahaha.
Thanks for sharing such great information!
Thanks for the comments on my site.:-) You have a beautiful blog here, and some scrumptious looking recipes! Yum.
My mom always gets the demerara sugar so I’d have to go with that one…
VeggieGirl – Sucanat is def. the unrefined sugar I’m trying next. Good to know you like it!
Pearl – Yup, raw sugar is from the sugar cane. It’s also called turbinado sugar, which I wrote about here – https://sweetandnatural.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/turbinado-sugar/.
eatingbender – Glad it was helpful! When I first started looking at unrefined sugars, I was kind of overwhelmed by all the different kinds. I think I finally get the difference between them all. Now I just have to TRY them all!
Sharon – I used to buy a stack of the comic books before we went on family vacations – car reading!
Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourment – Thanks for stopping by!
I actually never really thought about it but… wow, there’s so much to think about! Haha, I’ll get back to you 😉 keep up the great blog!
ohhhhh i love all the info! my sis uses sucanat- she loves it! i’ve never tried it but really want to…
catms916 – I’ll add demarara to my to-try list!
Danielle – Haha, it is complicated! Thanks for reading! 🙂
Mariposa – I definitely want to try Sucanat.
i have just tried turbinado, mostly b/c i needed brown sugar and wanted something less procssed. so many choices at the store i stood there for a good 15 min before just grabbing that! guess i’ll just *have* to pick up some others 🙂
ttfn300 – I’m gonna try to make my way through them too. 😛
Wow, sound like you all are having a lot of fun here.
I have been looking at different info regarding sugars.
Not sure what your motivations are, but what I am learning is that there is very little chemical difference between table sugar and these “unrefined” products. It seems to me that they are all quite refined anyway, unrefined would be a chunk of cane (a “whole food”.
Just an offer of info. Don’t be deceived by marketing hype.
No expert, just “joe schmo”
joe schmo – My motivations are to eat foods that comes as close to nature as possible. Foods that go through as minimal processing as they can to get to my kitchen cabinet. And this includes my sweets! I do realize that if you look at the nutrition labels for regular, white sugar and less refined sugars, they look very much the same in terms of calories, grams of sugar, etc. However, what’s important to me where those calories, grams of sugar, etc. come from. If I’m using sugar in my recipes, I’d prefer a less processed form than one that has been stripped of any sort of nutrients whatsoever. I want what I put into my body to be as whole as it can be!
Could some please clear things up for me. when a receipe calls for Evaporated Cane Juice am I looking for a liquid or a solid sugar??
The word Juice is throwing me. I can’t seem to locate it in any health or bulk stores. Does it have another name??
Thanks
Ilsabreeze – You’re looking for solid sugar. The key word is “evaporated” – that means the juice has been all dried up and crystallized into dry sugar!
Thanks for that reply….I too was looking for juice