Sugar Addiction Archives

Know your sugar options

As a side note, when i get a sugar craving that i don't want to quell even with Rapadura sugar, i take a tbls of "Panther Piss" (1/2 apple cider vinegar, 1/2 blackstrap molasses) in water and that does the trick - even though i'm watching the candida (and so far it hasn't been a troublmaker). It's really a mineral supplement this Piss, and helps balance pH.
from http://www.rwood.com/Questions/q_may_01_2001.htm
Q: I want to use cane sugar but I am so confused about all its different names. There are raw sugar, evaporated cane juice, Sucanant, turbinado, Rapadura and organic whole cane sugar. I'm looking for the best of the bunch! -- Tree Mazzare, San Diego, CA.

A: No wonder you're confused. Our collective sweet tooth is voracious and manufacturers capitalize on this huge market. The majority of food companies, including some "natural foods" manufacturers, use dirt-cheap corn sweeteners. Fortunately, conscientious companies meticulously use only superior quality sweeteners such as unseparated cane. Many companies confabulate consumers with clever names, implying that their sugar is a quality product.

Historically, sugar was made by pressing the juice from the cane and boiling away the water. The resulting granular product contained from 79 to 91% sucrose plus an array of vitamins and minerals. Making sugar this way is comparable to collecting sap from a maple tree and boiling off the water to concentrate the sugar. Simple food-processing technologies that can be duplicated in one's own kitchen yield a quality food. The food retains its critical vitamins, minerals and trace nutrients. Moderate consumption of lightly refined sweeteners does not challenge our health.

With industrialization, the simple cane presses and evaporating pots became outdated. Today's more efficient sugar technology divides the cane juice into two streams. One stream is ultra-refined, 99.6% pure sucrose and the other stream is nutrient-dense molasses.

The ersatz "healthful" sugars mix a fraction of the molasses back into the pure sugar. These sugars include Florida crystals, turbinado, yellow-D, unrefined cane juice, demerara, muscovado, whole cane, Sucanat, evaporated cane juice and brown and raw sugar.

Every sugar producer tries to imply that theirs is a quality product. Unfortunately "natural," "whole" and "unrefined" are open terms without legal protection. Even though some of the above sugars may be organic, they're highly refined. I avoid them whenever possible. Thankfully, there is one sugar domestically available that is never separated and therefore contains all of cane's vital nutrients. It is the only whole sugar and its story is fascinating.

In the 1950s a Swiss pediatrician, Max Henri Beguin, noticed an alarming amount of tooth decay among his patients. He did some research and determined that the primary causes were sugar and white flour consumption. Beguin developed an innovative processing method for unseparated sugar. He called it Sucanat (from sugar cane natural.)

In the 1980s this excellent sugar was introduced to the U.S. natural foods market. Many health writers, myself included, heartily endorsed Sucanat. By 1995 its sales were booming and the U.S. Sucanat company changed ownership.

From this point, you, Dear Reader, can probably finish this sad chapter. Soon a highly refined sugar splashed with molasses was sold as Sucanat. Today, this domestic, separated (and therefore unhealthful) sugar is produced by Imperial Holly of Sugar Land, Texas, one of the world's largest sugar producers.

Now, here's the happy ending. In Europe, Rapunzel Pure Organics, a company committed to sustainable agriculture and fair trading practices since 1974 markets unseparated sugar as Rapadura in the U.S. Grown on organic cane plantations in Brazil, rapadura is the Brazilian term for unseparated cane sugar. It comes from dura, meaning hard or durable and rapa for grate. Its name refers to unseparated, dehydrated cane juice that once dried in a hard lump was grated prior to using in a recipe. Rapunzel's Rapadura is sieved prior to packaging and so doesn't require grating.

Have a look at their package and you'll see an illustration of the two different ways to manufacture cane--separated and unseparated. The next time you're reading labels, look for an illustration of how sugar is produced and favor that which is not separated.

In baking, when I wanting an exceptionally tender crumb and the superior, round, slightly caramel flavor that only unseparated cane delivers, I pull out measuring cups and have a go at it.

Please see the accompanying recipe for Rice Sandies made with Rapadura sugar or granulated maple sugar.

Thanks for visiting and may you be well nourished.

• http://www.rwood.com/Questions/q_may_01_2001.htm

Follow Ups:

• Re: Know your sugar options (Archive in sugar.) Walt Stoll 09:19:41 8/08/02 (0)

In Reply to: Know your sugar options posted by thessa on August 07, 2002 at 03:48:12:

Thanks, thessa.Namaste`Walt