Sugar Questions

Jolly Bill Barker

So I have been learning and reading about rubs. The one thing that is confusing me is the use of different sugars in the same rub. So for all of you that know about this stuff here are my questions.

White sugar... why use it.

Brown sugar. Is light or dark better? If you cook it to dry it and then process it how do you do this? What makes brown sugar brown?

Turbinago sugar. What really is this stuff? Is it just raw sugar? Why does it take more heat?

How is cane sugar different then others.

Basically I am trying to learn all about the different sugars and their properties and pluses and minuses.

lowercasebill

sugar cane juice is proceesed to varying degrees ... the more brown the more molasses left in [or added back in according to some]
turbindo is larger crystals
some say that the turbindo/hawaiian types are less likely to burn but i have never experimented.. and do not know why
light and dark brown are used for their flavor profiles.. one is not better than the other just how much 'brown' flavor you want.

Jolly Bill Barker

So why use white and brown?

Sundown

Occasionally I might use brown sugar but for the most part I think most of us use Turbinado because it has a higher burn point.

Today I use Dizzy Pig almost all the time.

Saves time and work and his spices are fresh.

Can't ever recall using white

Fidel

Turbinado is the least processed. It is basically reconstituted dried cane juice spun in a centrifuge to remove impurities.

White sugar is fully processed. The molasses is removed from the turbinado/raw sugar.

Varying degrees of brown sugar have differing amounts of molasses added back in to white sugar. Darker browns have more molasses flavor.

None of them take any more heat or have a higher melting/burning point than any of the others.

Jolly Bill Barker

Fidel wrote:

None of them take any more heat or have a higher melting/burning point than any of the others.

Ah Ha this is one of the things I was questioning. Sugar melts at 320-367 degrees. So if we are cooking low and slow at 235 to 250 how in the world does the different sugars make a difference? It must be just for flavor.

I just know the impurities will make a difference in melting point.


OK now we are, "getn som wrr".

Jolly Bill Barker

So how would you dry brown sugar and then process it in a food processor?

stike

It will. It will lower it.

Turbinado is less pure, and would burn at a lower temp. But lore says the opposite

in truth it is immaterial. Because even the less pure turbinado is still 99.9% sucrose. If one or the other burns at slower temp, as you mentioned, it wouldn't make a bit of difference in your rub.