Turbindo VS Brown Sugar

Richard Fl · December 2009

When making rubs I have been using turbindo sugar, but recently a manufacturer of rubs suggested that brown sugar would not burn as easily as turbindo. Any comments or opinions appreciated. This also applies to sauces. TIA!

Fidel · December 2009

That is simply not true. They are so chemically similar the burning point is so close it will not matter which you use.

Turbinado sugar is cane sugar before the molasses is removed - when the molasses is removed it becomes white sugar.

Brown sugar is white sugar with some molasses added back in. Dark brown has more molasses added than light brown.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

it's all sucrose, with varying amounts of molasses added back in

there are myths that turbinado burns at higher temps.

for reference, i think turbinado is 99.99 percent sucrose. whereas table sugar is 100%. turbinado is less pure, and would technically burn at a lower temp, but the difference is impossible to quantify in a kitchen.

use whatever works.

cookn biker · December 2009

Are you composing tonight Richard or just brainstorming?
That answer I'm not sure of. Sounds right though. Brown melts faster than the courser turbino.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

the 'turbinado' that is readily available is branded as "sugar in the Raw'

that's actually made by taking refined sucrose and glazing it with cane sugar for color.

i do not believe that there is any truly 'raw' sugar (sugar that is colored because it is unrefined) that is commercially, readily available. ...except for raw chunks of sugar cane

my point isn't thast you are wrong, by the way. just that 'turbinado' has reached mythical status, and it's basically pretty table sugar

Fidel · December 2009

I disagree. Turbinado sugar is partially refined, white sugar is completely refined.

Turbinado is made from cane extract, which is dried and the crystals are spun to remove additional moisture and some of the molasses. Taken a step further to remove the remaining molasses yields pure sucrose, aka white sugar.

Gator Bait · December 2009

Hi Richard,

I think the person you were talking to might have been confused. Most resourses I have seen have it just the other way around.
At http://www.dizzypigbbq.com/rubs.html it says "Instead of highly processed white and brown sugars which can burn and become bitter, raw unprocessed "turbinado" sugar has a better flavor and a higher burning point."

Gator

Fidel · December 2009

Show me a resource that shows the burning point of the various types of sugars.

When this discussion has come up in the past (as it seems to do once every few months) I tried to research it on various sugar manufacturer sites and a few other sources and could never find any detailed info that showed a discernible difference between them.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

i guess my point is that the difference is utterly negligible. it is essentially pure sucrose.

most 'brown sugars' (light, dark ) on the market are made from refined (white) sucrose that's been recolored. i thought sugar-in-the-raw was the same.

i thought it was taken to 100% like the 'brown sugars' are, then recolored. if not, it is taken so close to pure sucrose that the difference is negligible, and mostly cosmetic.

health and nutritional claims, performance claims about (non-)burning... all of it is basically lore. the manufacturers make no such claims.

Gator Bait · December 2009

I wont even try to find that data, LOL, I'm of the camp that believes sugar is sugar and is going to respond to the same amount of heat in a similar or same manor. I use dark brown sugar in my rubs cause so far I have liked it. I searched the web with "turbinado +rubs +burn" and came up with numerous sites that agree with the quote above.

Gator

Fidel · December 2009

Funny you can find the myth all over message boards and other sites, but no empirical data to be found.

Myths are funny like that, they get repeated so much they become "true" to the people that have heard/read them so many times. This is one of those myths that just won't die.

Bash · December 2009

MSDS for turbinado - melting point ~180c
http://www.naturalsourcing.com/msds/MSDS_Turbinado_Sugar.pdf

MSDS for sugar - melting point ~185-187C
http://www.axxousa.com/msds/msdsp/sugar_p.html

Of course, not sure if there is more variability from one type of turbinado to the next, or between types of sugar. Not very different, in any case.

Fidel · December 2009

Yea, but melting point and burning point are two different animals.

From recall, sucrose 'burns' at 350&deg or 360&deg from the sources I had found.

Gator Bait · December 2009

You got that right Fidel. The internet is a breeding ground for myths. With out the facts I don't know if this is a myth or not but you are right, it has become "common knowledge" regardless of whether it is correct or not. Maybe someone with the right data will chime in. We can always hope. :cheer:

Gator

Bash · December 2009

Spent a few minutes searching, confirmed that sugar burns at 350, and that there are lots of claims on BBQ sites that turbinado has a higher burn point, but I couldn't find anything empirical.

Richard Fl · December 2009

Thanks for the imput. Think I will stick with turbindo. Been good to me for several years.

Little Chef · December 2009

I TOTALLY feel like I am listening to one of those robotic movies that our dear Stike is so known for...

(what ever happened to Stike, anyways?? :woohoo:

) I will be smart at this time, and not get into the middle of a pissing match,.....lol... can't wait to see this convo on video robotics......lol (ps...I respect the heck out of both of you guys!!! And your tit-for-tat matches are absolutely the best!! :laugh:

Bordello · December 2009

:laugh:
If it's tit for tat I'm going to be Tat Bordello. :woohoo:

Couldn't help myself. :laugh:

Cheers,
Bordello

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

that's always been my point. 99 percent of the lore around bbq is passed along from one guy to the next as the god's truth and is taken on faith.

i mever found anythiing to support the claim that trubinado burns at a higher temp.

and all other evidence seems to support that it would burn at a lore temp. less refined oil burns at lower temps, for example.

and yet i would still maintain that the difference between turbinado and white table sugar is infinitesimal. negligible. and that they'd 'burn' at essentially the same temps, especially for our purposes

far from a pissing contest, i';m in agreement with you. this was my first of many "hey wait a minute, hold on..." topics. where'd i asked the stupid question, wondering if what we'd "always heard" was actually true, simply because it has been repeated so many times

then came the galvy issue, and the bacteria issue, the dry aging....
hahaha

god. what a tool eye yam

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

i actually agree with rod about the burning point issue. we have a few things (these myths) where we agree, and just keep asking "where is this info coming from?" hahaha

my mistake was in conflating (maybe 'equating') turbinado with the other sugars that aren't "less pure". most sugar in the US is taken to the point where it's 100% refined (white) sucrose. and then cane juice or molasses is added BACk into it to make various brown sugars. rather than stopping the process at certain points and pulling back, taking less-refined sugars off the line and packaging them, the sugar manufacturers almost always just refine it totally, then dumb it down in a sense and make the various brown sugars. used to be that is was less refined, but not any more.

i'd thought the "sugar in the raw" brand was the same. there are a couple similar so-called "raw" sugars which imply they are less refined, but they aren';t. they are merely colored with cane juice. that coating is enough of an umpurity to take them from 100% sucrose to 99.9%. still basically sucrose though

but my essential point was that even the "sugar in the raw stuff" is virtually no different chemically from 100% sucrose. it burns at the same temp, for our purposes. this isn't a case of cooking in extra virgin olive oil versus grapeseed oil, where one TRULY burns at a different temp.

i'm not arguing with rod about the temps/burning thing.

just saying "sugar in the raw" is NOT raw sugar

i respect you too, by the way. dunno why you would respect me, but thankful that you said you did. :laugh:

Little Steven · December 2009

Rod,

You are so analytical. Sometimes you just need to let art flow over you. :laugh:

Steve

Turbindo VS Brown Sugar

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