Sugar

Most sugar somes from sugar cane, about 55%. Sugar cane is a kind of grass that grows to the height of about 16 feet. It can onlt grow in tropical regians near the equator. It is usually cut by hand witha machete. It is then taken to prossecing plants to be refined. They statrt by pressing the cane to extract the juice, and then boiling the juice until it begins to thicken and sugar begins to crystalliz, then spinning the crystals in a centrifuge to remove the syrup, producing raw sugar. They then ship the raw sugar to a refinery where it is washed and filtered to remove remaining non-sugar ingredients and color. Beet sugar processing is similar, but it is done in one continuous process without the raw sugar stage. The sugar beets are washed, sliced and soaked in hot water to separate the sugar-containing juice from the beet fiber. The sugar juice is then purified, filtered, concentrated and dried. Sugar types are defined by their crystal size. "Regular" is the sugar found in everyday homes and kitchens. It is the white sugar called for in most cookbook recipes. The food processing industry describes "regular" sugar as extra fine or fine sugar. It is the sugar most used by food processors because of its fine crystals that are ideal for bulk handling. Fruit sugar is slightly finer than "regular" sugar and is used in dry mixes such as gelatin desserts, pudding mixes and drink mixes. Fruit sugar has a more uniform crystal size than "regular" sugar. The uniformity of crystal size prevents separation or settling of smaller crystals to the bottom of the box, an important quality in dry mixes and drink mixes. Bakers Specials' crystal size is even finer than that of fruit sugar. As its name suggests, it was developed specially for the baking industry and is used for sugaring doughnuts and cookies. Superfine, Ultrafine, or Bar Sugar, has the smallest crystal size is the finest of all the types of granulated sugar, and it great for drinks, like coffee, tea, and lemonade because it disolves so easily. Confectioners (or powdered) sugar is granulated sugar ground to a smooth powder and then sifted. It contains about 3% cornstarch to prevent caking. Confectioners sugar is available in three grades ground to different degrees of fineness. The confectioners sugar is the finest of the three and is used in icings, confections and whipping cream.