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I bought C&H cane dark brown sugar. In the store I noticed it was not really dark. But with the shelves about empty there wasn't another brand to compare it with. When I got home the brand I had (unknown, since I keep it in a glass jar) was much, much darker. I tasted but am not sure if there was a difference.

Baked choc. chip cookies. They just did not have the same taste as usual... close but not right. Now part of it is that I used ½ maragine for the butter (a mistake I will not make again). But I wonder if the sugar isn't partly to blame.

Has anyone else noticed a difference in C&H? How about other brands?

I haven't purchased dark brown sugar in awhile. The only difference between dark and light brown sugar is that dark has more molasses in it. Maybe they changed the method of extraction when producing molasses from sugar cane.

I would say that the brown sugar could have had something to do with it -- not as much flavor BUT the biggest culprit is probably the margarine for the butter. One or the other has more moisture and will give you a different result. (I never can remember which has the most).

Martha

It is the margarine that has more moisture... at least per my cookies. As I said, I will never do that again.

I know the dark brown sugar has molasses in it. If it is not as dark, is it less molasses? Or do they also use some sort of coloring?

Have other brands lightened their 'dark' brown sugar?

quote:

Originally posted by metwo:
I know the dark brown sugar has molasses in it. If it is not as dark, is it less molasses? Or do they also use some sort of coloring?

If it's light brown sugar it has less molasses than dark brown sugar. If you ever run out of brown sugar you can substitute granulated white sugar with molasses added. Blend in a food processor or mix by hand until it is well blended as follows:

1 cup white sugar + 1 1/2 tablespoons molasses = Light Brown Sugar

1 cup white sugar + 3 tablespoons molasses = Dark Brown Sugar

I've noticed the color difference with certain brands. Usually Dominoes Dark Brown Sugar is REALLY dark and the store brand is a little lighter. I love the darker because of the strong flavor of molasses. I even use it in my coffee.

I think the shortening was the culprit with the off taste of the cookies also. Butter and margarine can be very different formulas/moisture/fat from brand to brand too. Best to stick with what you know you had good results with in prior baking recipes.

C & H is now the only sugar I will buy. Any other brand that does not say "cane sugar" on the ingredients, uses beet sugar. Especially with baking, one can get random results. The beet sugar (if brown) is often sprayed with colorant and the center of the granule is white.

Even my hummingbirds prefer the cane sugar over beet, but that was where I used up the last of the beet sugar. Sorry little guys.

Something makes me wanna say that you could actually MAKE your own brown sugar?? White sugar + enough molasses to give ya the right texture?!?

Don't bake a lot, but when I make chocolate chip cookies... recipe usually calls for half white, half dark brown... I opt for about 75% brown... like the flavor.

Don't get me started on dark brown sugar....I threw a hissy fit one day at the grocery store because there wasn't any on the shelf. I sent an aisle boy to go look for some and he came back almost immediately and said the warehouse hadn't sent any on their last truck, so there wasn't any. I followed him back to the office and storage area and asked the other kid hanging around why they didn't have any dark brown sugar on the shelf. He reiterated that the warehouse hadn't shipped, while the first kid went back to look for real this time. The first kid hollered back up to me, how many bags did you want. As he came back up with half a dozen bags I went livid and asked for them to call the manager and I went off on him for the employees lying to me!
The shelves have never been void of dark brown sugar, as I'm sure every new employee gets the word that there are two kinds of brown sugar to keep stocked!

Well, anyway, at my store there is only one brand of dark brown sugar offered, so that's whay I use and love.
There isn't more molasses added to the dark brown sugar, there is more molasses removed from the further processing of light brown sugar. So if you prefer a product that is less processed, go for the dark brown sugar.

Brown sugar is regular white sugar with molasses added -- light brown has less than dark brown.

What is know here as "Raw sugar" which is also brown is a less processed sugar.

Martha

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Linderhof,

Lurah, your post makes me so glad that the owners of our grocery make sure every employee is there to serve the customers. And if there is a problem at least one of the two owners is always there and often on the floor working.

Guess this is not a widespread problem or concern. We just like the molasses taste, I guess. There is one more grocery in town I can try... maybe they will have dominoes brand.

I would dislike having to add more molasses,,, just more work.

I recently noticed (didn't buy) that Walmart has gone back to "pure cane sugar" for their own brand.
I won't buy anything either that says "pure sugar"...it has to be "pure CANE sugar". The sugar beets they use for the other sugar are GMO'd. I prefer to NOT put that in my body when possible.

Linderhof is right about the processing & Raw Sugar being the less processed!
I spent about 20+ yrs. of my retail experience in grocery stores...in several states.
Yes, you have to "keep on" some employees to get the service you want. Once they understand you WILL go to the manager, they will bend over backwards to help you!

This from the Canadian Sugar Institute:

"How is brown sugar produced?
In Canada, the method currently used to produce brown sugar is called blending. Blending is a process that combines the separately purified white sucrose crystals with refiners' syrups (such as fancy grade molasses) to produce yellow or brown sugar. The difference between light (yellow) and dark brown sugar is that the darker brown sugars have more of the refiners' syrup (molasses) left in the product. Turbinado-style, Muscovado and Demerara-style sugars are all specialty brown sugars."

http://www.sugar.ca/english/co...s/sugarfromfield.cfm

I think this is what Lurah is writing about. The folowing is from the American Sugar Alliance:

What is brown sugar?

Brown sugar consists of sugar crystals contained in molasses syrup with natural flavor and color components. Many sugar refiners produce brown sugar by preparing and boiling a special syrup containing these components until brown sugar crystals form. In the final processing the crystals are spun dry in a centrifuge; some of the syrup remains giving the sugar its characteristic brown color. Other refiners produce brown sugar by blending a special molasses syrup with white sugar crystals.

http://www.sugaralliance.org/faq.html