Sweet as Sugar

I love sweets, they are the solution to any problem. Feeling blue- m&ms, running low on energy- jellybeans., feeling pekish- hot chocolate. If I let my cravings rule what I ate I would be big as a house and even more cavities. Natural sugars (from fruits) always make me feel better but I enjoy the occasional indulgence enough to want to know what I am putting in my body.

I read an article in the April 2010 issue of Chatelaine and was amazed and chagrined to find that while I have been eating brown sugar for years thinking that it was good for me. Brown sugar is in fact just white sugar with molasses, used for its richer flavour not nutritional value (in relation to granulated sugar).

Demerara is actually the raw, corse cane sugar I thought brown sugar was. It has a toffee-like flavour and is sticky with molasses.

As far as nutritional value they are almost identical:

Brown Sugar-1 tsp 17 calories 4.5 g of sugar from carbohydrates (from caloriecount.about.com)

Demerara- 1 tsp 15 calories 4 g of sugar from carbohydrates (from the thedailyplate.com)

But they are NOT the same! They are very different in texture as well as taste. I am actually very excited to experiment with some Demerara, which they sell in small bags at the grocery store, perfect for experimenting with!