Hiya, All! Question about Organic Sugar vs. "Regular" Sugar

J

josho

Enthusiast Member
Hey, all. It's been awhile (years, or almost!). Being the main caretaker for a toddler has severely curtailed my cooking and baking activities, which is mostly why I haven't been on. But Meryl flagged me down over at the Cook's Illustrated website and encouraged me to drop back in...

So I'm dropping back in with a question. I'm looking at a mountain of baking this week (in preparation for the daughter's 2nd BD) and was thinking of using organic sugar. (We feed her organically whenever possible, and it's possible that she'll be trying some of what I make.)

But I'd been told by one person, awhile back, that organic sugar "works" a little differently than regular sugar, and that when she tried organic sugar in a recipe, the finished product was just not the same.

Any thoughts?

--Josh

 
Hi Josho, I can't really say that I've used organic sugar for baking, but have been..

purchasing it lately and find that it has a tanish cast and seems to be a bit moister that regualar granulated. Don't know if that occurs only in the brand available to us or not.

 
Heyyyy Josh! Welcome home and we've missed you! Ive used both and really can't tell the

difference in the finished product. Maybe if you were doing something very light with alot of sugar in it (maybe a meringue) it would have a different finish but for cookies or cakes- no difference, in my opinion.

Glad to see you back!

 
Hey Josh, great to see you here! You got me curious about organic sugar, so I did a little online

research. Apparently, organic sugar is coarser than the refined white stuff, plus it contains more molasses and has more moisture. The best thing to do is to run it through your food processor until it becomes as fine as white sugar. The difference in taste and moisture is another story, although, I was reading that Rose Levy Berambaum uses it in all her baking, and she prefers the taste, and I guess the extra moisture hasn't hurt anything. She uses organic Florida crystals, which may be finer than some other organic brands.

Anyway, here's a quote from an online chat (I corrected some of their typos), with pastry chefs/baking experts at Pastry Scoop from the French Culinary Institute. "(PastryScoop.com is a free resource dedicated to supporting and celebrating the pastry arts. Founded in 2004 by The French Culinary Institute...)" :

" Is there any difference when using organic sugar in baking? It's a different color and seems to have a more coarse texture...

Murph, organic sugar is probably turbinado or demerara, right? That means it's brown and coarser, and yes, it'll make a difference, both because it may measure differently and because the pH will be different. It'll be more acidic. That said, I'd just give it a try, as the pH might not be different enough to make a difference in the recipe.

Murph, if you want a fine grained, high rising result, as for most cakes, you want the finest grain sugar.

I'm really trying to use as many organic products as possible. Can I just process the organic sugar and still use the amount called for in a recipe ?

Murph, depends what you're using it for. All I can say is, give it a try. Should be fine in cookies or pie, maybe not so good in cake or meringues."

http://www.pastryscoop.com/onlineChats_chat5.html

 
Hi Josh! I remember you posted some photos of your baby on your website, so I looked in, and

WOW is she cute!

Also glanced at your EarthBox design--very nice.

About the sugar--you might try comparing the weight of a cup of regular sugar with a cup of the organic. If they're different, that would suggest a different grain size.

 
Ya know, that never fails to p*ss me off. Why is it that everything healthy is more expensive?

 
Sometimes organic is LESS healthy. Without fungicides, produce is more likely to mold,

and some molds are extremely toxic.

 
OMG!!! Is that JOSH? I still have his CIA Baking Experience bookmarked!

Good to see you. smileys/smile.gif

 
Josh, What a great surprise to "see" you. Hope you come back more often. You are missed!

 
Oh you know -all the work it takes to NOT put things in. Like bikinis are more expensive than jeans!

 
Yeah, and like "unsalted" is more expensive than salted. Makes no sense whatsoever, but then...

what does?

 
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