Sugar
From ArticleWorld
Sugar is commonly used to alter the flavor and properties of a number of food and beverages. Sugar also serves a variety of other purposes and comes in a number of forms. It is associated with the taste of sweetness.
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Types of sugars
There are simple sugars, also known as monosaccharides. These include glucose and work as an energy store for biological cells. Any word on a list of ingredients that ends in an “ose” is a sugar. Types of culinary sugar include:
- Raw sugars, which are yellow to brown and made from clarified cane juice, which is boiled down to a solid with minimum chemicals.
- Mill white sugar, also known as plantation white, superior sugar or crystal sugar. These raw sugars colored impurities are bleached via exposing it to sulfur dioxide.
- Blanco directo is the most common form of sugar in North America and Europe. It is refined, made by a process of dissolving raw sugar and purifying it with phosphoric acid.
- Brown sugars are obtained in the late refining stages. They occur when it forms fine crystals with much molasses content.
Production
Table sugar, also called sucrose, is taken from plants, namely the sugarcane and sugar beets. Other crops can include the date palm, sorghum and the sugar maple. The key countries for the production of cane sugar are typically countries with warm climates. Thailand, Brazil and Australia, for example. The highest quantity of sugar is produced in the United States, Caribbean nations, the Far East and Latin America. Typically the regions that produce sugar beat are the cooler climates like northwest and Eastern Europe, Northern Japan and some portions of the U.S.
Cane or beet?
There is little difference between these two kinds of sugar, although testing for impurities (developed to reduce abuse of EU subsidies) has proven effective. The residues, however, differ: Cane molasses can be used as an ingredient; the molasses from sugar beat is inedible. Pulp from both can be burnt for fuel.
Health
A report issued by the World Health Organization in 2003 says that sugar should not account for more than 10 percent of the intake in a healthy diet. The U.S. Sugar Association, however, insists that other evidence shows that a quarter of the public’s food and drink may consist of sugar.
Sugar consumption in the United States has been attributed as a leading cause of diabetes and obesity, and hyperactivity in children.