What Are White Sugar, Brown Sugar, and Rock Sugar Made Of? A Detailed Explanation of the Differences

Sugar is one of the main sources of nutrition for the human body. The main types of edible sugar are white sugar, brown sugar, and rock sugar. They are all extracted from sugarcane and sugar beet, and the main component of all three is sucrose. So what are white sugar, brown sugar, and rock sugar made of?

White Granulated Sugar

White granulated sugar is a type of edible sugar. Its granules are crystalline, uniform, and pure white, with a pure sweet taste and a sweetness slightly lower than that of brown sugar. It is commonly used in cooking. Consuming white sugar in moderation has the effects of tonifying the middle and boosting qi, harmonizing the stomach and moistening the lungs, and nourishing yin and stopping sweating.

In GB 13104-2014, white granulated sugar is defined as sucrose crystals made from sugarcane or sugar beet as raw materials, processed through extraction of sugar juice, purification treatment, boiling and crystallization, and centrifugal separation of molasses, among other processes.  Soft white sugar is in powder form, suitable for cooking, with a sweetness similar to that of white granulated sugar. Soft white sugar comes in two types: refined soft white sugar and traditionally made soft white sugar. The former is white in color with fine, soft crystals and better quality; the latter is slightly yellow and somewhat dull in color with poorer quality.

White granulated sugar is the most important variety of edible sugar. In foreign countries, essentially 100% of edible sugar is white granulated sugar, while in China white granulated sugar accounts for more than 90% of total edible sugar. White granulated sugar is classified into refined, premium grade, first grade, and second grade.

Brown Sugar

Brown sugar refers to finished sugarcane sugar with molasses, a molasses-containing sugar formed by pressing sugarcane juice and concentrating it. Brown sugar is classified by crystal granule differences into slab sugar, brown sugar powder, bowl sugar, and others. Because it has not undergone high-degree refining, it contains almost all the components of sugarcane juice.

The specific production process:

(1) The entire process from sugarcane to brown sugar is a physical process, with no chemical change process;

(2) Press the sugarcane water out, heat it in a pot and boil it to evaporate the water, and what remains is brown sugar;

(3) Throughout the entire production process, only during the heating step is a little quanzhi oil added (an oil pressed from the nuts borne by the quanzhi tree); some poorer people substitute the cheaper rapeseed oil;

(4) One step is very important: if the boiled brown sugar is directly cooled, it becomes the so-called "niupitang" (chewy sugar). Once cold, you cannot bite through niupitang with your teeth, nor can you cut it with a knife. In short, you cannot eat it. The boiled brown sugar must be placed in a large wooden basin about 2 m in diameter and stirred until it cools, and the liquid brown sugar then becomes the brown sugar we see on the market.

Rock Sugar

Rock sugar is ice-like crystals made by boiling and refining white granulated sugar. It is made from sucrose plus a protein raw material formula, and after re-dissolving, purification treatment, and recrystallization, large-granule crystalline sugar is obtained. It comes in single-crystal and multi-crystal forms, and is transparent or semi-transparent.

Because its crystals are like ice, it is named rock sugar, also called “ice grain.” Naturally formed rock sugar comes in white, slightly yellow, light gray, and other colors. In addition, there are various colored rock sugars on the market with added food coloring (mainly for export), such as green, blue, orange, slightly red, deep red, and many other colors.

The Differences Between White Sugar, Rock Sugar, and Brown Sugar

1. Differences in the Production Process

White sugar, rock sugar, and brown sugar are all extracted from sugarcane and sugar beet, and all fall within the category of sucrose.

Brown sugar is a mixture of sucrose and molasses;

White sugar is made from brown sugar through several processes such as washing, centrifugation, molasses separation, and decolorization;

Rock sugar is formed from white sugar under certain conditions through recrystallization.

Their chemical composition is all sucrose.

2. Differences in Effects

White sugar can detoxify and help treat acute conditions

White sugar is the seasoning we use most often in daily life, but because white sugar is refined, it contains very few nutrients and mainly serves a seasoning function. White sugar also contains a large amount of sugar, and eating too much can affect health.

Sometimes we also use white sugar in dietary health care, because it has a certain effect of moistening the lungs and clearing lung heat. However, rock sugar is more effective at clearing lung heat, so rock sugar is the first choice when making stewed soups.

White sugar also has a certain detoxifying effect. In fact, all sweet sugars have a bit of a detoxifying effect, and because white sugar has a very high sugar content, its effect is relatively fast. In the past, if someone ate something toxic, in an emergency people would immediately give them white sugar water to detoxify. Drinking white sugar water can also neutralize the toxicity of fish and shrimp. For example, when eating crab, brown sugar should not be used. This is because crab is cold in nature, and brown sugar conflicts with it. Therefore, after eating crab, it is recommended that everyone drink a bowl of ginger sugar water.

Method:

1. Peel the ginger and cut it into fine shreds.

2. Add a little white sugar to the ginger shreds, then pour boiling water over them, cover and let steep for about 1 minute, and it is ready to drink.

After drinking it, you will feel warm and comfortable in your stomach. If someone suddenly has a stomachache or feels unwell, immediately drinking hot white sugar water can help relieve the pain. If you can identify that your abdominal pain is cold in nature, you can drink brown sugar water. But if your stomach suddenly hurts a little and you cannot immediately determine the cause, white sugar is a more convenient choice. If someone has not eaten all day and feels dizzy, this is a reaction to low blood sugar, and immediately drinking a cup of white sugar water can also relieve it.

We habitually use white sugar in cooking, partly because white sugar dissolves quickly, and partly because brown sugar is not suitable for long boiling.

However, white sugar is a somewhat acidic food. After eating it, it makes our blood tend toward acidity, and this effect is strong. The human body can maintain a healthy state only when it is slightly alkaline. If the blood remains acidic for a long time, toxins in our body will accumulate, and cancer cells also grow in an acidic environment. Therefore, when using white sugar, try to control the amount so that it is healthier.

Brown sugar can nourish blood and invigorate blood circulation to resolve stasis

Although it is not refined sugar, do not therefore think it is relatively low-grade. Brown sugar is a very good thing. Female friends are generally quite familiar with it; it nourishes qi and blood. Women must drink brown sugar water after childbirth, not only to nourish qi and blood but also to help them expel lochia as quickly as possible; in addition, when treating wind-cold colds, we need to use brown sugar, and for regulating weak spleen and stomach, brown sugar is also indispensable.

Women all want to nourish blood, but sometimes even expensive blood-nourishing medicines do not work well because the method is wrong. Simply tonifying is not enough; you must dissolve the old blood stasis first so that new blood can be produced. Therefore, it is very beneficial for female friends to eat some brown sugar regularly, as it both nourishes and invigorates the blood, which can make your complexion better. Moreover, brown sugar is a warming substance and can be used when regulating all cold-type diseases.

Brown sugar is not exclusively for women; people with a weak constitution and elderly people also benefit from eating brown sugar. Brown sugar is rich in nutrients and low in sugar content. Among white sugar, brown sugar, and rock sugar, if you use the same amount, brown sugar has the least sugar, because it is sugar from the first pressing, with a sugar content of only 95%, and the rest is minerals and vitamins.

Compared with white sugar, brown sugar contains more things beneficial to our body. The trace elements contained in brown sugar have a strong stimulating effect on the human body's hematopoietic function, which is precisely the key to its blood-nourishing effect. In daily life, you can consider using brown sugar instead of white sugar as much as possible when cooking, so that your family has more opportunities to eat brown sugar, both controlling the overall sugar intake and making use of the nutrition of brown sugar.

Brown sugar is not suitable for long boiling in the pot, and is generally more suitable for making cold dishes. Adding a little brown sugar to cold dressed dishes makes the taste better. Moreover, most raw dressed dishes are cold in nature, and a little brown sugar can also warm the stomach. Brown sugar comes in blocks and does not dissolve as quickly as white sugar, so it is best not to mix it directly into dishes; wait until it has been stirred and dissolved in the seasoning sauce before adding it.

One thing everyone should note is that brown sugar is rich in minerals and readily undergoes chemical reactions. If you use brown sugar to cook food, be careful not to let it be heated in the pot for too long. Especially when you use an iron pot, it is even more likely to react chemically with brown sugar, so brown sugar is generally best added when the dish is about to be removed from the heat.

Note: Brown sugar is warming in nature. People with a hot constitution should use it with caution, as eating too much can easily produce damp-heat. Children are also not suited to eating much brown sugar. Among the four seasons, brown sugar should be eaten less in spring.

Rock sugar can moisten the lungs and clear internal heat

Opposite to brown sugar, rock sugar is cooling in nature. If brown sugar is used for wind-cold colds, then rock sugar is used for wind-heat colds.

Brown sugar is suitable for eating in summer and winter, while rock sugar is suitable for eating in spring and autumn. In spring, when the weather just begins to gradually warm up, many people are prone to coughs with internal heat and dry coughs. If it is a dry cough without phlegm, rock sugar can be used. It can both clear internal heat and moisten our lungs, clearing lung heat. In spring, we use rock sugar more often than brown sugar. If you usually like to drink brown sugar water, then in spring you can appropriately reduce the amount, because brown sugar is warming in nature and may cause internal heat.