5 common types of sugar and what to use them for

When you stand in front of the sugar aisle at a supermarket, you probably won’t come across many surprises. Still, not everyone knows the difference between the various types of sugar. And if you happen to find yourself in a foreign shop, you may well see types of sugar you’ve never heard of before. This list might come in handy then.

Especially now that you can access baking recipes from all over the world with just one click, you may occasionally see a type of sugar in the ingredients list that you don’t know yet. So: five common types of sugar and how to use them in the kitchen.

Demerara sugar

Demerara sugar is a raw cane sugar from the Demerara region in South American Guyana. You don’t often come across Demerara sugar in Dutch recipes, but you do in British ones. It’s somewhat coarser than regular cane sugar and therefore retains a little more crunch when baked. It’s delicious in a small amount as a topping for cookies.

Muscovado sugar

Muscovado sugar is an unrefined sugar from which the molasses is not removed, so it remains brown. It has a unique aroma and is also known as ‘raw sugar’.

Granulated sugar

Granulated sugar can be made from sugar beets or sugar cane. It is the most common refined sugar, and is generally available ground to three levels of fineness: ‘regular’ granulated sugar, fine granulated sugar and powdered sugar. Fine granulated sugar is well suited to baking things that don’t spend very long in the oven, such as small cookies. Powdered sugar comes in handy when you want to make icing for a cake or cookies.

Jam sugar

Jam sugar is granulated sugar to which pectin has been added. Pectin is a natural substance from the cell walls of plants and fruits and helps fruits set when you want to make jam.

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