ottawa foodies

Anyone know if there is any difference between muscavado sugar and demerra sugar? (sp? on both counts)

Regular brown (golden yellow) sugar is refined white sugar with refined molasses added back.

These 2 products are what you get when you stop the refining process at a certain point. No need to add anything back.

Wikipedia is of no help.

Muscovado is an unrefined sugar with varying degrees of "darkness". Demerara is also an unrefined sugar but is not "sticky" like muscovado, also, demerara is highly granular, unlike muscovado's fine grain. Demerara is sometimes what you get as "raw sugar" at coffee shops, and goes well in coffee (it's what I use).

And what about turbinado?

I think the terms may be used kind of loosely here because I'm pretty sure the stuff I bought says "demerra" but looks like what my friend and you describe as "muscavado".

Someone at work posted this :

Demerara sugar, Demerrara sugar
Named after the Demerara area of Guyana, South America, from which it
originally came. It is often described as natural, unrefined cane sugar.
Today, Mauritius is a major supplier. It is a light brown sugar with large,
slightly sticky crystals. Originally assumed to be a product of a sugar cane
mill, but nowadays also produced in England and Canada in refineries. A
popular product for tea and coffee in England, Australia and Canada, but not
very well known in the U.S. An old Webster's Dictionary (1940s) describes it
as a raw sugar having large superficially yellow crystals obtained by
treating the sugar with sulfuric acid.

Muscovado sugar

Very dark brown sugar with a strong molasses flavor. Originally described as
an unrefined sugar crystallized from the first boiling in the mill. The
crystals are larger than brown sugar but not as large as turbinado or
demerara sugar crystals and very sticky. The flavor is supposed to be
"unique, strong, deep, dark, dusky," etc. Although the original definition
is of a very dark sugar, there is also a "light muscovado sugar" available
on the market, which is lighter in color and flavor. The original term of
"muscovado" referred to the very low quality crystallized cane juice
produced in the European colonies of the Americas. In other words, the term
was synonymous with raw sugar. This muscovado sugar was then refined in
Europe. The word has its origin in old Spanish and Portuguese words for
"unrefined."

Barbados Sugar

Often used as a synonym of muscovado sugar. It is described as moist and
fine-textured.

Turbinado Sugar

A "partially refined raw sugar" from which some of the surface molasses film
has been removed by steam or water. It is a light golden to brown color with
large crystals and a mild, cane flavor. The crystals are dry and
free-flowing. It is the same as washed raw sugar.

FWIW, we have one at home labelled Demera (sp?) but it clearly fits the above description of Muscovada (dark brown and sticky). We also have one called Cassonda which fits the description of Turbinado above.

EDIT : I would therefore conclude the terms are used fairly loosely

Cassonade is raw sugar, or brown sugar in french. All of these terms mean *something* in the baking world, as the amounts/proportions of molasses, sugar cane juice, etc, all lend different chemical properties to whatever recipe they are being used in.

Now if we get into the world of jaggery or piloncillo... well... that's completely different! And if anyone needs to know where to buy them, ask me!

I know they are *supposed* to mean something, but unfortunately it seems the manufacturers are using the terms rather loosely. So if your recipe calls for demera and you just go buy something that says "demera", you may not end up with what the recipe had intended (case in point, the demera I have in my cupboard).

Real muscovado sugar used to be readily available in Ottawa (eg Loblaws). It was made by Lantic - the same people that make the (dry) demerara in the yellowish bag. The muscovado was in an orange bag with a Caribbean-looking woman dancing on the package. Sadly, it went off the market about 2 years ago.

I wrote to Lantic requesting that it be brought back - but they said not enough people were buying it to make it worth it. I campaigned - eg saying that Nigella Lawson's cookbooks featured muscovado and were becoming increasingly popular. No luck. But perhaps if others also wrote in.....

The real (Lantic) muscovado is dark, fine-grained, moist, very fragrant and really does make a difference in many desserts (eg Nigella's dense chocolate loaf cake).

I've substituted Redpath's demerara in many recipes and sometimes there is no difference, other times subtle, and other times it makes it no longer worth the recipe (eg Nigella's loaf cake). While the Redpath demerara is moist (unlike Lantic's), it is too coarse and not fragrant enough to really match muscovado.

Sadly, on a recent trip to Barbados, i found no specialty sugars whatsoever.
I have seen muscovado in the States (eg WholeFoods, Dean & Delucca) but it was
in small containers and at a large price.

If anyone can find a source closer to home, please post a reply.
Chimichimi - I'd like to know where to buy jaggery and piloncillo - thanks!

I get my piloncillo from:

ottawafoodies.com/vendor/1206
ottawafoodies.com/vendor/468
or the Latino grocery on Somerset, between Booth and Bronson, in Chinatown.

and I get my jaggery from:

Vaishali's Super Store Ltd. in Britania
ottawafoodies.com/vendor/1382
The Samosoa Hut on Wellington
or any other of the many Indian grocery stores.

I personally find jaggery (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaggery) to have a sulphery smell/taste. It also feels a little oily on the tongue.

For gnawwing on a piece, out of the cupboard, to satisfy a sweet craving .... I'll take the piloncillo over the jaggery, anyday.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WHOOPS ... I'm not Chimichimi.

As for the muscovado, The best I ever had is from www.billingtons.co.uk/home.

Does anyone know where or who has this in Canada, or better yet, Ottawa ?

Whoops is right! LOL, it's ok though Cap'n. You pretty much touched on most places I would have recommended though the Mercado Latino is located in Vanier, not in Chinatown, the one in Chinatown (Little Latin America) does have piloncillo from time to time, though I find their selection verrry limited and hit'n'miss. One upside to Little Latin America is the chorizo, queso fresco, fresh poblanos, etc. that they have, but you must ask for.

The jaggery can be found at NASA food center on Somerset as well as the places Cap'n already mentioned (the Samosa Hut on Wellington/Richmond is a great little place)

Thanks Captain Caper for your picture and comments. We have been scouring the city of Montreal for months now trying to find a substitute but to no avail.

We used to be able to purchase Billington's Muscovado Cane Sugar at our local IGA Extra supermarket and they stopped selling it. We wrote an e-mail to Lantic and they replied that they stopped producing it due to low demand and did not know of any other company making it. We love this sugar and although we are in Montreal area, we would gladly take a drive to Ottawa and buy a few months worth to bring back home if anyone knows of a distributor or store carrying either Billington's or another Muscovado cane sugar please share this information.

Write to the company and they'll tell you

What do you do so that the brown sugar won't become rock solid when you don't used them?

Hard sugar just needs rehydrating. Placing a dampened piece of (clean) terra cotta pot in the container/bag with the brown sugar then sealing it works VERY well. This method can also be used to keep cookies/dried fruit etc. soft.
Here's a company that sells bits of clay (and the blurb is worth a read).
www.jbkpottery.com

Pretty...and they mention why the common bread slice or apple method is not a good idea: mold.
If you're low maintenance, check your garden shed/garage first or buy a small pot and break it up.

Apple has always worked for me. Worked nice in my shag, too, when I used to smoke :-)

Well well well.

I e-mailed Billingtons in England about obtaining there muscavado sugar in Canada. (see my post here ---> ottawafoodies.com <--- )

Here is the response (after 2.5 months):

"Please forgive our very tardy reply to your email. We've had technical difficulties that are just being resolved. Thank you for your patience while your email found its way to my inbox (Wholesome Sweeteners distributes Billington's sugars in North America). I'm delighted to know that you enjoy Billington's ... There is nothing in the North American market that compares in terms of flavor and texture.

Because we work through a multi-tiered distribution system, it is sometimes challenging to guarantee that any given store will have Billington's sugars on the shelf at any given time, so we encourage you to call before visiting the store. According to our distributor's data, our sugars are carried by:

Bee Balm & Basil (613.230.0222)
Herb & Spice (613-232-4087)
Loeb & Glebe (613.232.9466)
Wheatberry (613.235.7580)
Natural Food Pantry (613.241.6629)
Almonte Natural Foods Center (613.256.1833)
Granary (613.257.5986)
Nature's Way Select (613.258.7772)
Foodsmiths (613.267.5409)
Nobel Bean (613.278.2305)
Pulse Foods (613.256.6638)
Please let me know if I can answer additional questions about our products or if additional store options are needed. We'll be happy to try to track them down--and I promise a more prompt response!

With best regards, Karen"

That is a totally lovely and quaint response. "Please forgive our very tardy reply" = priceless.

Next time I need to cook any of Nigella's baking recipes you'd better believe I'm walking the five minutes to Herb & Spice to get some real muscovado.

I get the most ridiculous hot flashes (menopause, man!) on fully refined sugars and flours and consequently have had to do an enormous amount of research on the subject of sugars. In relation to this subject, here's the net of my research...

Natural sugars... non refined...
Demerara sugar is a patented product and comes from Guyana. It is peculiar in that it is the most rudimentary of refining process. If it doesn't come from this process and this part of the world - it is NOT Demerara. The patent works just like Scotch (which is patented to certain water sources and certain geographic areas of which we are all familiar). As most countries make "whiskey" they cannot call it Scotch! Demerara sugar - same thing.

Muscovado is a similar process but comes from the Brit West Indies and is distributed through Barbados.

Tupelo sugar comes typically from Hawaii but has expanded to some areas of the US. This is standard US brown sugar and is a fairly natural process of refining. Tupelo is actually the name of the massive centrifuges that are used in the refining process. Unlike Demerara, this sugar can be dried and will "sprinkle". Americans sometimes refer to this as "organic demerara"... and it is many times sold in Canada as "organic demerara". Some American refineries claim to be Tupelo but is in fact processed as if it were Redpath (see below). This will NOT bake as Demerara! And it doesn't bake as if it were white either (its not as sweet). Many times it is marketed as "sugar in the raw" or as "organic brown" (which it is not).

Fully refined sugars:... (and the source of my hot flashes)

All white sugar in North America.

Redpath "Demerara-Like" - is fully refined white sugar, taken to white and then is re-spun with molasses as a colour and reprocessed and sold as if it were demerara.

Redpath "Brown" - same as above.

----

Demerara can be purchased by special order at Kardishes in Bells Corners (and possibly others) but the staff don't appear to be very knowledgeable on the subject and will get you "organic" at a totally ridiculous cost unless you are very specific. I get 10kg bags with a label on it saying Grain Process Enterprises Ltd, Toronto, Ontario and it typically sells for $28 to $30. Just lately, they have been trying to get me to pay $45 and I'm now looking for another source. If anyone knows of any (other than ordering on-line from the UK - $21 for 10kg) please let me know.

I tried this other sugar that is under the brand Ethicable and the description says:

Artisanal product which has all the nutritional cane qualities. This makes it an ingredient full minerals and trace elements.

it is a 500 gram bag and costs $8 around.
The sugar was nice, but was annoying to use as it was in a hard block and hard to crumble at first.
I bought this at chocodirect.com

If you are using a lot of sugar it is not a good deal.

chocodirect.com

Thanks Prettytasty. I've learned that marketing words like "artisanal product" and "all the nutritional qualities" means they've typically added it back. In flour this translates to "enriched". In sugar it usually means they've added the molasses back and gone through some chemical binding process.

Yes, that is a bit expensive. It's not that I use a lot of sugar - just that I now use Demerara as my ONLY sugar (because of the flash problem). And I can tell almost instantaneously (well, within ten minutes) if I've eaten normally refined sugar - no matter how they try to disguise it.

The annoying hard lump... most natural brown sugars (except Tupelo) has to be kept moist. The easiest way to do this is to use a brown-sugar-disk - a damp terra-cotta disk usually moulded into something cute looking, or to throw a small piece of soaked paper towel into the bag. The sugar will begin to soften within half an hour.

I've substituted Demerara in all baking recipes mostly successfully. You "half-pack" the measure. The look is sometimes not what you expect (rice pudding is muddy looking for instance) but the taste is terrific.

I was told by the people who distribute this sugar (have spoken to the Chocodirect people on the phone a few times over the years), that it is made by a small cooperative and that is is just the sugar cane that is pressed and the juice is dried then packaged.
The same item they sell in a glass jar is not are much in a block, the one I bought was in a paper bag, with label on it...not the best packaging.

Now for the sugar I had bought, it would more like in a hard block-had to use a hammer to make into smaller pieces to use.

For the person who is buying from Kardish, if you know the distributor name from the package-maybe contact them?
I have actually done that with 2 brands I buy with no issues.
Hewett's dairy (bought powdered goat milk by mail).
-also another was a brand of cosmetics no longer sold here, bought from company's head office.

it might work!