493972 Wed Feb 27 16:26:00 -0800 2008 15 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 3441591 I heard once that there is a difference in which you use, particularly for caramelizing. Is there? Wed Feb 27 16:26:00 -0800 2008 104285 sfbecky 1 3441752 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/03/31/FD91867.DTL ...But I personally have never noticed a difference. Wed Feb 27 17:17:59 -0800 2008 3441591 112561 Egg 1 3443287 Unless the sugar you buy at the store is 100% cane, you could possibly have a mix of them anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it. Thu Feb 28 07:50:25 -0800 2008 3441591 87249 katecm 2 3445373 Nope...at least that's not my experience... or the experience of other baking pros with whom I've discussed this. I regularly make creme brulee and caramel. Beet sugar will burn in a brulee, cane sugar will caramelize. Caramel made with beet sugar will crystallize and never form caramel -- cane sugar works brilliantly. Boiled icing is a mess made with beet sugar. I'm a C&H cane sugar girl all the way. The SFGate article Egg mentions above is a good article. If the package of sugar doesn't say cane, it's beet. Thu Feb 28 16:57:52 -0800 2008 3443287 18222 maria lorraine 1 3444079 I find that 100% cane is best for pulled sugar work, either kind works well for caramel and, frosting and candies. Thu Feb 28 11:01:01 -0800 2008 3441591 22220 Kelli2006 1 3445588 For starters, I simply don't like beet sugar. I swear I can taste a difference. But I've also had bad results with beet sugar in icings and candy. As a result I only buy cane sugar, almost always C&H. For the record, I don't think I've ever seen a confectioner's sugar made from beets. That should say something, even if it's only that I'm blind. But I don't think so. Thu Feb 28 18:15:15 -0800 2008 3441591 112096 Caroline1 2 3445655 do European chefs have the same preference for cane sugar? It's my impression that beet sugar is more common there, with countries like France and Germany being big producers. paulj Thu Feb 28 18:42:53 -0800 2008 3445588 12139 paulj 3 3445803 I don't know the answer to your question, but I would guess not. Beet sugar is very unreliable for confectionary work, and I don't think that has anything to do with what continent you''re on when you use it. '-) As far as I know, beet sugar got an impetus during the U.S. food rationing program of World War II. At that time, most U.S. sugar was grown in Hawaii, and the use of fuel for shipping to the mainland was severely limited as part of the war effort. I don't think there was enough Caribbean sugar cane available at the time, but I'm not sure of this. Anyway, home grown beet sugar became the patriotic thing to use. In Oregon, there was even a program that brought Japanese AMERICANS out of those stupid internmnet camps to work in the sugar beet fields. Don't know which was worse: You can stay locked up, or you can break your back working in the beet fields. Thu Feb 28 19:44:56 -0800 2008 3445655 112096 Caroline1 4 3446071 Its impetus in the USA might date from then, but its start in Europe dates from the Napoleonic wars when England cut the Continent off from sugar from the West Indies. Ever since then sugar beet growers have benefited from import quotas. Does the French 'bible' (LG) have anything to say about sugar from different sources? LaVarenne Pratique says there's no difference in taste and cooking properties. paulj Thu Feb 28 21:36:31 -0800 2008 3445803 12139 paulj 5 3446276 The gist of what Larousse Gastronomique says about beet sugar is that a German chemist names Marggraf, discovered sugar in beet juice in 1747. One of his followers, a French refugee names Achard, set up an experiemental factor but basically went broke, then started up again in France at the instigation of Napoleon, in response to the Continental Blockade. From that time it grew into a "big industry." LG gives a lot of information about saturated sugar solutions, the stages it goes through during boiling (soft thread, large thread, small ball, large ball, small crack, hard crack, caramel), as well as the degree of saturation that can be attained at different temperatures. It does say that originally there was a lot of backlash against beet sugar in Europe, with claims it doesn't taste good, isn't as sweet as cane sugar, and other complains (though not working in candy making isn't menitioned) until a fellow named Chaptal showed by "irrefutable experment" that beet sugar and cane sugar are identical. After that, beet sugar was accepted and "today" (1960's) is "almost" as big a source for sugar as cane. No mention of beet sugar acceptance or rejection by the general public in the New World. At the personal experience level, I did believe I percieved in a difference in taste and function between beet and cane sugar some forty or so years ago. But I can't remember the last time I saw anything labeled "beet sugar," so rather than give it another try, I'll just stay with the easily found C&H cane sugar... Fri Feb 29 03:12:01 -0800 2008 3446071 112096 Caroline1 6 3448472 Beet sugar is never labeled as such in the US. If you're buying sugar that isn't labeled cane sugar, then you must assume that there is a fair to sure possibility that what you are buying contains at least a percentage of beet sugar. Fri Feb 29 18:30:38 -0800 2008 3446276 10074 Caitlin McGrath 7 3448832 Thanks, Caitlin. I can't remember a time when I didn't exclusively buy and use C&H Cane Sugar. My mother did the same. But I did have beet sugar at someone's house when I was a kid... No idea whose, just that beet sugar was presented with pride, and I thought it tasted strange. That was a very very long time ago, and I have to assume that refining processes have changed a great deal. On the other hand, if I haven't tasted beet sugar since that long ago occasion, why should I leap to such a shaky conclusion? Maybe the power of my expectations made it taste strange? '-) Fri Feb 29 22:27:31 -0800 2008 3448472 112096 Caroline1 7 3448866 "Beet sugar is never labeled as such in the US." Perhaps not "labeled as such" on the FRONT of the package, but I have a 10 pound bag of 'Great Value' brand sugar which lists on a side panel: "Ingredients: Beet Sugar." ETA: I'm in the PNW/USA...daughters ex room mate did a lot of baking and left behind several packages of various sugars. Evidently roomie couldn't recall whether or not she had enough of a particular sugar on hand, so bought more. Fri Feb 29 23:12:37 -0800 2008 3448472 64823 OldDog 7 3449242 At least here in Michigan, beet sugar is often labeled as specifically beet sugar, with a little picture of a beet. And this is for store brands, like Meijer's, WalMart, etc. Certain locally produced brands produced by the Michigan Sugar Growers Coop aren't labeled per se, buts its pretty obvious. Sat Mar 01 07:54:49 -0800 2008 3448472 117958 anniemax 2 3449282 You can find confectioners sugar made from beet sugar in the US. One particular company, Big Chief, here in Michigan makes it with wheat starch instead the typical corn starch. I can find it occasionally under their own name brand, but most often they pack it for others as the store brand. I stock up whenever I can, since I'm allergic to corn/corn starch, and I don't want to pay the ridiculously $$$ amount for confectioners sugar made with tapioca starch...$4/lb+shipping or $1.25 for a 2 lb bag locally, which reminds me, I need to buy some more when I go shopping this afternoon. Sat Mar 01 08:10:00 -0800 2008 3445588 117958 anniemax 1 3445593 I'll try to dig up some threads on this for you - there has been some discussion of this and I remember Candy weighing in - particularly about baking w/ one vs. the other. Edit - http://www.chowhound.com/topics/445574 http://www.chowhound.com/topics/439864 http://www.chowhound.com/topics/381439 http://www.chowhound.com/topics/436925 http://www.chowhound.com/topics/321569 Thu Feb 28 18:16:50 -0800 2008 3441591 10985 MMRuth