Making Brown Sugar.

I apologize for the pause in posts--I had planned on posting on Monday, but on that morning I got the news that my father had had a heart attack. He is fine now! The hospital has taken excellent care of him, and he expects to fully recover. We are so happy and relieved. However, needless to say, I was shaken by this event and forgot about my blog for a while.

I was in such a worried, fretful state on that day. I knew I had to pull myself together for the children, so I did two things. The sun was shining brightly, so I went outside with the baby and harvested some herbs from the garden. Nothing is more soothing to me than working in the garden.

It's also so pleasing to see bunches of herbs I grew myself hanging to dry.

And then of course, I did what most women do in a time of distress--made food. In this case, chocolate chip cookies. I almost used up all the brown sugar, and instead of adding it to the shopping list this morning, I decided to try making some of my own.

Did you know the brown sugar you buy in the grocery store is in fact refined white sugar that has had some molasses added back into it? I found this info on Wikepedia:

Brown sugar is often produced by adding cane molasses to completely refined white sugar crystals in order to more carefully control the ratio of molasses to sugar crystals and to reduce manufacturing costs.^[1] This also allows the production of brown sugars to be based predominantly on beet sugar.

I don't know if the brands sold in my area are made from beet sugar or cane sugar. I hope not beet sugar, since most sugar beets grown are genetically modified varieties. However, even if the sugar I normally buy comes from sugar cane, it still has been refined, and I much prefer to use organic, unbleached sugar in all my baking.

I have been buying organic "white" sugar for some time, but I have never seen organic brown sugar anywhere for sale. So, time to try it myself! I took two cups of organic sugar and mixed in 1 tablespoon of dark organic molasses. I was suprised that the resulting sugar was so dark and rich tasting.

In the photo, the homemade sugar is on the left, the store bought "dark" brown sugar is on the right:

I think this sugar will be lovely for baking, although I might have to add more white sugar to get a product my children will eat on their oatmeal. Since it is so easy to do, I will certainly continue to make my own brown sugar. I know that any kind of sugar isn't healthy--but I know that if I am going to make cookies anyway, it's healthier to use only organic sugar that has never been bleached. And I think that the cost of this organic brown sugar is about the same as the small bags of processed brown sugar in the grocery store.

Has anyone else ever tried making brown sugar?

Comments

[sara]

Wow that looks amazing..definitely going to try that..brown sugar is going up and up in price over here in the uk..making my own seems much more economical..bet it works great in cakes and cookies..
take care
sara

[Sarah]

I usually do make my own brown sugar, since I'm usually using dark. I still buy light, though. I have issues with getting it TOO dark, but I'm working on it! My pantry has jars of brown sugar and cinnamon sugar mixes, two 'must have' things.

[Erin]

We often buy a large bag of brown sugar (15 or 20 pounds...can't remember) during the fall baking sales at one of the local grocery stores. These bags seem to last for a year or more. I've never tried adding the molasses to white sugar, but I think I will since we're just about out of the dark stuff. Thanks for the idea! I hope your father is back to good health soon! Blessings.

[Carrie]

...looks delicious, makes me want some porridge. Hope that your father continues to improve.Lots of good wishes coming your family's way.

[Citysister]

I actually was about to write the same post this morning and then I saw this...Hope your dad gets well soon.

[Lesa]

I'm glad to read that your father is going to make a full recovery. Bless him and your whole family.

I love the homemade version of brown sugar myself. Yours looks particularly delicious. Those herbs look lovely as well. I can almost smell them from here. :-)

[Laura Jeanne]

What a weird coincidence. Sorry to "steal" your post! :-)

[Debra]

Thanks for the post. I never knew it was so easy to make your own brown sugar. Now that I do, I'll start making my own.

[Leah]

Sorry to hear about your dad's heart attack. How scary! I have been through the same with my dad, and he did make a full recovery, so there's much to be hopeful about. Keeping you in my thoughts.