SUGAR

The word rice derives from the Tamil word arisi. Rice is annual plant, growing to 1-1.8m tall or more, with long slender leaves 50-100cm long and 2-2.5cm broad.

The word sugar originates from the Sanskrit word sharkara which means sugar or pebble. In general use, sugar is taken to mean sucrose, also called table sugar or saccharose, a disaccharide which is white crystalline solid. It is the most commonly used sugar for altering the flavour and properties (such as mouthfeel, preservation and texture) of beverages and food. In precise culinary terms, sugar is a type of food associated with one of the primary taste sensations, that of sweetness. 

Table sugar is commercially extracted form either sugar cane or sugar beet. The simple sugars or monosaccharide, such as glucose, are a store of energy which is used by biological cells. A sugar is denoted by any word on the ingredient list that ends with "ose".

Raw sugars are yellow to brown sugars made from clarified cane juice boiled down to a crystalline solid with minimal chemical processing. Raw sugars are produced in the processing of sugar beet juice but only as intermediates en route to white sugar.

White refined sugar is the most common form of sugar that can be made by dissolving raw sugar and purifying it with a phosphoric acid method, a carbonation process involving calcium hydroxide & carbon dioxide, or by various filtration strategies. It is then decolorized by filtration through a bed of activated carbon. Beet sugar refineries produce refined white sugar directly without an intermediate raw stage. White refined sugar is typically sold as granulated sugar, which has been dried to prevent clumping. 

Brown sugars are obtained in the late stages of sugar refining, when sugar formsfine crystals with significant molasses content, or by coating white refined sugar with a cane molasses syrup. Their colour & taste become strong with increasing molasses content, as does their moisture retaining properties.

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