From a type of raw sugar to a consumer product

The meaning of the term 'brown sugar' has changed over time. In the 19th century, American works referred to 'refining brown sugar'.^[4] Americans also referred to the 'Brown sugar of Commerce', which could be refined with a yield of 70% of white sugar.^[5] In the United Kingdom it was the same. There were two kinds of raw sugar. The most common kind was muscovado a.k.a. brown sugar, and was processed by British sugar refineries. The other kind of raw sugar was brown sugar which had been clayed and was known as clayed sugar. It was used for domestic purposes, but this usage was diminishing.^[6] In the 19th century United States the same meaning of the words raw sugar, brown sugar and muscovado was also noted: "Raw sugar, commonly called muscovado or brown sugar, not advanced beyond its raw state by claying, boiling, clarifying or other process".^[7]

In the mid 20th century United States, 'brown sugar' could refer to two products. It could be a raw sugar which had been centrifuged to a purity of about 97% pure sugar and that was offered as brown sugar in health food shops. However, in most cases it was white sugar to which molasses had been added. For the latter, a consumer magazine stated that: "Contrary to opinion, this brown sugar is a product of the refinery."^[8] The most important consideration is that the term 'brown sugar' now came to refer to a product for consumers, instead of referring to a type of sugar that was processed by sugar refineries.

Smear campaign

In the late 19th century, the newly consolidated refined white sugar industry, which did not have full control over brown sugar production, mounted a smear campaign against brown sugar, reproducing microscopic photographs of harmless but repulsive-looking microbes living in brown sugar. The effort was so successful that by 1900, a best-selling cookbook warned that brown sugar was of inferior quality and was susceptible to infestation by "a minute insect".^[9] This campaign of disinformation was also felt in other sectors using raw or brown sugar such as brewing;

Raw sugars are all more or less liable to be contaminated with decomposing nitrogenous matters, fermentative germs, and other living organisms, both animal and vegetable....For this reason, raw sugars must always be considered dangerous brewing materials.

— E. R. Southby. A Systematic Handbook of Practical Brewing 1885^[10]

Definition

Natural brown sugar, raw sugar or whole cane sugar is sugar that retains some amount of the molasses from the mother liquor (the partially evaporated sugar cane juice). The term 'Natural brown sugar' can be traced back to at least the 1940s, when it was noted that the sugar refiners had pushed the brown sugar from the plantation owner out of the consumer market.^[11] Natural brown sugar was: 'The raw sugar, not the brown sugar most easily obtained, which usually is white sugar artificially colored.'^[12] So the term 'Natural brown sugar' came up to distinguish brown sugar that still contained part of its molasses from brown sugar that was really white sugar to which molasses had been added.

Modern types of natural brown sugar

Some natural brown sugars have particular names and characteristics, and are sold as turbinado, demerara or raw sugar. These have been centrifuged, and therefore can be said to have been refined to a large degree. Muscovado is darkest of the modern types of natural brown sugar.

Turbinado sugar is made from crystallized, partially evaporated sugar cane juice which has been spun in a centrifuge to remove almost all of the molasses. The sugar crystals are large and golden-coloured. This sugar can be sold as is or sent to the refinery to produce white sugar.^[13] Demerara sugar is now 97-99% pure sucrose and has also been centrifuged.^[14] What is now sold to the United States consumer as 'raw sugar' is also a centrifuged product.^[15] If it were raw sugar in the generally accepted meaning of an unrefined product, the Food and Drug Administration would take action.^[16] Some say that for consumers, raw sugar means that the sugar is highly refined, but has been crystallized only once.^[14]

Modern muscovado sugar sold to consumers is different from traditional Muscovado. It is made by refining sugar with lime, but not centrifuging it. This means that impurities like dirt and ash are removed, but the molasses remains.

Traditional types of natural brown sugar

Brown sugars that have been only mildly centrifuged or unrefined (non-centrifuged) retain a much higher degree of molasses than products sold as natural brown sugar to consumers in developed nations. These traditional brown sugars are called various names across the globe often depending on their country of origin: e.g. muscovado, panela, rapadura, jaggery, piloncillo, etc.

Muscovado from the Portuguese açúcar mascavado, was the most common type of raw sugar and was also called brown sugar.^[7] In the 19th century, this was the sugar that based upon weight yielded about 70% white sugar when fully refined.^[5][4]

Muscovado, panela, piloncillo, chancaca, jaggery and other natural dark brown sugars have been minimally centrifuged or not at all. Typically these sugars are made in smaller factories or "cottage industries" in developing nations, where they are produced with traditional practices that do not make use of industrialized vacuum evaporators or centrifuges. They are commonly boiled in open pans upon wood-fired stoves until the sugar cane juice reaches approximately 30% of the former volume and sucrose crystallization begins. They are then poured into molds to solidify or onto cooling pans where they are beaten or worked vigorously to produce a granulated brown sugar. In some countries, such as Mauritius or the Philippines, a natural brown sugar called muscovado is produced by partially centrifuging the evaporated and crystallizing cane juice to create a sugar-crystal rich mush, which is allowed to drain under gravity to produce varying degrees of molasses content in the final product. This process approximates a slightly modernized practice introduced in the 19th century to generate a better quality of natural brown sugar.^{[4][17][18][19]}

A similar Japanese version of uncentrifuged natural cane sugar is called kokuto (Japanese: 黒糖 kokutō). This is a regional specialty of Okinawa and is often sold in the form of large lumps. It is sometimes used to make shochu. Okinawan brown sugar is sometimes referred to as 'black sugar' for its darker colour compared to other types of unrefined sugar, although when broken up into smaller pieces its colour becomes lighter.^[20] Kokuto is commonly used as a flavouring for drinks and desserts, but can also be eaten raw as it has a taste similar to caramel. The sugar is also thought to be rich in nutrients removed during the refinement process of other sugars, such as potassium and iron.