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White sugar

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A bowl of white sugar

White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process.

Description

The refining process completely removes the molasses to give the white sugar, sucrose. It has a purity higher than 99.7%.[1] Its molecular formula is C
12
H
22
O
11
.[2] White sugars produced from sugar cane and sugar beet are chemically indistinguishable: it is possible, however, to identify its origin through a carbon-13 analysis.[1]

White sugar (and some brown sugar) produced from sugar cane may be refined using bone char by a few sugar cane refiners.[3] For this reason white sugar from sugar cane may not be vegan. Beet sugar has never been processed with bone char and is vegan.[4]

From a chemical and nutritional point of view, white sugar does not contain—in comparison to brown sugar—some minerals (such as calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium) present in small quantities in molasses.[5][6][7] The only detectable differences are, therefore, the white color and the less intense flavor.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Dario Bressanini (3 June 2009). "Miti culinari 6: lo zucchero veleno bianco". Le Scienze Blog (in Italian). Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  2. ^ "What is sugar?". Exploratorium. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  3. ^ "Animal Bones". www.sucrose.com. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  4. ^ "A List of Bone Char Free Vegan Sugar Companies". ordinaryvegan.net. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  5. ^ Raffaella Procenzano (28 January 2014). "Lo zucchero bianco fa male più dello zucchero grezzo?" (in Italian). Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  6. ^ Anahad O'Connor (12 June 2007). "The Claim: Brown Sugar Is Healthier Than White Sugar". Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  7. ^ a b Dario Bressanini (6 April 2009). "Miti culinari 5: le virtù dello zucchero di canna". Le Scienze Blog (in Italian). Retrieved 30 October 2018.