Uses of Sugar and Syrup in Cooking

Sugar and syrup are used in cooking and baking not only to sweeten but also to perform other function, however the proper proportion of sugar and syrup in cooking should be carefully observed because too little or too much of either can spoil the finished product. Syrup contain about 25% moisture so some moisture must be reduced in a recipe when they replace sugars.

Other Function of Sugar in cooking:

• Delays coagulation of custards and impedes curdling.
• Assists in the proper browning of baked foods and helps produce tenderness in cakes and cookies.
• Feeds the yeast in bread making,
• Stabilizes egg whites in meringues.
• Helps prevent the formation of too large crystals in frozen fruits and desserts.
• Corn syrup helps to control crystallization in candy making and to retain moisture in many baked foods.
• Honey delays baked products from drying out and going stale.
• Molasses and maple syrup give color and distinctive flavor to foods.

Honey as Replacement to Sugar in Baking. Too much sugar in cakes makes a too tender product that is likely to sink heavily in the center. Honey can replace up to half of the required sugar in cakes without changing the other ingredients. For crisp cookies honey should replace only up to one third of the sugar. For brownies honey may replace up to one half of the sugar, and for bar cookies, up to two thirds. Baking temperatures for recipes using honey or molasses must be lowered to prevent overbrowning.

Commonly Used Sugars and Syrup:

• Regular granulated is used for table sugar.
• Brown Sugar - light yellow to dark brown contains 1 to 5% invert syrup. The darker varieties have stronger flavor than the lighter one.
• Fruit sugar has a slightly fine texture and is used for breakfast cereal and fruit.
• Baker's Special sugar has extra fine texture and is used for making cakes and cookies because it goes into solution rapidly and gives a uniform cell structure and good volume.
• Sanding sugars are used to coat items such as doughnuts, crullers, cake top, coffee cakes, etc.
• Fine granulated also called bottlers sugar - is used for carbonated beverages and as a sanding sugar.
• Honey contains about 50-50 glucose and fructose.
• Molasses dark syrup from raw sugar, color vary fromlight to dark and flavored from mild to strong.