Word: sugar
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Conventionally refined sugar is snowy white because all the natural molasses has been extracted from the cane, leaving behind fine, pearly, sweet crystals. Often sugar is made especially white by filtering it through charred bovine bones--a refining process that causes vegetarians and vegans to seek other options. And while brown sugar is ostensibly brown because of the molasses content, much of the brown sugar sold in supermarkets (especially sugar that comes from beets) is really what's called painted sugar, or white sugar that has been sprayed with a brown-colored syrup...
...chefs like cookbook author Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, host of the Food Network's The Naked Chef, have regularly used them in their sweet and savory recipes. Lawson applauds their arrival in America, saying "If you bake, you're really limiting yourself by using just white or brown sugar. And if you're an adult with a sweet tooth, you want something that's more than sweet. You want something with strength and flavor." She loves to use a light muscovado sugar for her butterscotch layer cake ("You get the butterscotch flavor by doing nothing except using that sugar...
Some chefs feel so strongly about these products that they have endorsed the Wholesome Sweeteners brand, which is one of several companies that distribute these sugars in the U.S. Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit restaurant in New York City is one of those chefs, and although he hasn't been paid for it, his picture appears on the back of a package of a raw cane sugar from Malawi, along with his recipe for moist, chewy gingersnaps. "I got hooked on these sugars about two years ago," says Samuelsson. "I'm always looking for good-quality ingredients, and these sugars have...
Nigel Willerton, CEO of Wholesome Sweeteners, based in Sugar Land, Texas, attributes the rising popularity of specialty sugars to consumers who are more concerned about the source of their food, the environment and the use of pesticides and herbicides. Wholesome Sweeteners' sales of these sugars, which the company imports from five countries, have quadrupled in four years, reaching $26 million this year. Despite their growing market share, organic- and unrefined-sugar sales still account for a tiny share--about $39 million of the $10 billion-a-year U.S. sugar market. And only one company, Florida Crystals, produces organic sugar...
...Sugar is on no one's list of health foods, but are speciality types better for you than the common white stuff? Certainly the organic varieties contain fewer additives like pesticides. Some fans of these sweeteners also argue that a little goes a longer way to satisfy a sweet tooth. "Refined sugar is cheap filler with no flavor," argues Gretchen Goehrend, founder and president of India Tree of Seattle, one of the first companies to bring these sugars into the U.S. "If you get a mouthful of dark muscovado, you're not going to forget that rich and wonderful taste...