Brown-freakin'-sugar, thank you.

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JoeSponge

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So there I was, walking through the grocery store pricing brown sugar every time I went shopping, thinking that I was justifed in the expense, etc., etc.

Then, while catching some Alton Brown, he says that all the BS is, is sugar w/ a coupla ounces of molasses. Sugar is white, molasses is dark brown, add 'em together and you get... brown-freakin'-sugar, thank you. First they take it out, then charge us again to put it back in.

Well, moleasses aren't the only thing that stinks!

OK, enough jokes. So, local prices for 5# sugar average $2.50 (IIRC). A quart of molasses is between $2 and $3, depending upon the grade. The recipe calls for 3 oz of molasses to a # of sugar, so that's 10 "shots" to a quart, or 20 - 30 cents / #.

So, in a pinch, you get your own BS for about 75c / # -- or you can wait until Xmas and buy it when it goes on sale.

Heh.

Actually, I wonder what straight molasses in AJ would be like. Prob a stronger taste, but BS is supposed to be a little sweeter than sugar, so a little less might yield the same proof.

AB - he da bom
Alton Brown Sugar

Brown sugar (Wikipedia)

Rant off.
 
I just watched that episode too, pretty cool. There's been a few times when I'm cooking that I've actually gone to the store for some brown sugar... not even knowing I could just use some of that bottle of molasses buried in the back of my cupboard, just like AB says...
 
Yup, haven't tried the mix yet, but some on here have brewed with molasses without the brown sugar.

Also, Alton is my culinary hero (as an engineer he hits my nerd nerve too)
 
one thing that IS different and from personal experiance is *quite* a taste treat in cider, is Turbinado type sugar - raw - unbleached sugar BEFORE they take the natural molasses out. adds a subtle rum/caramel like note to cider.
it is expensive - but worth it. "Sugar in the Raw" is my personal preferance.

try it and see!
 
Hmm... I almost got that instead of corn sugar at the store tonight.. damn. It was pretty much the same price, too. Oh well... next batch :D
 
Hmm... I almost got that instead of corn sugar at the store tonight.. damn. It was pretty much the same price, too. Oh well... next batch :D

:) it's pretty bitchin' in coffee too.
I rarely use white sugar in coffee - We actually still have a operational sugar mill and active cane fields here on maui. I like to use local Raw sugar :)
 
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away...a Private was pulling KP in the old brown-boot Army.

I was ordered to add brown sugar to a pot of boiling water so that the men would have syrup to go with their pancakes.

It's not maple, but I still prefer it on my pancakes.

Pogo
 
This is the very reason that I don't use brown sugar, well, refined brown sugar, anymore. I've found the joys of unrefined brown sugars, and where I live, that means Piloncillo (Panela - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). That stuff's good on anything that would require brown sugar.

piloncillo.jpg
 
I learn so much through side-trips from posts. The picture reminded me of sugar loaves (Sugarloaf), the traditional form of sugar before granulated/cube forms became popular. You can sometimes find sugar nippers in antique stores, but few people know what they are anymore.

Something else I read here last week got me on John Adams, Washinton, Jefferson, and maple sugar as an economic product and to reduce "blood-tainted sugar" -- sugar that was produced by slave labor. Which then led to readhing about Maddy and Perry (latin for mother and father? No.) Oh, and finding out the early in the history of America, peaches were so prolific that they were considered invasive, fed to hogs, and used as living fence-rows. Now I gotta see if I can line my yard w/ peach trees. It never ends...

Oh, and to bring it almost back to a topic, my wife wanted to know if I wanted to make my own brown sugar (a la AB) but the only molasses we have is sorgham -- which would make it green sugar.
 
I learn so much through side-trips from posts.

You know I think that is a lot of the fun that comes from this hobby... it's like history, chemistry, biology, cooking, and drinking all in one!

Cool info. It really does end up being a neverending quest for random useless information... thank god firefox has tabs...
 
It's not random... we just don't see the pattern yet. One day, tho'...

Rising prices coupled w/ my knowledge of composting toilets, coupled w/ interest in gray water reuse, solar cells, bilge pumps, batteries, timers, micro-distribution, drip-feed, hydroponics, tomatoes and cantaloup and peppers and watermellons, rain cachement, PVC drums, DIY, free and volunteer seeds, sub-frost cold storage, and bicycles, knowledge of where to find building materials, plastic (#7 :-( carboys), dumpster diving, barter, apple pulping, press making, natural vs cultered yeasts, edible wild plants, and alternative food-associated uses for adult-fielded percussive metallic ingot launching long distance precision paper punches, and I think we'll get through the upcoming seasons pretty well.

Now I have to go rest my brain. It's time to read up on flying cars.
 
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