Favortte SU6AR RECIPES {(Ofll Louistana /Amities Compiled by Mrs
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LSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE favortte SU6AR RECIPES {(Ofll louistana /amities Compiled by Mrs. Irene Turner, Specialist (Nutrition) LSU Cooperative Extension Service Cane growing and sugar manufacture are today among the most modern of all agricultural industries. But they have an ancient his tory. References to cane and sugar making are found in Indian lit erature dating two or three hundred years before the Christian Era. The soldiers of Alexander the Great, returning from India, spoke of tasting sugar there. These early records and others from the Chinese have been used by experts in attempting to trace the spread of cane growing and sugar production across the world. Belief has been expressed that sugar cane evolved from wild canes in tropical and sub-tropical re gions of the Pacific Southwest and may have had its origin in New Guinea. Sugar cane reached Louisiana in 1751,when the Jesuits brought from Santo Domingo a sufficient quantity of seed for a large plant ing. Their cane patch included land now occupied by the Baronne Street Cathedral, the lots at the rear of Godchaux's Store, and the Boston Club, an area roughly bounded by the present Canal, Com mon, Carondelet and Baronne Streets, in New Orleans. Louisiana's Early Sugar Cane Chewed At first sugar cane was used in Louisiana for chewing, a purpose for which the hard-stalk varieties now grown are not too well suited, 3 and for making taffia, a spirit obtained from distilled sugar cane juice. But in 1795 Louisiana planter Etienne de Bore developed a method of making sugar on a commercial scale from Louisiana cane, and the sugar industry began to grow. That industry was almost destroyed during the Civil War. But within 20 years after that conflict. In the 1880's, it had more than regained its former importance. It flourished with no great setbacks until the 1920's, when it again came near destruction, this time as a result of attack by a plant disease called "mosaic." Resistant varieties were discovered and tested in a cooperative program entered into by the American Sugar Cane League, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Louisiana State University Agricultural Experiment Station. The industry made its second great recovery from almost total disaster. Today, Louisiana produces more than three-fourths of the sugar cane grown in the continental United States, most of the remainder being grown in Florida. Hawaii is a big sugar producer, as are Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, territories of the United States. FAMILY CONSUMPTION Sugar plays an important role in diets around the world. In 1965 the United States Department of Agriculture conducted a food consumption study which revealed that the largest users of sugar and sweets are rural families. The 1973 per capita consumption in the United States was 103.2 pounds. Per capita consumption of re fined sugar has increased from 97.6 pounds in 1960 to 103.2 pounds, (1973). WHAT SUGAR IS1 Webster's New International Dictionary, unabridged, gives this definition: "SUGAR: A sweet crystallizable substance, colorless or white when pure, occurring in many plant juices, and forming an im portant article of food; called specifically cane sugar, sucrose, and saccharose. The chief sources of sugar are the sugar cane and the sugar beet, the completely refined products of which are identical and form the granulated sugar, loaf sugar, etc., of commerce." By definition, therefore, and by long-established common usage, sugar means sucrose (cane or beet sugar) and nothing else. The "'Sugar-Its Types and Uses" 4 word "sugars," however, can refer in the chemical sense to the family of carbohydrates known as the saccharides, any member of which is correctly called "a sugar"-but not simply "sugar." Chem ists recognize dozens of sugars of varying sweetness. However, the sugars known to commerce, other than sugar itself, properly bear a prefix to identify their source as milk sugar, corn sugar, and malt sugar. (i)UALITIES OF SUGAR The refined, granulated sugar of commerce is derived from sugar cane and sugar beets. It is 99.9+ per cent pure, and is thus the purest of all substances produced in anything near comparable volume. Sugar is distinguished by its lack of flavor other than sweet ness and its ability to accentuate other flavors, its ready solubility in water, and its stability in the presence of alkalis and many other chemical agents. It is pleasant to the taste, clean, uniform in quality, easily assimilated, contains no waste, and keeps almost indefinitely. Sugar can be used in every food manufacturing and cooking process where a sweetening agent is required, and need never be mixed or "diluted" with other products to achieve the proper degree of sweetness. TYPES OF SUGAR RAW SUGAR Raw sugar is an intermediate product consisting of crystals of high purity covered with a film of low quality syrup. The adhering film of syrup contains most of the non-sugars, but some are within the crystals themselves. Raw sugar contains no nutrients which are not present in brown sugar. It is not widely used as a food because of the impurities which are completely removed in the refining process. However, raw sugar which has been properly processed is acceptable as a food. Louisiana sugar planters use more raw sugar in their homes than refined sugar. BROWN SUGAR Brown or "soft" sugar is a mass of extremely fine crystals cov ered with a film of high-refined, dark-colored, cane-flavored syrup. The syrup imparts to sugar of this type its characteristic color and flavor. Four grades are usually available for food manufacturing- Numbers 6, 8, 10 and 13. The higher numbers are darker and more flavorful. Lighter types are used in baking and making butterscotch, 5 condiments and glazes for ham. The dark brown sugar, with a rich flavor, is desirable for gingerbread, mincemeat, baked beans, plum pudding. A light brown (about No. 8) and a dark brown (about no. 13) are produced for household use. Soft sugars are valued primarily for their flavor and color. Their total sugar content varies from about 95 per cent in No. 6 to 91 per cent in No. 13. Moisture content ranges from about two to four per cent. CONSUMER MARKET WIDE Sugar is available to shoppers in a number of types and grades, each having a particular usefulness. In most cases they bear a com pany, or brand name, but they generally fall within the following categories: GRANULATED SUGAR Ultra-fine: Especially suited for cake work in the bakery, also used for dry mixes, such as dessert powders, and cake mixes, and for coating confectionery pan goods. Very fine: Ideal for dry mixing with other finely divided materi als in the production of cake mixes, pudding preparations, gelatine dessert powders, and the like. Fine: This is "regular" granulated sugar used for all-purpose, general food and beverage manufacture. It is the type of sugar usu ally served at the table. Medium coarse: Generally used in the making of crystalizing syrups in confectionery and in fondant-making (molded confection or candy), where an unusually white product is required. It is well adapted to the manufacture of cordials. Coarse: Sometimes preferred for the purpose to which a me dium-coarse grain sugar is put. POWDERED SUGARS Ultra-fine (Confectioners' XXXXXX): Especially recommended for cream fillings in biscuit work, and suitable for uncooked fon dants. It mixes readily with melted fats to make certain confec tioners coatings. Generally packed with three per cent or more of cornstarch to prevent caking. Very fine (Confectioners' XXXX): Recommended for uncooked frostings or icings, and for sprinkling on buns, pies and pastries. Used in the manufacture of lozenges and for chewing gum, and in 6 packing such confections as marshmallows and turkish paste. Ex tensively employed in chocolate manufacture. It is also used for a finish coating of pan goods when a smooth'surface is needed. There is but slight difference in texture between the very fine and ultra fine types. Generally packed with a small amount of cornstarch to prevent caking. LIQUID SUGAR Water-white-This product is a brilliantly clear sugar syrup, and is generally applicable, by proper balancing of formulas, wher ever sugar and water are ingredients of a manufactured product. It is used for the following purposes, among others: canning, confec tionery, dairy products, beverages, baked goods, flavored syrups, frozen fruits, pickling, ice cream, and brewing. Light straw yellow-Another clear sugar syrup, which may be used in place of the water-white grade wherever its small amount of color and slightly higher percentage of non-sugar components are desirable. Invert-An invert sugar is a mixture of two simple sugars or a mixture of sucrose and acid that is cooked. In making fondant an inverted sugar is made because of the addition of cream of tartar or other acid to the white sugar. Partially, or completely, inverted liquid sugars possess physical properties which make them desir able for use in a number of food products. They are hygroscopic (that is, they attract and retain water), and help prolong the fresh ness of many bakery goods and confections. Invert syrups are used by manufacturers of preserves, ice cream and ices (for smooth texture), beverages, baked goods, confection ery, glace' and conserved fruits, icings, and syrups. They are also used in the manufacture of adhesives, and liquid pharmaceuticals. REFINER'S SYRUPS AND LIQUID BROWN SUGAR Refiner's syrups and liquid brown sugar are used in .dark prod ucts, baked goods, table syrups, licorice, cough drops, confectionery and other items where their color and flavor may be useful.