I see a lot of recipes call for CANE SUGAR. Does it really make any difference if you use âPure Cane Sugarâ or âSugarâ which may contain CANE and/or BEET sugar? If it does make a difference, what would it be? This question applies to both granulated and powdered sugar. Does it mix differently with other ingredients, is it grainier, taste different, affect cooking, nutritional value, separate when used in icing. . .? It usually isnât a huge difference in cost, but sometimes a store only has one brand and itâs not âPure Cane Sugarâ. Personally I havenât noticed anything different, but I try to stick with the âCaneâ just in case. Any thoughts?

I always thought it made a big difference until I could get beet sugar at a much better price. It didn't. But I'm not baking from scratch. Don't know if that does matter.

Nah, no difference. BTW, can sugar is not vegan, if that ever comes up. Beet sugar is vegan. Tuck it away in your memory - it will probably be a Jeopardy question some day.

Here is a great article re the differences in baking/cooking that it makes. I also found interesting the comment at the end of the article by the person who is allergic to beet sugar but can eat cane sugar just fine.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/03/31/FD91867.DTL

From the C&H website: http://www.chsugar.com/consumer/cane_vs_beet.html

Cane sugar is whitened with bone ash.

WOW ladies you bring up some intresting points,I've always stuck with the cane sugar.

Indy, vegans do not eat cane sugar. They buy vegan sugar. True vegans don't eat honey or wear silk, either.

Pork fat rules in my house, so I have no concept of veganism. But here's a great article that answers the question, "Is sugar vegan?" It discusses the differences between processed cane sugar and beet sugar.

http://www.vegsource.com/jo/qa/qasugar.htm

Kim, great article that totally cleared up the "why" on this vegan/sugar question. I now understand ..... thanks!!

Getting back to the original question, in theory there should be no difference between beet sugar and cane sugar. I read up on sugar at www.fda.gov and anything labeled as sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar, raw sugar, or turbinado sugar are all sucrose, which is composed of glucose + fructose.

My conclusion is that their physical properties (powder, small crystals, or large crystals) can affect how easily they may be incorporated into a mixture, but chemically they are all the same.

As we learned earlier, sugar derived from beets is processed less than that derived from sugar cane and is therefore less expensive. When it comes to sugar, powdered or granular, I am not a brand shopper. I buy what's cheapest first. If only one brand is available or is on sale for a really good price, then that's what I'm taking home. I stock up on powdered sugar everywhere that I go. I can honestly say that I've never noticed a difference.

My stockpile currently contains:
Domino brand (ingredients: pure cane sugar,cornstarch), Target's Market Pantry brand (ingredients: sugar,cornstarch), Sam's Bakers & Chefs brand (ingredients: sugar,cornstarch), aWalMart's Great Value brand (ingredients: cane sugar, cornstarch).

I never realized that cornstarch is added to prevent caking. Learned something new!

So back to my original question, has anyone (personally â not in an article) noticed any difference between sugar (that may contain beet and/or cane sugar) and pure cane sugar (in icing, baking, flavor, texture, etc.)? How do you do the opinion polls with a message? I tried it, but I must have dune it wrong.

I'll stand by my original answer, before I opened the vegan issue - nah.

I only use pure cane sugar. I'm not really worried about how beet sugar might affect my baking because i doubt it would, but I also am practicing my sugar work (pulled, blown, etc) and anything but pure cane sugar just doesn't cut it.