How To Make Brown Sugar

How to Make Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is made of 2 ingredients. Granulated sugar and molasses. Simply mix 1 cup sugar to 1 tablespoon molasses and done. It truly is as simple as that. There’s literally nothing else to it.

Keep reading to find out more on Different Mixing Techniques, Different Types of Molasses, What is Molasses and How its Made, FAQ so you can improve your from scratch home cooking knowledge and skills.

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4 Different Mixing Techniques

There are some different techniques in the way you mix the two ingredients but no right or wrong, just preference. There is also different opinions on what you what type of sugar or molasses is best. All types of sugar and molasses work.

I’m sure you can probably come up with a few more ways to mix two ingredients and if you think of another way that works for you, great! Do that.

• Bowl and spoon. This techniques works great for small amount. If you just need 1 cup or 2 cups of brown sugar you can just quickly mix them together and add them to your recipe.
• Electric Hand Mixer. If you don’t want to mix by hand or maybe you have a need little be more then just a cup or two an electric hand mixer can be just the right tool for you.
• KitchenAid Mixer. Now if you are making a lot of brown sugar like I do you may want to use a bigger mixer like a KitchenAid. It will mix a larger quantity (6-8 cups) with minimal work on your part.
• Food processor. Because I use organic sugar that has somewhat larger crystals I prefer to use my food processor. It mixes as well as granulates my sugar just a little bit more. The food processor does do as much as my KitchenAid so I just do a few batches in order to fill my container.

Different types of Molasses

As the sugar cane juices are boiled the molasses and sugar are separated.

• After the first boil you get light molasses,
• The second boil a dark molasses
• And then the third boil gets you Blackstrap molasses.

Other names you will see for molasses are,

• Old Fashioned Molasses. Old fashioned molasses hasn’t had all of the sugar removed (typically light molasses) from it so it is a little sweeter but has a lower concentrate of iron then blackstrap molasses. Molasses can be bitter so the sweeter flavor in this molasses makes it more popular for recipes and desserts and will work great for making brown sugar.
• Blackstrap Molasses. Blackstrap molasses has more of the sugar removed, which makes it less sweet or more bitter. The benefits is in its richer concentrate of iron and other nutrients. Light and dark molasses have these same nutrients but as you continue to boil it down it becomes a thicker and richer concentrate of those nutrients.
• Unsolphured Molasses. If the sugar cane is unripe when the molasses is extracted from it, sulphur dioxide is added to preserve it. Unsolphured molasses means that molasses has not been treated with sulphur dioxide.

What is molasses? How is it made?

Molasses is a by product of sugar cane or sugar beets just like granulated sugar. To make sugar and molasses you take the juice from the sugar cane or beet and boil it down. Once all the water is evaporated you are left with a syrup. This syrup is then crystalized and separated into dry sugar crystals and the remaining syrup which we call molasses!

So you might be thinking that the brown sugar in the store is processed by not separating the molasses and sugar fully, resulting in brown sugar. Close, that’s possible but not how they do. The brown sugar you find in the store is more often separated completely, so that if fully a dry crystal, granulated and processed and then they add the molasses back in so that we have that fine texture of granulated brown sugar.

Raw sugar, turbinado sugar, and organic cane sugars are less refined resulting in a larger crystal (not fine and granulated) and holds on to some of the original molasses giving it a light brown coloring. Its not enough molasses to be considered brown sugar but not refined enough to be considered white granulated sugar.

FAQ:

How to keep brown sugar from getting hard?

To be honest I don’t experience this problem with brown sugar as much as I do with my organic cane sugar. This happens when the moisture from the molasses evaporates from the sugar and the crystals clump together creating a hard block of sucrose. This happens to organic cane sugars as well because the still have traces of molasses in them.

To prevent this from happening store in an airtight container capturing the moisture. If brown sugar is not filling up the container there could be too much air exposure causing the problem. You can place a layer of plastic wrap over the it to help retain moisture or keep the sugar in a Zip-lock bag. You can also purchase a nifty terracotta brown sugar keeper on Amazon. Terracotta holds on to moisture for a long time. So the idea is that you can soak the terracotta disc in water for 15 minutes and place it in your sugar. It will help keep the moisture in the container and you sugar softer for 3-6 months.

How to soften brown sugar?

If you have hard brown sugar in order to soften it quickly you can use the microwave. Measure out the amount you need in a microwave safe bowl and place a damp paper towel on the top. Microwave in 20 second increments until it is soft. Brake up any larger clumps with a fork as you go.

If you have the time and don’t want to use the microwave you can also place a slice of bread, or a few slices of apples or a terracotta brown sugar saver in your brown sugar for 24 hours. They will slowly add moisture back into your brown sugar and you will be able to break up any large clumps with a fork.

Is it cheaper to make my own or buy brown sugar?

Okay, lets do some math.
2lbs Great Value Light Brown Sugar: $2.57 – 8.0c/oz
2lbs C&H Dark Brown Sugar: $3.43 – 10.7c/oz

4lbs Great Value Pure Granulated Sugar: $3.24 – 5.1c/oz
4lbs C&H Premium Pure Cane Granulated Sugar: $3.73 – 5.8c/oz

12 fl oz Grandma’s Original Unsulphured Molasses: $3.66 – 30.5c/fl.oz

If my recipe is for every 1 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of molasses and there is 8 oz in a cup and 1/2 oz in a tablespoon. My homemade brown sugar equation comes to S(8oz X 5.1c) + M(.5oz X 30.5c) = 56.05 cents per cup (8oz) of brown sugar. Divide 56.05/8oz = 7.0cents/oz for homemade brown sugar. The answer, its CHEAPER by 1 cent per oz.
If you don’t like my math feel free to challenge it in the comments. I enjoy figuring number and seeing how other figure these types of problems out.

Can I substitute molasses with something else to make brown sugar?

You can’t actually substitute molasses with anything else by mixing it with the sugar to get brown sugar. But you can substitute, in your recipes, brown sugar with maple syrup or honey.

What type of molasses should I use?

For making brown sugar it doesn’t matter. The lighter Old Fashioned molasses will create a lighter brown sugar you will need more to make it darker. Blackstrap molasses will get you a dark brown sugar with less. The sweet flavor of the old fashioned and the bitter flavor of the blackstrap doesn’t matter when you are mixing it with sugar.

When it comes to recipe like molasses cookies, ginger bread houses or molasses banana bread, the recipe might call for a specific type of molasses. Depending on the flavor you want you should use the correct molasses. Lighter molasses will have a lighter flavor, blackstrap has a stronger flavor. There are some tricks you can use if you don’t have the right one. For example, if your recipe calls for 1 cup light molasses but all you have is blackstrap you can substitute 3/4 blackstrap and 1/4 honey or maple syrup to lighten it up. If it calls for blackstrap and all you have is light molasses… You could technically boil it down and get a blackstrap but I usually just add another 1/4 cup of the or so of molasses and take out a little oil or butter, depending on the recipe, to even out the moisture.

Should you refrigerate Molasses after opening?

It is recommended that if you molasses is unsulphured you should refrigerate after opening. Personally, I didn’t know this until doing research this post. I have never refrigerated my molasses and I have never had it go bad. In the past I have left 1/2 used jars of molasses in my pantry for almost a year and it was still good. So should you refrigerate the molasses? Yes. Can un-refrigerated molasses keep in your pantry. Yes. Can un-refrigerated molasses go bad. Yes. Refrigerated molasses will keep longer, and safer.

Comment below if you have any other questions about brown sugar or molasses. You can also read more about the health benefits of molasses here. And follow along for more recipes featuring molasses. Have a great day and happy baking!