Sugar: how it’s made and alternative uses

One of the most used product in the world is definitely sugar. There are lots of different types of sugar including refined sugar, perhaps the most common of all. But how is the sugar made?

The sugar comes from beetroot and sugar cane. The production begins with the collection and transportation of beetroots to the factory where they are placed in large water tanks. They are washed, to clean them from the soil, cut and then placed in special extractors, where they are put again in water to extract the sugar. At this point you will have a liquid impure sugar and yellowish. By heat treatment with lime, sulfur dioxide, heat, different filters and crystallization, here’s the refined sugar that we all know. 

As mentioned before, there are different types of sugar out there and the most pure sugar that we know is the organic one, that is not treated with any fertilizer nor with  bleach (hence the brown color).

We can find also sugar in a lot of natural products/foods, such as honey, maple syrup, barley malt, apple syrup, molasses, stevia, agave juice, fruit sugars (fructose) and those low-calorie (sucrose, aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame, cyclamate), the latter are considered quite harmful to health because they are considered potentially carcinogenic.

Sugar obviously is used most in the culinary field, but as with other foods, this also lends itself to a variety of uses, that people know that they exist.

1) To have flowers fresh for longer, mix 3 teaspoon of sugar with 2 white vinegar and mix well. The sugar will feed the flowers, while the vinegar will delay the formation of bacteria.

2) Grass stain: rub a little sugar together with hot water over the stain and let it sit for a couple of hours before washing. The stain will be removed more easily.

3) Burn: Put a little sugar on the tongue after drinking very hot beverages, will help soothe the pain.

4) Pain relief if given to children prior to an injection, several studies have shown that children themselves tend to withstand better the pain.

5) Preservative: to preserve cakes or cookies longer, put in their container or in the package a couple of sugar cubes, which help keep the products fresh and fragrant for longer.

6) Natural scrub: mixed with a little bit of honey, will be a great scrub to remove dead skin cells from your face or body, in a completely natural way.