Cool Stuff About White Sugar!

There is some very cool stuff about white sugar. It is pretty amazing! 

It’s gotten a bad rap over the years, but it is actually a really versatile, functional and yummy ingredient!

Sugar’s not just something sweet: discovered over 10,000 years ago, it’s been a medicine, a spice, a symbol of royalty and much more!

Sugar is made in the leaves of the sugarcane plant through photosynthesis and stored as a sweet juice in sugarcane stalks.  At the factory, cane juice is extracted (taken out), purified, filtered and crystalized into golden, raw sugar. This raw sugar is then taken to a refinery to be made into the table sugar we know and love.

 

 

 

 

• Sugarcane is native to New Guinea.  People discovered how sweet the plant was and started growing it as a crop 10,000 years ago.  They just chewed on the reeds for a sweet treat!
• In the 16th century, the price for a teaspoon of sugar was $5.00 in London! Sugar became such a luxury it was known as “White Gold”!
• Today we get most of our sugarcane from lovely Hawaii! The C & H stands for California & Hawaii!

• Sugar helps with food preservation though osmosis and fermentation!  Before refrigeration, sugar was used to prevent food from spoiling, just like salt.  Think of jams or jellies, and fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, and yogurt.
• Got the hiccups?  Eating a spoonful of sugar helps get rid of them.  The graininess slightly irritates the esophagus, causing the phrenic nerves to “reset” themselves.  Yay!
• Burn your mouth on something spicy or hot?  Suck on some sugar to relieve the pain.
• Sugar never spoils, never! Very useful to store for emergencies!

The Scientifically Cool Stuff About White Sugar!

• Sugar is a made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules.
• Other names for sugar: Glucose (simple sugar), Fructose (fruit sugar), Sucrose (table sugar) and Lactose (dairy sugar).
• Sugar activates the pleasure center of our brain and causes a rush of dopamine. This will produce an immediate, happy euphoric feeling. This is what causes the famous “sugar rush” after you eat a bunch of candy!

How sugar works the body!

Sugar provides a quick source of energy to the body.

Our body turns our food into sugar (glucose) to fuel it.

If you eat too much food, especially sugary foods, the extra is turned into GLYCOGEN.

Your body stores 12 hours of GLYCOGEN in the muscles and tissues……

then……

Once the body has 12 hours of GLYCOGEN energy stored up…..any more than that is turned into FAT.

So extra fat in the body, is really extra sugar. Fascinating!

• Sugar is one of the best natural beauty ingredients to exfoliate and moisturize your skin. Mix some raw sugar with coconut oil and you have a cheap wonderful face scrub that smells tropical and would also taste, delicious!!

Sugar isn’t bad for you. QUANTITY of sugar is the real problem.

Convenience food is everywhere—in gas stations, shopping malls, movie theaters, schools and checkout stands—and it is all chock full of sugar, much more than what’s healthy to eat.

So use moderation in enjoying white sugar and it can be a healthy (and fun) part of your cooking!

Jill’s Jokes

“Excuse me, is this sugar-free?”

Cashier: “No man, you have to pay for it!”

What do you call sugar-free breath mints from California?

Sacramentos!

“Go ahead, ridicule me for not knowing what confectioner’s sugar is!”

“It’s fine.”