How to make apple pie...?

[Aliantha]

OK, this is what wiki had to say about brown sugar. Molasses can be added, or it can be retained in the less refined sugar (which is the way we get it here) rather than it being added to white sugar which is obviously what you're talking about.

Anyway, that was interesting. I don't know if the type of brown sugar you're likely to get over there is the same as what we have here. It's more like castor sugar and is quite dark. You can get light brown sugar here too, but I prefer the dark for cooking with. It's what I use if I want to do a flambe with fruit. Chopped up fruit, brown sugar and butter onto a hot pan all at once and cook quickly till the sugar is disolved and the pan starts to smoke slightly.

[monster]

depends where you shop, Ali

[Cloud]

cinnamon isn't nasty! but I'm addicted to pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger). Spices are good for you!

[DucksNuts]

Sorry Ali, but you are misleading the non Aussies.

Brown Sugar ONLY comes with molasses added, its usually more refined than white sugar, because the molasses is added to fully refined white sugar, the white sugar can be partially refined...but as a general rule, its refined and naturally moist and clumping because of the molasses content.

Now, if you are referring to RAW Sugar, or Natural Sugar crystals...different story. Its basically pure because its produced from the first crystallisation.

[aimeecc]

What's wrong with cinnamon? I even add it to my spaghetti sauce!

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by DucksNuts

Sorry Ali, but you are misleading the non Aussies.

Brown Sugar ONLY comes with molasses added, its usually more refined than white sugar, because the molasses is added to fully refined white sugar, the white sugar can be partially refined...but as a general rule, its refined and naturally moist and clumping because of the molasses content.

Now, if you are referring to RAW Sugar, or Natural Sugar crystals...different story. Its basically pure because its produced from the first crystallisation.

No I'm not Ducks. At organic grocers and some 'coles' stores you can get a true brown sugar which is also known as Muscovado sugar. It is the ideal type of brown sugar for cooking with if you can get it which as it happens is what I use. I just didn't realize there was a difference in the way they're manufactured.

Yes you can use the ordinary brown sugar that is more common in the shops which is of course what bb was talking about because that is manufactured using the process he mentioned.

[DucksNuts]

Muscovado is basically a specialist sugar, and not typical brown sugar.

[Aliantha]

yeah I know. I buy it from the deli where I get other special stuff like pure vanilla instead of vanilla essence etc. I just never realized there was a difference in how brown sugar that you get from the supermarket and the stuff I get from the deli are made. I just know the one from the deli is nicer for cooking with.

I've learned something because of this thread I guess.

[jinx]

We have fancy brown sugar here too... even walmart carries different varieties ie. raw sugar, sucanet, turbinado, evaporated cane juice etc...

[Cloud]

we get piloncillo here--Mexican dark brown sugar, which comes in unwrapped cones. But I don't think the sugar used has anything to do with the outcome of the pie.

[Aliantha]

is that like palm sugar? That's something even different again too isn't it?

[Cloud]

I think it's cane sugar. You can get sugar from different plants--cane, beets, etc. I'm not too familiar with palm sugar.

[Aliantha]

palm sugar is used in a lot of asian cooking. It's very very sweet. You have to grate it. I'm guessing it comes from some kind of palm, but I don't know for sure.

Maybe I'll have to do a bit more research.

[Aliantha]

Palm sugar was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm or the date palm. Now it is also made from the sap of the sago and coconut palms and may be sold as "coconut sugar." The sugar is a golden brown paste, sold in tubes, blocks or tin cans. It may be light-colored or dark, soft and gooey or hard. As a lightly-processed product of cottage industry, it varies greatly from batch to batch.

In Thai cuisine, palm and "coconut sugar" (nahm dtahn bpeep/buk and nahm dtahn maprao) are used interchangeably. However, it may be an important distinction for those concerned with frugivory that "coconut sugar" is in no way derived from the coconut fruit itself. Quoted in the linked thaifoodandtravel.com page below is the following clarification: "Although the names are used interchangeably, palm sugar and coconut sugar are not the same. One comes from the palmyra or sugar palm and the other from coconut palm, but both are produced from the sweet, watery sap that drips from cut flower buds."

In Indonesia, sugar made from the Borassus (Palmyra palm) is known as Gula Jawa ("Javanese sugar") or gula merah (red sugar) and it is used in Javanese cuisine.[citation needed]

Bangladeshi's have two varieties of Palmyra sugar. One is unrefined and is in the form of hard blocks of dark brown sugar. This known as Karuppatti. This is used as a sweetener for making certain types of cakes and biscuits. The other is refined and is available as granules of crystalline sugar. This is known as Panam KaRkaNdu. This has medicinal value. It has the power to liquify phlegm from the lungs. It is also profusely used in treatment of sore throat when dissolved in boiled concentrated milk. Musicians use it on a regular basis in combination with other medicinal spices and herbs.

Palm sugar is often used to sweeten savoury food to balance out the salty flavour of fish. Its primary use in Thai cuisine is in sweets and desserts, and somewhat less often in curries and sauces.

There we go. We've sorted out another kind of 'sugar'.

[Cloud]

good thing I'm not concerned with frugivory!

interesting. I'll have to look for that.