Granulated Sugar
Granulated sugar is crystallized sucrose from sugar cane or sugar beets, the standard sweetener behind most baking, candy-making, and everyday cooking.
How to buy
Choose free-flowing sugar with no clumping or moisture damage to the bag. Cane and beet sugar taste nearly identical, though some bakers prefer cane sugar for consistency in delicate recipes like meringues. Fine granulation dissolves faster, which matters for drinks and glazes.
How to store
Keeps indefinitely in an airtight container at room temperature. Humidity is the main risk, since it can cause hardening into a solid block, so store away from damp areas and reseal the bag or jar tightly after each use.
Culinary profile
- Flavor
- Clean, straightforward sweetness with no competing flavor. Heated past around 320°F it caramelizes, developing deep nutty, toasty, and eventually bitter notes.
- Texture
- Fine, free-flowing crystals that dissolve completely in liquid or melt under heat into a smooth syrup. Creamed with butter, it traps air for a light, aerated crumb in baked goods.
- Aroma
- Essentially odorless raw; caramelized sugar develops a rich, toasty, almost smoky smell.
How to prepare
- Caramelized — Melted dry or with a little water until it browns into caramel for sauces and desserts.
- Creamed with butter — Beaten with fat until light and fluffy to aerate cake and cookie batters.
- Simple syrup — Dissolved in equal parts water over heat to sweeten drinks and glazes evenly.
- Dissolved for brines — Stirred into salted liquid to balance savory marinades and pickles.
Classic dishes
American
- Simple syrup cocktails — Classic cocktails sweetened and balanced with dissolved sugar syrup.
- Candied nuts — Nuts coated in melted sugar and cooled until crackly-crisp.
- Peanut brittle — Sugar cooked to the hard-crack stage, poured over nuts, and cooled into shards.
- Kettle corn — Popcorn popped with sugar until the kernels are coated in a sweet, caramelized glaze.
- Sugar cookies — A simple butter cookie leaning on sugar for sweetness, spread, and a crisp edge.
Italian
- Panna cotta — A set cream dessert sweetened with sugar and often served with a sugar-based sauce.
Mexican
- Tres leches cake — A sponge cake soaked in a sweetened three-milk mixture built on sugar syrup.
Indian
- Gulab jamun — Fried milk-dough balls soaked in a fragrant sugar syrup.
French
- Caramel sauce — Sugar melted and browned, then loosened with cream or butter into a glossy sauce.
- Crème brûlée — A custard topped with sugar that's torched into a brittle, caramelized shell.
- Meringue — Egg whites whipped with sugar until glossy and stiff, then baked crisp.
- Macarons — Almond meringue shells leaning on precise sugar ratios for their delicate shell and chew.
- Tarte Tatin — Apples caramelized in sugar and butter, then baked under pastry and flipped.
Spanish
- Flan — A baked custard set over a layer of caramelized sugar.
- Churros — Fried dough rolled in sugar (often cinnamon sugar) right after frying.
Middle Eastern
- Baklava — Layered phyllo and nuts soaked in a sugar syrup after baking.
- Turkish delight — A chewy, starch-set confection built on a cooked sugar syrup base.
Cajun & Creole
- Pecan pralines — Sugar, butter, and cream cooked to the soft-ball stage and studded with pecans.