Bar sugar

[TAPrice]

It's recently become almost impossible for me to find bar sugar. Whole Foods was the only local place that stocked it, but they haven't had any for months.

Is it possible to grind regular sugar in a food processor to make bar sugar? My guess is no, but I wanted to get some opinions.

[mkayahara]

By "bar sugar," are you referring to superfine sugar aka fruit sugar? If so, then I don't see any reason you couldn't just take some regular granulated for a spin in the food processor. Alton Brown did just that to make Mint Juleps on an episode of Good Eats.

[lostmyshape]

haven't tried it myself but i've read in many places that the food processor works... pretty easy experiment, no? and cheap.

[slkinsey]

What you are talking about is superfine sugar. You should be able to find superfine sugar in most any grocery store. Most commonly it comes in a box that looks like this.

You can, however, put regular granulated sugar into a food processor and reduce the grain size if you like.

[eje]

Or Caster Sugar, if there is some grocery store that carries gourmet sweeteners.

But, yeah, as long as you use a dry sugar, any sugar can be made finer.

That's why it is called "powdered sugar" in old bar books.

Because you crushed or ground it to a powder, from a big block or keg.

Of course, not to be confused with modern confectioners' sugar, which usually contains cornstach as a free flowing agent. Never use that for cocktails.

[jgm]

I've made superfine sugar in the food processor before and it works well. I would think you could use a blender, too, although I've never tried it.

FYI, if the idea appeals to you, you can also flavor sugars. Lots of people put vanilla beans in sugar so that the sugar can absorb the vanilla flavor. I would think you could use large pieces of citrus fruit zest the same way; some people also put the zest in with the sugar to get the citrus flavor. I've never tried it, but I would think that herbs might also work.

Uh-oh. Now the ol' brain juices are flowing. How about... salt ground with just a bit of sugar, and flavored with lemon zest and maybe an herb (oregano? celery seed? dill? fennel seed?), for Bloody Marys?

[TAPrice]

What you are talking about is superfine sugar.  You should be able to find superfine sugar in most any grocery store.  Most commonly it comes in a box that looks like this.

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You'd think it would be easy to find, but everyone around here seems to have stopped carrying it.

The flavored sugars sound intriguing. I suppose grinding less processed sugars would also work. Could be interesting. Now I feel silly for buying that expensive caster sugar from Whole Foods.

[Dave the Cook]

Or Caster Sugar, if there is some grocery store that carries gourmet sweeteners.

But, yeah, as long as you use a dry sugar, any sugar can be made finer.

That's why it is called "powdered sugar" in old bar books.

Because you crushed or ground it to a powder, from a big block or keg. 

Of course, not to be confused with modern confectioners' sugar, which usually contains cornstach as a free flowing agent.  Never use that for cocktails.

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My mom's favorite summer cocktail used to be the Tom Collins. I was probably underage when she taught me to make it for her -- with powdered (as in 10X) sugar. I wonder if she picked up the recipe from an old cocktail book, not knowing about the change in terminology. It tastes fine, even if the appearance is well, cloudy.

[slkinsey]

I suppose grinding less processed sugars would also work.

It is also fairly easy at places like Whole Foods to buy superfine-grind cane sugar (usually sold as "dehydrated cane juice" or something like that).

[brinza]

I just recently purchased some from Kegworks:

http://www.kegworks.com/product.php?produc...&cat=546&page=1

[Mike S.]

If you can find it, C&H Baker's Sugar is my favorite superfine cane sugar. Common here in CA supermarkets.

http://www.chsugar.com/Consumer/bakers_sugar.html