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Specialty Sugars


Gabriel Lewis

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Hi,

When I grew up my Mom made maple syrup and we always had maple sugar. It is hard to find and the maple groves tend to sell maple candy.

A few years ago, I began making maple sugar. It is wonderful for finishing desserts. Maple creme brulee....

Tim

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Hi Tim - that's really interesting. How did you get into making your own sugar?

Can you briefly describe the process? After tapping, how long do you cook the sap for? Certainly different batches taste a bit different (or do they)? If there's any variation in flavor, what do you attribute it to?

I have vivid memories of eating maple sugar pie everyday for 2 wks that we spent at a resort outside Montreal when I was a kid. I've never been able to find a recipe that matches the deliciousness of that pie. It had no, or minimal eggs ... was not a custard -- just rich and intensely maple-y. :wub:

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I second ecr's request, please do tim! I love maple sugar as well, but find it prohibitively expensive. It might be more viable if I were to purchase maple syrup in bulk and make my own though.

Robyn Wow, thanks for sharing your experiences with malaysian palm sugar. Have you been to some thai production areas as well? I don't have any direct experience, but I feel that the quality of the sugar depends heavily on growing conditions, processing methods, etc and that a lot of the good stuff might not necessarily be exported.

Regarding the indonesian palm sugar my guess would be just that there isn't anyone marketing it. A lot of these asian ingredients are still relatively new in North America and there isn't necessarily a big push for quality. Although there are a lot of online options. For the most part the same palm sugars in all the stores here are all the same, and while they are good I always suspected there was something better. Just recently I came upon some Indonesian palm sugar at a local specialty store run by a man who does a great job sourcing high quality asian/ethnic ingredients. I haven't tried it yet, but I am pretty excited about it as it seems different from anything I have seen before. It is quite dark an is labaled Wayang brand, export quality (no asli label though). It looks like this:

gallery_44574_4258_587506.jpg

I'm curious to know if you've noticed a siginficant difference inbetween the sugars from different trees. What I've read has led me to believe that true palm trees are the most prolific and produce the best flavor.

Your presentation and potential tasting sound wonderful; I wish I lived in chicago.

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Hi Tim - that's really interesting. How did you get into making your own sugar?

Can you briefly describe the process? After tapping, how long do you cook the sap for? Certainly different batches taste a bit different (or do they)? If there's any variation in flavor, what do you attribute it to?

I have vivid memories of eating maple sugar pie everyday for 2 wks that we spent at a resort outside Montreal when I was a kid. I've never been able to find a recipe that matches the deliciousness of that pie. It had no, or minimal eggs ... was not a custard -- just rich and intensely maple-y.    :wub:

Hi,

I make maple sugar from maple syrup. You heat maple syrup to 258 degrees and stir it to add ir and to promote evaporation. It can be difficult on a humid day.

1. Place the syrup in a dutch oven not more than 1/4 full.

2. Bring to a boil over moderate heat. Continue with a steady slow boil. You want more than a simmer but, DO NOT ALLOW THE SYRUP TO FOAM OVER THE TOP. Excessive foaming can be eliminated with a drop or two of vegetable oil.

3. It takes a long time to bring the temperature to 258 degrees. You are eliminating a lot of moisture. I will stir occasionally with a wooden spoon equalize the temperature of the syrup.

4. It helps to stir the syrup as you approach 258 degrees. Just make sure that all of the syrup is up to temperature.

5. Remove from heat and transfer the syrup to a large flat pan or a wooden bowl. Begin stirring with a wooden spoon to promote evaporation and to add air to the syrup. This will change the texture of the mix from a liquid to a a brown sugar consistancy.

6. You may use a coarse sieve to chop the mix. I find it easier to chop it with a pastry scraper into a fine texture.

After two and a half hours you will have converted your quart of syrup to more than a quart of ambrosia.

Now, make some maple ice cream, maple creme anglaise or maple creme brulee.

Tim

I

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I adore turbinado sugar. I recently came across a turbinado from the Colombian cooperative CIAMSA, marketed in the states under the name Batey, by a carpet and tile company(World Tile Corp) in Orlando, Florida, of all things! I think it's kind of weird, that the name is Batey, since that's a generic name for the makeshift sort of towns that sugar companies have built for sugar workers to live in. I've actually written the company, asking them about the name. I'll let you know if and when I get an answer, and if I will get to buy and try this brand of sugar! Here is some information on the Batey Relief Alliance, which is mostly aimed at helping the workers in the Dominican Republic.

Edited by Rebecca263 (log)

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Thanks Tim, for sharing that. I wish I had access to some maple sugar, or even true maple syrup.

Have been meaning to experiment with SE Asian palm sugar in Western desserts, but no time yet.

Gabriel - yes I think it's true that the best stuff is not exported. Small producers simply don't have access to an export network. Unfortunately I don't have head for business (or a stomach for attempting to do business in Indonesia, certainly), otherwise I'd be out there rounding up suppliers. I'm sure the stuff would sell well in the States, for use well beyond Asian food.

Malaysia doesn't export any at all, mass-produced or otherwise, and there is some wonderful stuff here. I haven't tasted the Indonesian stuff available in the US, but it's a pretty major brand you've got there. When I tasted a 'brand' sugar here in Malaysia I was horrified - very chemical-y, without the subtlety of the small batch stuff. Not surprising, I suppose. Hopefully yours is much better. I wonder what kin of palm yours is from. It looks gooey, which makes me want to say nypa. But there is so little sugar produced from nypa palms in Indonesia.

(By the way the label on your sugar notes that it has already been cleaned and filtered, so you don't have to do that in the kitchen.)

I haven't extended research to Thailand yet. That, and Philippines, is next. A couple of things with Thai palm sugar - it's mostly made from coconut palms. To my taste this results in the least interesting, or complex, sugar. It's also usually a lighter sugar. There is some preference among some Thai consumers for lighter sugar, so sometimes bleaching agents are used. This can't be good for the taste. I haven't observed at the source so haven't tasted with and without lighteners.

Id have to say that aren and nypa palm produce the most interesting sugars. You'll get everything from bitterness to sourness to saltiness (and sweet, of course) with these palms. The literature I received from Big Tree Farms (the Bali link I provided) contends that the bit of bitterness found in these palms is not desirable. Well, as I said, I haven't made Western desserts with them, so I don't know how it all shakes out in the cooking. But I do know that SE Asian desserts made with these sugars are fantastic, and when tasting side-by-side they simply blow coconut palm sugar out of the water.

But - this is all still work in progress and I've got a lot to learn, that's for sure!

Cheers,

Robyn

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I think there is a large untapped market for coffee shops and tea houses to carry these fine sugars. I drink my coffee black and tea plain, but I'm in the minority.

I had a dinner a few years ago at The Driskill Grill (fanciest restaurant in Austin) and the after-meal espresso came with four different sugars, probably the Billington's selection. This is a nice, unique touch that costs next to nothing.

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I can taste the difference made in my coffee by the different sugars. It is a nice option when drinking coffee. "Sugar-in-the-Raw" is one of our splurges. I think its equivalent to turbinado. I'd love to try demerara in the coffee sometime - havent seen it. Brown sugar doesnt work.

Its nice to have different sugar to sprinkle on things as a finisher - the larger crystals for a texture and burst of sweet, as well as for the sparkle. Maple sugar goes well on sugar cookies.

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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I get dark muscovado for about $5/lb. The packages most stores around here carry come from a place called India Tree Gourmet Spices & Specialties out of Seattle. It makes for excellent gingerbread as well as an accompanying whipped cream if you're careful to dissolve it thoroughly.

Forgot to add that I use palm sugar for tons of things, too. It's cheaper than dirt and it makes excellent Cream of Wheat, sweet saffron rice, chicken sa tay marinade, enchilada sauce, and a concoction I've dubbed "rooster beans" due to its high sriracha content.

Edited by nduran (log)
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Robyn: Yes I'm sure the stuff I get doesn't hold a candle to the artisanal local stuff, but I'm just happy to be getting it at all! I just tried my Indonesian palm sugar, and I am really impressed. It is very dark and moist; sticky enough to smear. It also has the best flavor of any palm sugar I've tried so far. Very strong flavor, and it has an earthy richness to it that reminds me of chocolate. Not sure I'll use this for my lighter palm sugar applications, but it seems like it'll be perfect for red curries and the like. No chemical taste whatsoever, not that I have ever encountered one before in any palm sugar. But if this is only the name brand stuff, I can only imagine what the small producer stuff you're getting is like.

Would you be willing to elaborate a bit on the different types of trees? I was only aware of the different types such as coconut palm versus date palm versus sugar palm. What are some of the different types, and what are the differences between them?

From what I'd read, I was aware that sugar palms were supposed to produce the better sugar. Kasma Loha Unchit'sKasma Loha-Unchits article on thai palm sugar is excellent. I didn't know that most thai palm sugar was actually coconut sugar though. Where are you getting this from?

Kent: I think I agree, but why would you say it costs next to nothing? Most of these sugars are quite a bit more expensive than refined, and could easily add up especially with wastage. It also seems like something that would be limited to specialty places; I can think of a number of people and their reactions to that degree of choice. That said I have noticed some local cafes carrying packets of raw turbinado style sugar alongside their regular ones.

Nduran: Where are you getting your palm sugar? All the stuff I've found is fairly cheap, but gram per gram still way more expensive than refined sugar. I often subsitute palm sugar for piloncillo, or jaggery for palm or the like when I'm out of a particular type, as they can be fairly similar.

It seems a lot of us are in the know on these specialty sugars. Obviously there's a lot more to sugar than just sugar. It still strikes me though that all of these sugars are so much more expensive than refined sugar, yet they are processed less. Is it just marketing I wonder? It seems like the moister sugars would be more difficult to handle, store, and ship, but not to the extent that they are differentially priced.

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Gabriel - yes, Kasma's piece is probably one of the most informative on the web! I corresponded with her a couple wks ago about Thai palm sugars. I shouldn't have said that 'most' Thai palm sugar is from the coconut palm. It seems half-half coconut and sugar palm.

What is confusing is that the term 'sugar palm' is applied to a few varieties of palm In Thailand (and Cambodia and Lao, from what I can tell), it refers to the palmyra palm, the type with the big, fan-shaped leaves. Namtann mapraow is from the coconut palm ('mapraow' = 'coconut' in Thai) and the stuff from the palmyra palm is namtaan bpeep or namtaan buk.

Comparing the two, the palmyra/sugar palm sugar is more interesting. At the same time, the sample that I was able to get from the only Thai grocer in Kuala Lumpur had a whiff of gas to it .... it was probably cooked over a gas burner. I would imagine if you can get a hold of some cooked over wood it would be much nicer.

What is confusing to me is that gula Melaka, the most common Malaysian palm sugar, is also made from coconut palms. Yet it is much darker in color and much richer in taste than Thai coconut palm sugar. I've watched the process and nothing is added (at least by the maker I observed) except a handful of grated coconut to keep it from boiling over. Considering that a single batch starts with about 25 L of liquid this little bit of coconut doesn't seem to be enough to account for the drastic difference in color and flavor of Thai and Malaysian coconut palm sugar.

But as I said -- sometimes bleaching agents are added in Thailand. Obviously we need to get up to Thailand and observe a very small-batch producer firsthand.

I also suspect terroir comes into play a bit. Some nipa palm sugar is really rather salty, probably because nypa palms thrive near brackish water.

As for other palms used for sugar, most common in SE Asia are Aren palm and nipa palm. The buri palm is 'tapped' on a small Philippine island to make pakaskas, Philippine palm sugar. But only there. To my knowledge palm sugar is not made elsewhere in the Philippines.

As for cooking with the sugar - you might try your Indonesian sugar in a Western dessert. I just made blondies with my Malaysian (coconut) gula Melaka, and the result was quite spectacular. Plus the whole house smelled like a caramel bomb while they were in the oven. :biggrin: Today I'll try it with my dark Sumatran aren sugar.

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