What is the purpose of the sugar in ketchup?

Question

Most ketchup recipes - even homemade ones - include several tablespoons of sugar. Commercial ketchup often has lots of high-fructose corn syrup. What purpose does all of this sugar serve in a ketchup recipe?

Asked by KatieK

Answer

High fructose corn syrup is a preservative. While sugaring your ketchup is good for flavor, HFCS is great for shelf stability, as is the vinegar.

The reasons you typically see HFCS in American Ketchups is that it is (1) heavily subsidized and domestic and cheap, (2) farmed by the same companies making the tomatoes, and (3) a preservative. Also, it helps to improve flow while maintaining viscosity.

Sugar generally can be used to cut the acidity in a tomato dish without inhibiting the taste or outshining the tomato. My stepfather had digestion issues with high acidity meals and swore by a teaspoon or two of sugar to help aid the stomach issues. Likewise, the acidity of ketchup may well be mitigated by all the sugar.

Answered by mfg

Check more discussion of this question.

Sugar for babies food [closed]

Question

Is it true that adding sugar to babies under one year food are not safe? If so what can I use instead of sugar to make healthy and tasty food for my child.

Asked by Soss

Answer

I know that one shouldn't give honey to infants because their immune systems aren't developed enough to deal with the C. botulinum spores found in it, but I've never heard that table sugar was unsafe for them. That said, some pediatricians believe that adding sugar to baby food encourages an unhealthy taste for sugar in children and should be avoided. The natural sweetness of fruits and vegetables should be enough flavor for infants, particularly because they haven't yet developed a taste for table sugar that might interfere with their enjoyment of food.

Answered by Iuls

Check more discussion of this question.

What's the point of using sugar in savory dishes?

Question

I never get why people add a sweet substance to a savory dish. Especially in something like a a curry or noodles. People say it balances out the flavors. But which flavor is it actually balancing out?

Asked by Uday Kanth

Answer

Hot Sour Salty Sweet

Sugar balances both salty and sour flavors in dishes. Adding just a little sugar makes salty things taste less salty and sour things taste less sour, without actually reducing the amount of salt or acid in the recipe.

For example, the liquid base of the Pad Thai recipe I follow contains chili powder, fish sauce, tamarind, and light palm sugar. The palm sugar balances out the sour from the tamarind and the salt from the fish sauce. Without it, the noodles would come out too sour and too salty.

I don't know the physiological reasons for this. Would be interesting to hear them if someone knew ...

Answered by FuzzyChef

Check more discussion of this question.

Why is there cornstarch in powdered sugar?

Question

I was looking up how to make my own powdered/confectioner/icing sugar. Some 'recipes' say that you should add a bit of cornstarch while others just leave this out.

So what is the role of cornstarch? Does it act like a filler (since it's cheaper than sugar)? Is it to prevent lumps? Does it help with texture? Does it do something else?

If this question is too broad, assume I'm only talking about frosting, since that's a frequent use of this sugar.

Asked by Mien

Answer

It's to prevent caking. See, for example, the second FAQ on Domino Sugar's website:

It is not recommended to substitute confectioners sugar for granulated sugar. Since confectioners sugar has a much finer texture, and it contains a small percentage of cornstarch to prevent caking, substituting can give you unexpected results.

Many shredded cheeses include corn starch for the same reason.

Answered by Eli Lansey

Check more discussion of this question.

Can I substitute brown or confectioner's sugar for granulated sugar in sugar cookies?

Question

I'm making sugar cookies and I have ran out of granulated sugar. I only have confectioner's sugar and dark brown sugar left.

Can I substitute one of these for white granulated sugar? Which would be the better substitute?

Asked by jZompK

Answer

I've done this before, and you won't get exactly the same cookie as you got before.

Confectioners sugar: total bomb. Don't bother.

Dark brown sugar: darker cookie, with a chewier texture. Kept longer.

This isn't always a bad thing. Several of my cookie recipes that I thought were a bit dry were saved by DBS. It added a nice depth to the flavor, as well.

Answered by kcunning

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I prevent simple syrup from crystallizing?

Question

When I store it in the refrigerator, my simple syrup always seems to crystallize. How can I prevent this? How long should I expect simple syrup to keep?

Asked by KatieK

Answer

There are a couple of things you can do to prevent sugar crystallising. You can add some glucose syrup, or you can 'invert' the sugar by adding some acid, namely cream of tartar. Both should be readily available, online if not at your supermarket. Cream of tartar is also useful when making meringue.

Answered by ElendilTheTall

Check more discussion of this question.

Why does cold coffee taste sweeter with the same amount of sugar?

Question

I have observed that the same amount of sugar tastes differently in hot and in cold coffee. If I drink hot coffee, I feel I can add more and more sugar, without it tasting too sweet. However, cold coffee tastes overly sweet with only small amounts of sugar.

Why does this happen? Why does sugar taste differently sweet in cold and hot coffee?

Asked by tech_learner

Answer

Its possible that when you drink a hot liquid, you swish it around your mouth a lot less than when you drink a cold liquid, and thus fewer of the taste buds on your tongue are exposed to it. This wouldn't be surprising: it's hot after all.

Another possibility is that if you're starting with hot coffee, and adding sugar to it, that the sugar isn't fully dissolved when you drink it hot (it takes time, especially if you don't stir it much), but has dissolved by the time the coffee cools. With more dissolved sugar, it is sweeter.

Answered by derobert

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I make this antique ginger wine recipe using ingredients available today?

Question

I have this old family ginger wine recipe, but some of the ingredients are hard to find or may not exist any more...

---

• Essence of Ginger 12mls
• Tincture of Capsicum 9mls
• Essence of Lemon 5mls
• Solution of Burnt Sugar 25mls
• 2 1/2 lb sugar
• 1 oz Tartaric Acid
• 5 quarts boiling water

Add mixture and sugar to boiling water.

WHEN COLD add tartaric acid.

---

I expect I can find the sugar and the water(!), but the rest I'm less sure about. Can anyone give some ideas as to how I could make tincture of capsicum, essence of ginger & lemon, and a solution of burnt sugar? Just in case it's different in other parts of the world, this recipe is British.

Asked by Rich

Answer

How archaic and fun!

I whipped out some Google-fu and found the following for you:

Tincture of Capsicum

You can actually buy this on Amazon: Cayenne Capsicum Tincture 2 Ounces. It's available other places, but I saw prices as high as 2x this. (9 ml ~ 0.3 oz)

Essence of Ginger

This is from a late 19th century Jamaican cookbook (Classic Jamaican Cooking: Traditional Recipes and Herbal Remedies).

• Three ounces of freshly grated ginger
• Two ounces of thinly cut lemon-peel
• Two pints of brandy or proof spirit (white rum)

Just combine and let sit for 10 days, shaking well.

Essence of Lemon

This can also be purchased. You can likely find some lemon extract in your grocery store, if not here is some on Amazon: Flavorganics Organic Lemon Extract, 2-Ounce Glass Bottles (Pack of 3) - note that it's 3 bottles.

Solution of Burnt Sugar

This isn't just typical caramelized sugar, it's burnt sugar. Sugar that has been heated to the dark caramel stage of 370 F to 400 F (188 C to 204 C). The sugar at this point has lost most of it's sweetness, smells burnt, and tastes kind of bitter. It's commonly called caramel color these days. This is what is gives Cola's their dark color. In the small amount of 25ml and in the presence of 2.5 lbs of sugar (wow!) you won't taste it.

My amazon-fu fails here, but have found it available on this site: http://www.spiceplace.com/mccormick_caramel_color.php

It might be simpler to buy this than attempt making your own. Caramel coloring can be a little hazardous to make, it's easy to go too far and burn your sugar, and dumping any quantity of water into 400 F sugar is a sketchy experience. Here is a how-to if you desire though:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5673239_make-caramel-food-coloring.html

Tartaric Acid

This too can be purchased - Tartaric Acid 2 oz. (56 gr.)

Please note that tartaric acid is not the same as cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is an acid-salt in which the tartaric acid is partially neutralized. This site suggests you can use a 2:1 substitution ratio of cream of tartar to tartaric acid. I'm not sure if this will make a difference in your drink because I've never used cream of tartar in such a way or quantity before.

There is also the possibility that a recipe of this age simply used the term tartaric acid to refer to cream of tartar. Who knows?

Answered by hobodave

Check more discussion of this question.

What fruits have a low sugar content?

Question

I like to make fruit salads for desert. However, a few people I know can't eat that much sugar, so I would like to create a fruit salad which has a low sugar content.

Typically, as a base for the salad, I use a splash of water, lemon/lime juice, sugar/honey and Port. Obviously, I would have to consider changing this base. The fruits I typically use are: apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi, mango, papaya, strawberry and pomegranate.

However, I don't know what is the sugar content of these fruits. Therefore I ask, which fruits have the least amount of sugar (compared to a base weight, that is) and which fruit combinations would still make a good salad? I am not looking for anything fancy or incredibly tasty, just a regular fruit salad.

My grocer has a wide diversity of fruits, so fruit suggestions are also appreciated.

Asked by MobileCushion

Answer

As a metric, if you are concerned about cutting back on sugar you might consider fruits and sugars with a lower glycemic load index (GI; higher causes spikes in blood sugar) as a metric for seeking more ingredients.

Sugars with low glycemic load indices are agave nectar (GI: 15) and brown rice syrup (GI: 25), relative to white sugar and honey.

Fruits with low glycemic indices are

Food | GI Value

Cherries 22

Grapefruit 25

Prunes 29

Apricots, dried 30

Apple 38

Peach, canned in juice 38

Pear, fresh 38

Plum 39

Strawberries 40

Orange, Navel 42

Peach, fresh 42

Pear, canned 43

Grapes 46

For more references and ingredients, here are two lists.

Answered by mfg

Check more discussion of this question.

What difference would using Rock Sugar make in tea?

Question

I like my tea sweet, and generally add several cubes of white sugar. Teavana sells rock sugar, which it claims is somehow "better" while being vague on what that means. Is it sweeter? Better for you? Less sweet? Somehow interacts with the tea leaves differently?

Interesting, you're meant to brew it with the leaves, presumably sweetening the whole pot rather than doing it to taste for individuals, which sounds annoying. Is that just marketing or does that have some benefit?

Answer

It appears to be brown sugar instead of white sugar. So there will be some flavor difference from less refining (e.g., more molasses remaining)

You could pick up turbinado sugar at the grocery store, which will probably taste just about the same, for much less money.

edit: I should also note that honey makes a good sweetener for tea as well, depending on the type of tea. You could use normal brown sugar as well. Maple sugar (or syrup) goes in some... there are a lot of sweeteners you can use, and most of them you can get fairly cheaply at the grocery store so you can experiment. (Except maple, I suppose, which is just expensive)

Check more discussion of this question.

What is the right moment to add sugar to make my own coffee liqueur?

Question

I've been looking for a good coffee liqueur recipe. In some places they add sugar and water before you store the liqueur for a few days or weeks, and others say to add the sugar and water after it.

The 'before' ones use instant coffee which I think it's not in the 'original' (old) recipe.

Does adding the sugar before or after make any difference in the outcome? The liqueurs I have bought usually get thicker as time goes by.

Answer

I'll try to answer this.

Concerning the first recipe you linked, it doesn't matter at all whether you add it first or not, since there is no extraction going on. Theres no fresh coffee, no fresh vanilla. Just extract, which of course is already extracted, so no extended wait time is needed! There might still be room for improvement, letting flavors 'marry' and so, but I'd say a day should be enough.

The second recipe is different. It steeps fresh coffee in alcohol, and here it's going to need time. One month is however an extreme amount of time. Usually, hot water and coffee is steeped for seconds, and cold water and coffee is often steeped for 12 hours. Consider that alcohol is a stronger solvent than water. But if going for a true alcoholic extraction, pure is better / faster, so you should steep before adding water, and the sugar probably doesn't make much difference.

This said, I'm not sure you should actually let it steep in alcohol at all, and I'm not sure you should dilute it either.

If I was doing this, I would go for water cold extraction. I'd be concerned that alcohol would extract too much, the same as too long hot water steeping leads to bitter, sour, pungent coffee. I'm not sure why you would want to dilute it with alot of water either. Water adds nothing to the party. Dilute it when using it instead, this leaves you free to choose each time. Perhaps you'd like to mix it with milk instead, sometime?

Do you have a french press? Let 1 part coursely ground coffee steep in 3 parts cold water over night. Use the filter / top to filter it, and pour it into your vodka. I'm not completely sure, but I think 1 part extract to 4 parts vodka would be fine. Use the same ratio of sugar as in the recipes you linked, or after taste.

UPDATE:

I didn't completely read the second recipe before I answered. It says to boil the vodka-mixture. Sure, the alcohol doesn't vanish in an hour, but I'd still say it's an unacceptable waste (spirits are expensive where I'm from!). Also, the effect is the inverse of destillation, so you are left with a weaker, but sweeter, drink. I'm not sure why it says to boil it. It says that it's to 'thicken the liqueur', but they could just use less water instead.

Good luck!

Check more discussion of this question.

Why did my Turkish Delight come out flavorless?

Question

Yesterday I made Turkish Delight, and today I cut it into squares and tasted it. This was the recipe:

• 330 ml liquid (apple juice, from freshly cold-pressed apples, strong flavor)
• A small amount of ascorbic acid, to prevent apple juice from browning
• 330 grams of sugar
• 25g powdered gelatin
• icing sugar

Steps:

• Boil sugar and liquid until at 115 degrees celsius
• Take off the heat
• Add gelatin, soaked in a bit of the liquid
• Let set in a cold environment
• Cut into pieces
• Dust with icing
• Enjoy

It has set fine, it's pretty beautiful and hasn't bled yet (making icing soggy) but perhaps in a while.

The problem is that it is UTTERLY tasteless. Before cooking the sugar solution, it tasted great, and had a beautiful green color. After cooking, it was almost tasteless and almost completely clear.

Why did the juice lose the flavor, and what can I do to prevent it? It happened before adding gelatin.

A bonus question: It took a while to reach 115 degrees, about half an hour. It seems that cooking to 115 was mostly a matter of reducing the solution so that the boiling point increased. Does the extended boiling have any other beneficial effects, or can I simply increase the sugar amount from the start and bring it to a boil?

Answer

First, I don't know where you people all get these gelatin-filled Turkish delight recipes. Turkish delight is made with starch, not gelatin (at least the recipes used in Turkey are all with refined starch or rice flour). What you are making here is jell-o (if you use small amounts of gelatin) or gummi bears (if you use lots of gelatin).

Second, about the taste. It is normal that fresh apple juice loses its taste when it is cooked. The normal Turkish delight tastes of sugar. Its aroma comes from strong aromas added to the liquid (rose essence, or artificial aroma). You don't preserve natural fruit tastes in Turkish delight. Even if you wanted to, I don't think there is a way to do it with apple juice. Some stronger tasting fruits (cherries, raspberries) could give a syrup with more taste, but are not part of traditional lokum.

Third, about the temperature. Your observation is correct, you are just evaporating the liquid. In some cases, it might be desirable to start with more liquid and evaporate, so you get more concentrated aroma - for example, if you have started with pure rose water. But if you are making a recipe which requires concentrated sugar syrup, it is OK to start with a ratio which creates saturated syrup at room temperature (3 parts sugar to 2 parts water) and cook until the desired consistency is reached (this is recognizable from the boiling point).

For most recipes however, you don't want a concentrated syrup. The candy hardness is defined by the amount of starch used. In this case, you just mix everything and you are ready after it has bubbled, just like any pudding. The amount of sugar seems to be 1 part sugar to 2 parts water.

Check more discussion of this question.

difference between glucose syrup and sugar syrup?

Question

I am not talking about the chemical difference (sugar is chemically a molecule formed by two monosaccarides: glucose and fructose). I am wondering about the difference from the cooking point of view in using pure glucose syrup vs. a syrup made of simple kitchen sugar dissolved in water.

Answer

Pure glucose is significantly thicker than a sugar syrup you would make on your own. It's even thicker than honey. At the previous restaurant I was at, we would use glucose in some limited applications when making certain kinds of caramel sauces (sorry, I didn't steal any recipes before I left), as (if I recall correctly) it has a higher tolerance for heat, and provides sweetness without caramelizing at the same temperatures as table sugar.

Check more discussion of this question.

How to prevent a vinegar taste when poaching eggs (using vinegared water)

Question

How does one remove the vinegar taste from eggs that are poached in water with vinegar added? Would rinsing the eggs in a sugar solution help?

Answer

I assume you mean eggs that have been poached in water with vinegar added?

I usually add vinegar to my poaching water when making poached eggs. However, I rarely taste the vinegar. I would suggest

• Use less vinegar. I use no more than a tablespoon for a shallow frying pan's worth of water
• Use a milder vinegar like white wine vinegar, or even lemon juice
• Use really fresh eggs if you can, in which case you don't even need vinegar

Lots of people use a saucepan full of water to poach eggs. I used to, but always with inconsistent results. Usually the egg white would just disintegrate and form a foam.

Now I use a small, shallow frying pan. This means the egg white has less opportunity to disintegrate, and also means I need to use less vinegar to help the white set.

If rather than poaching you mean pickling, there's little you can do to remove the vinegar taste, as the vinegar will have penetrated the egg thoroughly.

Check more discussion of this question.

How to remove the vinegar taste from eggs that are poach inside vinegar?

Question

How do one remove the vinegar taste from eggs that are poach inside vinegar? Would rinsing the eggs in a sugar solution help?

Answer

I assume you mean eggs that have been poached in water with vinegar added?

I usually add vinegar to my poaching water when making poached eggs. However, I rarely taste the vinegar. I would suggest

• Use less vinegar. I use no more than a tablespoon for a shallow frying pan's worth of water
• Use a milder vinegar like white wine vinegar, or even lemon juice
• Use really fresh eggs if you can, in which case you don't even need vinegar

Lots of people use a saucepan full of water to poach eggs. I used to, but always with inconsistent results. Usually the egg white would just disintegrate and form a foam.

Now I use a small, shallow frying pan. This means the egg white has less opportunity to disintegrate, and also means I need to use less vinegar to help the white set.

If rather than poaching you mean pickling, there's little you can do to remove the vinegar taste, as the vinegar will have penetrated the egg thoroughly.

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I extract palm sugar from a container?

Question

I have a plastic tub with a screwtop lid, full of palm sugar. It's a 500g tub, about 10cm high and about 10cm diameter. Usually I buy the individual cubes of palm sugar and this time I thought I'd cut down on packaging and buy the bigger size, but now I have a problem.

My problem is getting the palm sugar OUT of the tub.

It's like cement, and I have tried using spoons (they bend), knives (ditto) and a corkscrew (just bores a hole rather than breaking it up) to get some of the sugar out. Tonight I also tried sitting the tub in a bath of freshly boiled water (approx 90 degrees celcius), and sprinkling some over the surface of the sugar to try to soften it a little. No success.

This question describes how to deal with a rockhard piece of sugar like mine, but without packaging.

Does anyone know how to get it out of the tub in the first place so that I can go ahead and grate it?

Answer

You could use the corkscrew in its classic role. Bore a hole, and then use the corkscrew to pull the sugar out in one piece. You should probably lay the tub on its side for this, as the sugar weight is probably too much to stay on the corkscrew.

The other option, though rather extreme, is to cut away the plastic tub with wire cutters or shears. That way, you're peeling the tub away, and will be left with the same lump, but no tub.

Check more discussion of this question.

How should O extract palm sugar from a container?

Question

I have a plastic tub with a screwtop lid, full of palm sugar. It's a 500g tub, about 10cm high and about 10cm diameter. Usually I buy the individual cubes of palm sugar and this time I thought I'd cut down on packaging and buy the bigger size, but now I have a problem.

My problem is getting the palm sugar OUT of the tub.

It's like cement, and I have tried using spoons (they bend), knives (ditto) and a corkscrew (just bores a hole rather than breaking it up) to get some of the sugar out. Tonight I also tried sitting the tub in a bath of freshly boiled water (approx 90 degrees celcius), and sprinkling some over the surface of the sugar to try to soften it a little. No success.

This question describes how to deal with a rockhard piece of sugar like mine, but without packaging.

Does anyone know how to get it out of the tub in the first place so that I can go ahead and grate it?

Answer

You could use the corkscrew in its classic role. Bore a hole, and then use the corkscrew to pull the sugar out in one piece. You should probably lay the tub on its side for this, as the sugar weight is probably too much to stay on the corkscrew.

The other option, though rather extreme, is to cut away the plastic tub with wire cutters or shears. That way, you're peeling the tub away, and will be left with the same lump, but no tub.

Check more discussion of this question.

How to sweeten pickled ginger to be served with sushi?

Question

I bought a jar of pickled ginger from the local asian food market to go along with the sushi I have been preparing at home. This texture of this ginger is harder, and the taste much bitter. This is not the gari I am used to tasting from the sushi bar.

The ingredients of the jar read "Ginger, water, vinegar, sugar, salt, FD&C red no 40. as colour, saccharin as sweetener, sodium benzoate and sodium metabisulfite as preservatives."

Do sushi restaurants do anything special to sweeten their gari?

Answer

There are two common varieties of pickled ginger in Japan (and a bunch of less common ones). The "gari" is "amazu-shouga" (甘酢生姜 or 甘酢しょうが) it's usually thinly sliced and often, though not always, left uncolored, or just colored enough to leave it slightly pink instead of yellowish-white. Due to generous use of sugar or other sweeteners, it's usually somewhat sweet, and that's right there in the name, which roughly translates as "sweet vinegar ginger".

Another variety, which typically comes in the shape of thick matchsticks, is a bit saltier and, because of the thickness, a bit firmer. It's called "kizami-shouga" or (きざみ生姜 or きざみしょうが). Kizami refers to the shape, not the flavor. Occasionally this will be labeled "beni-shouga" (紅ショウガ), which means red ginger. It's generally used to garnish and season things like yakisoba or okonomiyaki, but is not typically served with most types of sushi. The amazu shouga is more common for most sushi.

So it's possible that you've picked up kizami-shouga instead of amazu-shouga. While there's nothing stopping you from adding sugar or other sweeteners from the brine, that probably won't help that much. If you do have amazu-shouga, it's also possible you've just found one that doesn't taste that good. The quality of packaged Japanese pickles I've found in the US isn't all that great, though I've occasionally found decent umeboshi.

You might try a different brand, or consider pickling your own ginger. The basic process for pickling the ginger is a hybrid between salt pickles and vinegar pickles: You peel and thinly slice the ginger, and rub it with salt, leaving it for at least an hour or overnight to sweat. You'll then add a solution of sugar and rice vinegar, occasionally with a little bit of ume-zu, which is the salty brine extracted from umeboshi-making, or beet juice, if you want to guarantee a pink color.

Check more discussion of this question.

What does pulling on syrup (in the semi-solid state) do to the texture/taste?

Question

I have seen this done at candy shops before, where the syrup is pulled/stretched 10s of times before they are allowed to cool off.

What chemically does this do to the sugar? How does this affect the taste?

Answer

It aerates the sugar (you do the same for taffy) - adding tiny bubbles in the final product.

It makes the finished product lighter and chewier instead of denser and hard.

Check more discussion of this question.

How does “Brownulated” light brown sugar compare with regular light brown sugar?

Question

I'm assuming that the granulated sugar in the bag is easier to work with and won't turn into a hard block. It's also more expensive than the boxed kind. Are there any other differences, e.g. in the taste or texture after baking?

Answer

Brownulated sugar? Ah! "Brownulated sugar" is a registered trademark and sold in the US only.

From their (Dominos) web page:

This easy-to-measure brown sugar is a cup for cup replacement for regular light brown sugar. Convenient, great tasting, and easy to use.

So it must taste like ordinary light brown sugar after baking.

http://www.dominosugar.com/sugar/brownulated-sugar

Check more discussion of this question.