Last week, we looked at the basic process by which we get sugar and molasses. However, these are not the ONLY types of sugar that we tend to come across in our pantries and recipe books, is it?
This week we are going to look at one type of sugar that we find in many of our foods that require a little sweetness…
BROWN SUGAR
If you read last week’s post on the production of sugar, you might be able to guess HOW brown sugar can be created. What you may not know is what to do when this popular sweetener turns into a solid rock inside your kitchen. We’ll look at both of these items today. But first, let’s review the four basic concepts of science:
FIRST, THE EASY PART
The creation of brown sugar is not very difficult at all. First of all, you already know that to get sugar crystals out of a sugar cane plant you have to crush, boil, and spin its juices. The solid pieces that remain from the spinning of this fluid are the sugar that you and I add to our chocolate chip cookie recipes. And the fluid that spins away from this raw sugar is a syrupy solution called molasses.
Well, the natural color of molasses is a deep, rich brown. So do you want to take a guess as to how the naturally white, solid raw sugar gets turned into BROWN SUGAR?
Yep! Brown sugar is nothing more than ordinary table sugar with a small amount of molasses mixed together.
NOW THE TRICKY PART
Unless you are making cookies, BBQ sauces, or baked beans you probably don’t use a lot of brown sugar every day. This means your brown sugar is lying around your shelves for long periods of time. If this is happens in your home (I know mine is not the only one) then you have discovered something rather unique about brown sugar that typically doesn’t happen to your white table sugar…
IT HARDENS LIKE A ROCK!
You learned a little about how sugar molecules tend to stick to each other when we looked at the baking of cookies, but the ATOMS that make up a sugar molecule (Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen) also love to bind to water really well too! In fact, sugar molecules break loose from other sugar molecules very well when placed into water.
It is important that you understand that sugar molecules themselves do not lose or gain any ATOMS during all of this movement. This follows the LAW OF CONSERVATION. In fact, a single molecule of table sugar (called sucrose) contains six ATOMS of Carbon, six ATOMS of Oxygen, and twelve ATOMS of Hydrogen. These 24 ATOMS do not break away from each other as they dissolve in water!
THAT PESKY DIFFUSION…
Our atmosphere contains a small amount of water vapor in the air. At some points throughout the year, this amount of water vapor (known as humidity) can really do some damage to your brown sugar.
Since sugar itself binds with water very well, over time the water within your brown sugar will DIFFUSE into the atmosphere. This DIFFUSION leaves behind a solidified mass of brown sugar that resembles a stone brick.
DIFFUSION TO THE RESCUE
The removal of water from your brown sugar causes this dry solid to become more DENSE. In essence, you would find more sugar molecules in a teaspoon of dry brown sugar as compared to a softer (moist) sugar.
The trick is to get water to DIFFUSE back into the brown sugar. There are many ways to solve this problem when you need brown sugar to make (me) some oatmeal cookies. There are so many, in fact, I can’t list all of them here so I will give you a couple of ways to solve this DIFFUSION problem.
THE FAST WAY – WITH NO DIFFUSION
Microwave a small amount of dried brown sugar (along with a small glass of water) for about a minute. Check to see if it has softened at this time. If not, simply “nuke it” for a few more seconds. Just be certain you don’t end up melting your sugar!
(The water doesn’t help in the process at all. It is simply that a microwave oven should not be operated without some level of moisture within itself. The water may evaporate within the microwave, but this water vapor will not penetrate the brown sugar fast enough to moisten it. )
The heating of the sugar makes its molasses a little more fluid, causing the sugar to soften up. However, you only have a couple of minutes after taking it out of the oven to measure your brown sugar before it hardens again… So work quickly!
THE NOT-SO-FAST WAY – WITH DIFFUSION
This solution comes from Robert Wolke’s excellent book, “What Einstein Told His Cook:”
“The most effective setup is probably to put the sugar in a tight-lidded container, cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap, place a damp paper towel on top of the plastic wrap, and seal it all up. After a day or so when the sugar becomes soft enough, discard the towel and plastic wrap, and reseal the container tightly.”
So don’t throw away that hardened brown sugar just yet! Give science a try before making another trip to the grocery store.
Learn more about chemistry concepts (and many more) in the Classic Science: Series for the Family and be certain to come back every Thursday or subscribe to The Blog of Mr.Q to learn more about how to teach science during breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
Last week, we looked at the basic process by which we get sugar and molasses. However, these are not the ONLY types of sugar that we tend to come across in our pantries and recipe books, is it?
This week we are going to look at one type of sugar that we find in many of our foods that require a little sweetness…
BROWN SUGAR
If you read last week’s post on the production of sugar, you might be able to guess HOW brown sugar can be created. What you may not know is what to do when this popular sweetener turns into a solid rock inside your kitchen. We’ll look at both of these items today. But first, let’s review the four basic concepts of science:
FIRST, THE EASY PART
The creation of brown sugar is not very difficult at all. First of all, you already know that to get sugar crystals out of a sugar cane plant you have to crush, boil, and spin its juices. The solid pieces that remain from the spinning of this fluid are the sugar that you and I add to our chocolate chip cookie recipes. And the fluid that spins away from this raw sugar is a syrupy solution called molasses.
Well, the natural color of molasses is a deep, rich brown. So do you want to take a guess as to how the naturally white, solid raw sugar gets turned into BROWN SUGAR?
Yep! Brown sugar is nothing more than ordinary table sugar with a small amount of molasses mixed together.
NOW THE TRICKY PART
Unless you are making cookies, BBQ sauces, or baked beans you probably don’t use a lot of brown sugar every day. This means your brown sugar is lying around your shelves for long periods of time. If this is happens in your home (I know mine is not the only one) then you have discovered something rather unique about brown sugar that typically doesn’t happen to your white table sugar…
IT HARDENS LIKE A ROCK!
You learned a little about how sugar molecules tend to stick to each other when we looked at the baking of cookies, but the ATOMS In fact, sugar molecules break loose from other sugar molecules very well when placed into water. that make up a sugar molecule (Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen) also love to bind to water really well too!
It is important that you understand that sugar molecules themselves do not lose or gain any ATOMS during all of this movement. This follows the LAW OF CONSERVATION. In fact, a single molecule of table sugar (called sucrose) contains six ATOMS of Carbon, six ATOMS of Oxygen, and twelve ATOMS of Hydrogen. These 24 ATOMS do not break away from each other as they dissolve in water!
THAT PESKY DIFFUSION…
Our atmosphere contains a small amount of water vapor in the air. At some points throughout the year, this amount of water vapor (known as humidity) can really do some damage to your brown sugar.
Since sugar itself binds with water very well, over time the water within your brown sugar will DIFFUSE This DIFFUSION into the atmosphere. leaves behind a solidified mass of brown sugar that resembles a stone brick.
DIFFUSION TO THE RESCUE
The removal of water from your brown sugar causes this dry solid to become more DENSE. In essence, you would find more sugar molecules in a teaspoon of dry brown sugar as compared to a softer (moist) sugar.
The trick is to get water to DIFFUSE There are many ways to solve this problem when you need brown sugar to make (me) some oatmeal cookies. There are so many, in fact, I can’t list all of them here so I will give you a couple of ways to solve this DIFFUSION back into the brown sugar. problem.
THE FAST WAY – WITH NO DIFFUSION
Microwave a small amount of dried brown sugar (along with a small glass of water) for about a minute. Check to see if it has softened at this time. If not, simply “nuke it” for a few more seconds. Just be certain you don’t end up melting your sugar!
(The water doesn’t help in the process at all. It is simply that a microwave oven should not be operated without some level of moisture within itself. The water may evaporate within the microwave, but this water vapor will not penetrate the brown sugar fast enough to moisten it. )
The heating of the sugar makes its molasses a little more fluid, causing the sugar to soften up. However, you only have a couple of minutes after taking it out of the oven to measure your brown sugar before it hardens again… So work quickly!
THE NOT-SO-FAST WAY – WITH DIFFUSION
This solution comes from Robert Wolke’s excellent book, “What Einstein Told His Cook:”
“The most effective setup is probably to put the sugar in a tight-lidded container, cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap, place a damp paper towel on top of the plastic wrap, and seal it all up. After a day or so when the sugar becomes soft enough, discard the towel and plastic wrap, and reseal the container tightly.”
So don’t throw away that hardened brown sugar just yet! Give science a try before making another trip to the grocery store.
Learn more about chemistry concepts (and many more) in the Classic Science: Series for the Family and be certain to come back every Thursday or subscribe to The Blog of Mr.Q to learn more about how to teach science during breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
