Sugar

There are two main types of sugar – white and brown – although other kinds can be distinguished within each type. We should find out what each type of sugar is.

How we can do it

Sugar beet gives white sugar, and sugar cane gives brown sugar.
Molasses (which can be obtained from sugar cane) can be added to beet sugar and the result is brown sugar.
Sugar obtained directly from cane is called natural brown cane sugar. It is obtained by pressing the cane in mills near to where it is grown so as not to wait too long once the cane has been harvested (otherwise the sugar is damaged).
This sugar can be refined, which means removing the molasses (other components in cane sugar), obtaining white sugar.
Molasses can be added once again to this white sugar, obtaining what is called refined brown cane sugar.
There are different degrees of “brownness”: the more molasses left (or added to it if it is based on white sugar) the darker it will be.
White sugar consists almost entirely of sucrose (calories) and brown sugar also contains nutrients from the molasses: largely vitamins and trace elements. The darkest sugars can contain between 7% and 15% molasses.

Another parameter for classifying sugars is the plant they have been obtained from. Sugar can come from sugar beet or sugar cane, which is grown in tropical zones. Quite a lot of beet is grown in the Mediterranean area (above all in France, Turkey, Egypt and Italy), but not much sugar cane (it is only grown in Egypt and Morocco, and a very small amount in Spain). They are two crops with very different characteristics. We should be clear about which informed consumption criteria are most important to us when choosing one origin or another.

How we can do it

If we place a great deal of importance on consuming foods of local origin, we choose beet sugar. It is very probable that the white sugar we find at the market is beet sugar.
If we want to help make business initiatives which seek the sovereignty of Southern societies viable, we can choose Fair Trade cane sugar. We will largely find it in shops specialising in Fair Trade, where they can tell us about the origin of the sugar. We can also find it in other shops. We can identify it by its international Fair Trade marks or the marks of importers in this country.

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Data d'actualització: 04/01/2012 - 16:53

Remember this

We seek sugar for sweetness or as a fast energy source. It has calories, and eating more than we burn up can bring health problems. There are sugars in many processed foods.

It is easy to eat quite local sugar: most of the white sugar in our shops is obtained from beet grown in the Mediterranean region.

There is quite a range of Fair Trade cane sugar (tropical), often organically grown.

Information sources

Companies in the sector: Atomer, Azucarera Ebro, Comité Européen des Fabricants de Sucre, Cooperativa Manduvirá, Luz de Vida (Biospirit), Mapryser;

Academic centres and experts: Food Safety and Monitoring Research Centre, Elisabet Sarri (biochemistry), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Sugar and Beet Studies Institute, Mamen Cuéllar (Institute of Sociology and Countryside Studies at the University of Córdoba), Joan Margarit (dentist);

Administrations: Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia; Spanish Ministry of the Environment and the Rural and Marine Environment; Organic Agriculture Committee of the Madrid regional government;

journals and newspapers: Diagonal, The Ecologist;

Organisations: Association for Research to Improve Sugar Beet Growing, Fairtrade Mark, Space for Fair Trade, Andalusian Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Organisations, Greenpeace, Infoagro, Oxfam, Globalisation Debt Observatory, Slow Food Paraguay, World Fair Trade Association, Consumers’ Solidarity Network.