Granular detail: soft brown sugar

Soft brown sugar is granulated sugar that is blended with syrup and treacle to create its brown colour. This means that it can be produced from either sugar beet or sugar cane.

During manufacturing, all our soft sugars must go through sieving and metal detection first before we send the sugar to the blender. Once it has completed this initial stage, the sugar is mixed with our distinctive syrup and treacle blend to coat the crystals.

At Ragus, we manufacture two soft brown sugars: soft brown light sugar and dark soft brown sugar. Their process is identical up until the coating stage, but this distinction results in different colours and flavours and means they are used for different applications.

Soft brown sugar

Once the sugar has been refined, soft brown sugar is produced with a finer caster-size crystal. This consistent particle size gives soft brown sugar its fine texture. We coat the caster-sized crystal with our custom blends of syrup and treacle to install the flavour of molasses.

The lighter blend of syrup and treacle produces soft brown light sugar, which has an amber colour and mellow taste. Whereas the increased blend of syrup and treacle produces dark brown soft sugar, which is a dark-brown colour and has a stronger and richer taste.

Soft brown light sugar is still largely used as a bakery ingredient to add depth to cakes, biscuits and pastries. As well as providing flavour, its high molasses content adds moisture to cakes which makes it ideal for baking, and partly explains why this sugar has such a long history in the baking industry. Furthermore, its fine particle sizes allow it to rapidly dissolve, which consequently lends itself for use in the manufacturing of toffee, fudge and caramel, as well as usage in dressings, sauces and marinades.

The biggest difference between these two types of soft brown sugar is flavour, and the rich taste of dark brown soft sugar means that it is well suited to use in fruitcakes, puddings, gingerbreads, pickles and chutneys.

The diverse range of companies that we provide soft brown sugar to is ever-changing due to new trends and different consumer needs. This means that our customers rely on our manufacturing expertise to ensure that their product is consistent in size, colour, texture and taste. And our state-of-the-art factory and strict quality control procedures allows us to do just that on an industrial scale.

90 years’ experience in the sugar industry means Ragus has a wealth of knowledge on the soft brown sugar you need for your application. To learn more about our products, please contact our Customer Services Team. To see more sugar news and updates, continue browsing SUGARTALK and follow Ragus on LinkedIn.