Rapadura Essay

614 Words2 Pages

Rapadura is a brown sugar from Latin America that is not extensively processed. It is used in many traditional Brazilian dishes as well as in various other baked goods and sweets from Latin America. It goes by many different names including piloncillo and panela. You should be able to find it in a Latin grocery store but if you can’t or don’t have time to look for it, consider one of the rapadura substitutes below. Your Best bet: Muscovado or Demerara Sugar Both muscovado and demerara sugars are minimally processed. Neither is spun in a centrifuge to remove the natural molasses. Both have a similar golden brown color as a result of retaining their molasses. The color and molasses flavor are characteristics that both of these sugars have in common with rapadura sugar. In fact, the only significant difference between muscovado and demerara sugars is their region of origin. Muscovado sugar is more closely associated with the Americas while demerara sugar is seen more in the UK and its Commonwealth. Both have the benefit of being sold in grain form, which …show more content…

That same molasses color is what differentiates brown sugar from refined white sugar. Refined white sugar has been spun in a centrifuge and has undergone other forms of processing to remove all its molasses, thus rendering a purer product that has no flavor aside from sweetness. Both light and brown sugar make good rapadura substitutes because they have some of the molasses added back. They are also good substitutes simply because they are much easier to find. You should be able to find them on the shelves of most grocery stores. Less in the sugar molasses results in light brown sugar; more molasses results in dark brown sugar. Rapadura has no set shade of brown. Its color can vary based on anything from the soil quality in a region to the batch of sugarcane used to make it. As a result, you can use either shade of brown sugar to replace rapadura in a

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