Brown sugar, also known as red sugar or red soft sugar, is a red crystalline substance made from the initial refining of sugarcane stem juice. If further refined and bleached, it becomes purer refined white sugar. Compared to white sugar, brown sugar is a less pure, unrefined natural sugar, so it is more nutritionally complete and has more health benefits. Brown sugar mainly contains 89.2% sucrose (while white sugar contains 99.1%), and its molasses and moisture content are higher than that of white sugar. It is sweet with a molasses flavor, but its sweetness is not as pure as that of white sugar. Brown sugar also contains other nutrients, such as calcium, phosphorus, zinc, and iron, the levels of which are all higher than in white sugar. Brown sugar also contains small amounts of protein, various amino acids, fat, manganese, chromium, vitamin B2, carotene, niacin, and chlorophyll.
Brown sugar is made from sugarcane, so it contains many of the healthful components of sugarcane and has medicinal value. It has effects such as tonifying the middle jiao and warming the liver, activating blood to resolve stasis, harmonizing the middle and dispelling cold. Brown sugar can also be used to treat incomplete lochia after childbirth, dry mouth and vomiting, emaciation and bloody dysentery, cold pain in the epigastric and abdominal regions, menstrual cramps, and wind-cold colds, as well as to dispel cold and drive out wind.
Brown sugar can be used in medicinal cuisine:
Treating abdominal pain from cold and diarrhea. Boil 10 grams of brown sugar with 50 ml of yellow rice wine together and drink it while hot; or make a soup by boiling brown sugar with ginger.
Treating irregular menstruation. Poach an egg in brown sugar water, once daily, one egg at a time.
Treating postpartum abdominal pain. Boil 30 grams each of brown sugar and hawthorn in water to make a brown sugar and hawthorn drink.
Treating iron-deficiency anemia. Decoct an appropriate amount of brown sugar, jujubes, and red adzuki beans into a soup, which is effective when consumed regularly.
When selecting brown sugar, pay attention to the following:
Brown sugar is a minimally processed food, and its quality can vary greatly. Therefore, it is important to choose good-quality brown sugar. Good brown sugar has a reddish-brown or yellowish-brown color, a uniform and loose texture, a sweet taste with a hint of molasses, and no off-flavors or visible impurities. If it is found to have clumps or powder, or has a burnt, bitter, salty, alcoholic, or sour taste, it is of poor quality.
Brown sugar and white sugar are both sucrose-based sweet foods, but white sugar loses vitamins and inorganic salts such as calcium, iron, and zinc due to refining. People who love sweets, especially children who consume large amounts of white sugar over a long period, can lead to an imbalance in the body's acid-base balance. The body will then use calcium from the teeth and bones to maintain this balance, thereby reducing the firmness of the teeth and bones. Therefore, using brown sugar as a substitute for white sugar is a much better choice.
Brown sugar is a food that generates dampness and heat, so people with internal heat should not eat too much of it.
When consuming, it is best to take it as a decoction in water, which can remove impurities and also sterilize it.