What is black sugar?
Black sugar is a common ingredient in Asian cooking, but when I show black sugar to my Western guests. They very often ask “is that brown sugar?”
Black sugar is healthier and more tasty than white processed sugar; brown sugar has a few of the benefits of black sugar, but really isn't as good.
It can look quite similar to brown sugar, but black sugar is even darker - almost black. Black sugar is popular in Taiwan. Compared to processed sugar, which has a very flat, characterless taste, black sugar is 'round', with a lot more flavor.
Unlike processed sugar, black sugar contains molasses, plus potassium, iron, calcium and other minerals.
Many Western women like to eat chocolate for comfort during their period, but Japanese women like to eat black sugar. For Taiwanese women, eating black sugar during their period is also a very common custom, probably because Taiwan is a former colony of Japan. They really eat pieces of sugar like it's candy.
Actually, the minerals like iron and calcium do help ease the tension and discomfort of a woman's period. Of course the calories of the black sugar do produce a lot of energy for this difficult time too.
Compare it to a cup of hot chocolate on a winter's day. Ginger and black sugar tea is a popular drink in almost every part of China. Apart from warming up the body, ginger tea also helps to cure colds.
Similar to sea salt or rock salt, black sugar is also a relatively alkaline ingredient. Instead of using processed salt or sugar, it will give our health more nutritional benefits.
If I need to add any sugar to my coffee or tea, I would rather choose black sugar than processed sugar.
Where to buy black sugar?
You should be able to find black sugar in Asian (Chinese or Japanese) markets and supermarkets. The English product labels are often wrongly translated, but if you can see the Chinese / Kanji characters for black sugar, you should be getting the right thing - the image here shows these characters as they appear on a product. If the product has nutritional information, then high iron, calcium and mineral content is another sign of real black sugar. You can also buy black sugar online, for example at Amazon: here and here. These are sponsored links.
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I'm very interested in this
I'm very interested in this black sugar, but have no idea what it looks like. Would you be able to post a picture of it up?
xx
I live in Japan. I use only
I live in Japan. I use only black sugar as sweetener. Send me your address and I will send you a pack of 350 gm. My email is harrison354@hotmail.com
Please say more about
Please say more about it:
Where is it produced? How is it produced? Where to buy? Price?
Okinawa in Japan is famous
Okinawa in Japan is famous for producing black sugar, and Taiwan and China are both producing their own black sugar too.
It's made from the whole sugar cane plant - a very traditional way of producing sugar.
It's available in most of the supermarkets in Taiwan, Japan, and China. In the West, it should be sold in Asian stores.
Black sugar usually costs more than twice the price of refined sugar.
I received an email from
I received an email from friend, says that using old ginger + black sugar boiling and drink it twice everyday, day and night, can easily reduce weight, is it true? But it doesn't mentioned how much ginger and how much black sugar to be using.... as i am very keen to drink this to have weight lost. Thanks.
Black sugar and ginger
Black sugar and ginger tea
2. Drink it 5 days before your period, and during the period. It helps to ease discomfort.
3. Black sugar is sugar, it doesn't help you lose weight. But ginger helps.
You can also buy this
You can also buy this prepackaged. The brand is called "Healthy Hot Ginger Tea with Black Sugar, " and you just add hot water. While I'm sure it can be found in Japanese/Asian Food Markets, I recently purchased from Japan through jlist.com (note: this site gives you a warning at the beginning, if you don't want to see naughty stuff then click on the "under 18" option which will direct you to jbox.com).
FYI: I found an Okinawa
FYI: I found an Okinawa Black Sugar Brick at Amazon.com.
it's also available in ranch
it's also available in ranch 99 these days. They come in small packets. The pieces in the packets are small nuggets of black sugar (so, don't look for a powdery type of substance.)
never thought there was
never thought there was something like black sugar.
Is the black sugar filling of
Is the black sugar filling of Chinese pastries (as in bun, pie crust) made of 'black sugar' that is being referred here?
Yes, that should normally be
Yes, that should normally be the same kind of black sugar
Thanks so much for the info!
Thanks so much for the info! I'm living in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I stumbled upon black sugar for the first time over the weekend! I made pecan pies which came out KILLER. Definitely wont be the last and I'm THRILLED to see that it's beneficial to the body especially since I'm a bit of a white sugar hater.
www.NOLAchef.wordpress.com
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