I only buy Domino; it's refined and packaged here in Baltimore. The few times I have purchased a store brand, it has seemed coarser to me.

Nutritionally, sugar is sugar. From what I've read, there is a 3% diiference between cane and beet sugar. This shows up in baking. People who are used to baking with cane sugar have been known to have massive fails from using beet sugar. To me, beet sugar seems very dry and I was very unhappy with the outcome when I tried using it. Sugar bakes as a liquid, but I don't know if that perceived dryness is the difference. People who learned to bake with beet sugar seem to like it just fibe-—except for the ones who thought they were terrible bakers until they tried cane sugar, and suddenly had success.

The best known brands of cane sugar are C&H (west) and Domino (east). i use C&H. BUT, in all likelihood, store brand is made by the same mills. Even if not, so long as it says ”cane” it should be fine. Assume if it doesn't say ”cane”, it's not.

If it's not for baking, it shouldn't matter, so long as you like it. (As I said, I only use cane because I don't like the feel of beet—but that's personal.) if you want to read more about it, search the ooking forum for prior threads on the subject.

Re: sugar is sugar - "And regardless of its source (sugar cane or sugar beets), all granulated white sugar tastes the same. It's 99.9% pure sucrose, refined and processed into small crystals. The size of the crystals determines the sugar's use in the kitchen." per FineCooking.com

Sugar is sucrose crystals....beet or cane white sugar is the same....any "3% difference" is in the amount of sucrose in the raw product but once it is refined there is no difference.

BUT for brown sugar! Cane brown sugar is brown from the molasses not refined out. Beet sugar is naturally white and doesn't need to be "whitened" with bone ash, so it is made brown by adding molasses. Any difference is in the packaging....and perhaps in the cook's mind.

I always buy cane sugar and the package must state it and usually Domino's extra fine.

I buy C&H in California, but in Texas I would buy Imperial cane sugar. I've never seen beet sugar in stores.

I also mainly use sugar in hummingbird feeders, but I also have plenty of flowers blooming all winter for the hummingbirds in Los Angeles, as do the neighbors across the street.

Hmmm, I don't know what Pioneer is -- beet or cane -- but it just doesn't taste quite the same to me as the other stuff I've used (like Domino). Maybe it's beet? IDK. Guess it doesn't matter, but I'm not buying it again --> reference unpleasant surprise above. Maybe I'll just go back to buying Domino.

Pioneer is beet sugar. Domino and C&H are cane sugar.....essentially the same product with regionally distinct branding......Domino on the east coast and C&H on the west (much like the Hellman's-Best Foods mayo situation).

For whatever reason, beet sugar seems to be scarce in stores in my area. U&I (beet sugar) used to be sold here but the company was sold in the late 70's and I haven't seen it since (can honestly say I haven't looked for it either). I believe they now focus on cane sugar with a Brazilian origin.

Lars, if it doesn't say "cane sugar" then you can assume it's beet sugar. I can definitely tell a difference. I make homemade ice cream and used Domino sugar(cane) and didn't like the taste, it seemed too sweet. So the next time I experimented with using regular old store brand sugar, Great Value to be exact, it tasted a whole lot better and less sweet. I suppose I could have just put less sugar in it the next time I use Domino? That would work too! :)

I found this article which is pretty old but very interesting!

sugar versus sugar

"Pioneer is beet sugar. Domino and C&H are cane sugar....."

A HA! Well, that explains why I thought it tasted difference, then.

That was a good article -- thanks for linking :0)

I've been buying both C&H and the grocery store's brand for many years.

I used to live near Sugarland, Texas (when I lived in Houston), and the train that I took to visit my parents went through it. There were lots of sugar cane fields in that area.

I call bogus to anyone who claims to tell any difference between white cane and white beet, I use both interchangeably. However there is definitly a difference in brown sugar. The beet saugar doesn't "clump" and stays pretty well pourable. Which i think is a good thing in most cases. And I sure have caramelized beet sugar.

I think it's a matter of prejudice about sugar beets being cattle feed and growing in the fields of Nebraska and not from lovely sugar cane growing in the tropics.

So, you think all the blind tests they did in Arkansas Girl's link were rigged? I sure could tell the difference in baking when I bought some organic (not cane) white sugar. But I can also tell the difference when I use raw sugar or superfine, etc. Ingredients matter.

I stand in the camp that feels that there is a difference between beet and cane. I normally use C&H sugars - regular and the finer "Baking" kind.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is why chocolate chip cookies have started to be so annoying to bake and spread out. Probably would bake better if you used pure cane sugar like we used to get back in the day.

AG, the fat is also an issue. A lot of butters have oil added to soften them (and bring down the price), though that's too spready, rather than too stiff...and I don't think one makes up for the other. I think you're right, though, if people are failing after switching sugars. When I was a teen, I was visiting a friend who decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. By that point, I’d baked thousands of them, but my assignment was to keep the dogs out of the way. I saw her do it, though. She was making the Toll House recipe off the label—and she was a good cook. The cookies were AWFUL!!! Both the flavor and texture were all wrong, and I could never figure out why until I learned about beet sugar. i can't say for sure that that was it, but the sugar probably came from her father's restaurant, and I’m sure he didn't pay for cane for the sugar pourers on the tables.

I, too, think there is a difference in cane and beet sugar. I had some baking issues that I had never encountered until I tried the cheaper beet sugar and haven't had since I went back to cane sugar. The article Arkansas Girl linked is telling.

I use organic cane sugar, which is not bleached. If you've ever tasted fresh sugar cane, you might recognize its flavor. I really like the taste of it.

I buy it from Walmart - it's their store brand 'Great Value' and approx. $1.40/lb.

Carolb: does the Great Value sugar package say organic and cane sugar?

I used to buy sugar cane at the grocery store in Houston and chew on it. I once bought "cane juice" in Mexico and got an intense sugar rush from it (before I learned that I was hypoglycemic), and I never bought it again.

I did enjoy chewing on sugar cane, however.

I keep cane (50lb C&H bakers sugar from Costco) and raw type sugar in the house.

@lindac92 brown sugar can not be made from beet sugar alone since beets do not have molasses. If you look at the store brand brown sugars it's always sugar & molasses. I don't even bother buying brown sugar anymore and just mix my own when needed.

That's what I said about the brown beet sugar being different from the brown cane sugar. But white sugar is chemically the same....beet or cane..c12 h22 o11.

I also buy the organic cane sugra from WalMart for my coffeew hen I want to splurge on sugar and on cereal.

My biggest sugar use recently has been jams and jelly.....and I have used the cheaper beet sugar...works just fine!

But i always buy C and H brown sugar for baking.

And it's illegal to add oil to butter unless it's stated on the label. However some butter has a lower moisture content, therefor higher fat percentage.

I am just seeing Amish butter here in the grocery stores, and it is wonderful! But it comes in a 2 and a half pound "glob" and that's a lot of butter for me, and I like the convenience of premeasured sticks.

I can tell a difference between extra fine and regular and now I want to try organic cane sugar.

@ lizbeth-gardener - yes:

Thanks, Carol!

It's true that the butter with oil has to say so, but people buy it and don’t know not to bake with it. I've even seen it advertised to baking, so you don't have to ”soften” the butter (they don’t say how you're going to aerate it without beating). Some things, like dumplings, you can substitute oil for solid fat and it'll be fine, but for most risen sweets, and especially cookies, that can spell disaster.

Jam isn't baked. No reason to think one sugar over another would interfere with it setting, though perhaps there could be a slight variation in acidity...but that's doubtful.

I keep it simple. Orgaic cane from Costco. Kept sealed in pantry. Mine is probably from 2018, maybe 2017. Not at all expensive. Less energy processing without chemicals. I use it for Kombucha or any sugar needs but i don't bake much. Coffee black. 'fancy' sugar for dry rubs and spice blends.

The more we support organic the prices come down.

I buy organic from Costco for human use and C&H from there for the hummingbirds. I was disappointed to learn that organic is not good for the hummingbirds.

That is a myth about hummingbirds---

Most are not willing to go deep into where this comes from---about himmingbirds. Link, HERE

A simple non-scientific study goes viral. Typical of the internet. Believe what you want. 2003....

Hummingbirds fed a commercial feed...found to contain way over the necessary iron load , yada yada...

Most important is to keep your feeders clean. Two days in hot climates...3-4 days in NorthEast climates....temps depending.

sleevendog, your linked source is in conflict with most others about the harm organic sugar can do to hummingbirds, including Audubon. I think I'll take their word and expertise over your blogger/farmer.
https://www.audubon.org/news/how-make-hummingbird-nectar

Where does it say that on the Audubon link? When I read it just now it said to use refined sugar rather than honey, which latter can have bad fungus. it doesn't mention organic. ”Organic” refers to the way it's grown. ”Refined” refers to the way it's processed, There is organic white (refined) sugar, which is equally fine for the birds. It's unclear from the little I've resd whether ”natual” ot ”raw” sugar is okay, though the Audubon’s use of the word ”refined” does point to the idea that when in doubt go for pure. Every source I can find about natual sugar speaks back to the same article Sleevendog posted about which doesn't address natural sugar at all.

There's a lot of bad science happening all over this issue, and an awful lot of people spreading information without confirmation. i like the part that says plant a hummingbird garden to attract them, rather than feeding them sugar. They love the tiny bougainvilla flowers,so frequent my backyard—and pollinate other things, too. Where there's a feeder near a field at a friend's, they often fight for access and set guards to keep bigger birds away.

Directly from the Audubon site: "[Please do use refined white sugar! Honey can promote dangerous fungal growth, while organic, natural, and raw sugars contain levels of iron that could be harmful. Plain white table sugar is sucrose, which, when mixed with water, very closely mimics the chemical composition of natural nectar.]"

I am not sure why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist. I've been feeding hummingbirds for decades - they are year round residents here - and they get fed a 1:4 sugar water solution using whatever refined, granulated sugar is available and/or inexpensive. This is what is most typically recommended by any birding sites, as it is almost identical to actual flower nectar.

Planting a hummingbird garden is a great idea - most of my landscape is designed with hummer attractors in mind - but there is just not enough happening through the winter months to keep them flocking here without hanging up a feeder. So I do both.

Apologies! I read that paragraph three times and my eyes didn't pick up the "organic".

So hummingbirds stick around in the snow? It almost never gets below 40° here.

Thank you for finding the text, gardengal.

plllog the info was listed under "materials" for making the nectar and clearly says to NOT use organic sugar; apparently it is not refined enough.

Our Rufous Hummingbirds leave in the winter, but the Anna's who have increased their range farther north in recent years seem to be tough little buggars and survive our cold weather. I put incandescent Christmas lights around my feeders when it gets below freezing to keep the nectar thawed. There isn't much for them to eat when the weather gets really frigid here. I think they start nesting as early as February and it's often brrrrr.

Also in the PNW, we have year round resident Anna's. We have one electric feeder that is heated by a 7W bulb. Rarely have to use it, it's a pain to take apart and clean somehow. What we typically do is 'we' set an alarm after bringing the feeders inside after dark, and DH gets up and puts them back out just before daylight. On those rare very cold days, its kind of a whirl of changing out feeders when they begin to look snow-coney...that at about 26F, not 32F.

They don't tell me where they go for shelter at night, and I'd like to know. I can see them hunker inside a pieris near two of the feeders during the day when its storming, or very cold.

I do admit to cheating with the nectar a bit in winter, the last few years 'our' birds have had a weak dose (just a little more than half strength) of Oasis VitaDrops for Hummingbirds. Vitamins. They slurp it up, must have no taste. It alleviates just a bit of my guilt at giving them nothing but sugar, intellectually I do understand they probably don't need the vitamins.

I'm not a fan of Audubon. They play passive and 4th grader copy. Millions in donations from Pepsico and Monsanto, etc. They will not use the word 'organic' for that very reason.

The screaming from the rooftops from bloggers and social media are kooks. They post endlessly about a 2003, in captivity, hummingbird deaths----high doses of iron from a bad manufacturer of captive food having no outside real life diet of bugs and flower nectar. .Take 100 iron pills and you will be in hospital and most likely intubated.

Iron is necessary in all living cells. Hummingbirds eat insects and lots of mosquitos. (blood suckers). Iron.

FDA, CDC, WHO, treats adults like 5 yr olds. At least the FDA has deep furthur study if interested. Food safety is general on purpose. Safe for those not willing to ask 'why'.

Costco organic sugar...not toxic levels.

The FDA allows 0% to be shown when certain levels of an ingredient are not reached. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the product. You don't have to be a fan of Audubon to believe they they have expertise in birds.

I'd rather follow their guidance and be found wrong than to not follow it and harm the birds. Simple as that.

So I normally buy Dixie Crystals extra fine granulated cane but I also bought tonight some organic Great value cane sugar.

The piece on the Audubon site looks like the info came from the same erroneous repeat after repeat, but erring on the side of caution is never a bad thing. The local stores didn't have organic refined last I looked, and I just don't care about it enough to have it shipped. I use organic sugars for some things, like raw sugar for fig pie filling, but, same as I'll still use Gold Medal flour for some baking, though mostly use organic, I' use C&H sugar (regular, powdered, brown or superfine--I've FP'd regular in a pinch, but C&H superfine is nicer). for things that want proper refined cane sugar. If a good organic cane comes around, I'll switch.

I’ve used Domino cane sugar all my life, but during the pandemic at one point all I could find was Imperial (I think) at Costco. It’s considerably finer which I suppose means it measures differently. Can’t say I ever noticed a difference in the baking but I was happy to switch back to Domino when it was available again. Just feels right!

c&h or GW

I’m embarassed to say I never paid attention to whether I was using beet or cane sugar, and never even realized there was a difference in what I was purchasing…I just bought whatever was on sale. My palate cannot taste the difference, and my baked goods have never suffered from using beet vs cane. Thank you for this thread, I have learned a lot!!

I make water kefir and buy the Kirkland brand organic cane sugar, that Sleeve posted specifically for that.

For my coffee, and regular use, there are 2 brands found easily here in Canada...... Redpath and Lantic. I buy whichever one happens to be on sale. Sugar has gone up in price, I used to be able to get it for a buck (2 kg bag) and now it's $2 on sale.

My mom always told us to be sure and use cane sugar when baking; she said that was because it was the only kind of sugar to ensure a baking success.

Personally, I did buy a bag of beet sugar early during the pandemic, because that is all that the store had. We did not like it at all. The mouthfeel and the way the grains looked were just terribly off. Couldn't wait for the Domino, C&H, or Imperial to be back in the stores. We have all three of these cane sugars marketed here.