granulated sugar at tesco

[ajmmac]

anyone else noticed tesco are now selling whitworth granulated sugar and morrisons are selling their own brand--both are much finer, more powdery and duller in sheen than silver spoon brand--when i fill a bowl with the whitworth or the morrisons i notice i get a puff of sugar dust i never got b4 and don't get with silver spoon--continouos use of this will eventually result in sugar dust coatings in the kitchen--sticky stuff and highly flammable--anyone think of a reason why there has been this change other than it might be cheaper to them--no cheaper on the shelves--cheers and thanks

[nickmo]

Hi A -would suggest that as granulated sugar is the result of boiled sugar juice - cane or from beet - the suppliers have switched hence the difference.

The crystals form as a result of processing the juice once it has been treated - often with lime wash to obtain the white colour and some producers in the US use bone char - which is burnt (largely pork) bones, used as a filter to remove impurites.

The processing also can use phosphoric acid, calcium hydroxide and carbon dioxide, varioous degrees of filtration (hence the bone char) maybe through carbon filters, then the grade of granule is reached.

The sugar market is pretty big worldwide, and if you notice a change in the contents of the bags, there are quite a few factors which will affect tthe final product. So - do you actually need sugar then.......?

[ajmmac]

thanks nickmo for your reply--guess i can live without sugar but was curious as to why the switch--tesco clearly switched supplier from silver spoon to whitworth--morrisons on the other hand seem to have switched from one final product to another which may or may not also be supplied by whitworth--i can only think they get it cheaper and wondered if anyone could come up with another reason--eg tastes sweeter/less sweet--easier to pack/handle--etc--cheers and thanks again

[ethandron]

gosh, i had absolutely no idea that was what happened to make sugar, that's really interesting. it's one of those things you never think about really isn't it?
i wonder if those who are strict vegetarians know how it's made, and would it make a difference if they knew it was filtered through pork bones.
thanks for a great posting nickmo, any other interesting food information?