Brownsugarexporter.com - No Organic Merchant sells white
sugar or any products containing white sugar because it is a foodless food. It
is 99.96% sucrose and when taken into the human body in this form is
potentially dangerous. It is touted as an energy food, but such sugar myths are
propaganda and is misleading for there is ample evidence that white sugar robs
the body of B vitamins, disrupts calcium metabolism and has a deleterious
effect on the nervous system. This is why processed sugar is bad for you.
The above
sugar facts can be concluded by anyone through reading but in addition to the
reading, I have taken the trouble to visit sugar refineries in both Hawaii and
California. Aside from general curiosity, my reason for these visits was that I
had been selling "raw" or brown sugar without understanding what they
are. There was no information available which seemed dependable.
Sugar cane
is grown with the use of synthetic fertilizers and weed sprays. The fields are
burned just previous to harvest. These are destructive agricultural practices;
nothing truly good can come from soil so mistreated. I would, therefore, be
uninterested in consuming anything derived from commercially grown sugar cane,
either brown sugar or molasses.
Sugar
refining is largely a mechanical process done in truly huge machines which
boil, spin, filter and separate. Aside from water, the materials which enter
the processing are lime, phosphoric acid and diatomaceous earth. I don't
consider any of these additives significant where white sugar is concerned
because one thing is certainly true about white sugar; it is "pure".
No chemical residues could possibly remain at the end of the line, so effective
is their purification process.
There are
three kinds of sugar which are not white: light brown, dark brown and Kleenraw.
They are all made the same way—by adding back molasses to refined sugar. For
years I have heard several different versions of how these so-called
"raw" sugars are made. All of them led me to believe that the
so-called "raw" sugar which has traditionally been used in the health
food industry is a "partially refined" product removed from the
refining process sometimes before the final stage of white sugar. But my
investigation have proved this impression erroneous. All forms of non-white
sugars are made from a base of white sugar.
The
numbers go like this: Partially refined or "raw" sugar is 97% sucrose
when it leaves Hawaii and goes through a gigantic California refinery to
produce refined sugar, 99.96% sucrose. For Kleenraw they add back 5% molasses,
for light brown they add back 12% molasses, for dark brown they add back 13%
molasses. A special crystallization process is used for Kleenraw designed
especially to create a raw-like illusion.
All sugar
companies use similar processes, as it is against the law to sell sugar which
has not been refined. Ostensibly, the purpose of this law is to protect us; in
reality it means we have no freedom to choose what kind of sugar we would use.
Personally, I would like to be able to buy sugar from an organically grown cane
in the form of an almost black, syrupy mass of crystals. It is rumored that the
law which prevents us from buying such true raw sugar was enacted as a result
of powerful lobbying on the behalf of the sugar refining companies.
Organic
Merchants do not sell brown or "raw" sugar or any products containing
brown sugar either, because the plain fact is that brown sugar is a shuck (for
those not familiar with the term, let's call brown sugar phony).
It does
not seem to me to be a good judgement to ban white sugar because it is refined
to the point of foodlessness containing neither vitamins nor minerals, a
definite potential human heath hazard... and then turn around and sell a
product which is made from 87% of the very same white sugar. Having done a
thorough personal investigation, I can assure you that brown sugar is nothing
more than white sugar wearing a mask.
Besides
not liking the 87% part of brown sugar—meaning the white sugar—I don't like
much the 13% part either—the molasses. For one thing, the ecologically unsound
agricultural practices I mentioned previously; for another thing; those mammoth
filtration units the molasses comes out of which are filled with charred beef
bones. A representative from one of the sugar companies who came to see me to
answer some questions from a letter I have written said the burned beef bones
were to give the white sugar a more pleasing "aesthetic" effect. He
explained that burned beef bones make white sugar whiter. Of course it's purely
personal opinion but I say God save us from such "aesthetics".
I have not
seen Turbinado or Demarara sugar produced, but my understanding of sugar
procesing enables me to make the following wager with complete confidence: I'll
bet Turbinado sugar is at least 95% sucrose. I'm so confident that I would not
lose those bets that I won't sell Turbinado or Demarara either. That wager
makes no pretense of being founded on "scientific" grounds but on
first-hand experience of what sugar looks like during the refining procedure.
Not having
known the facts, some Organic Merchants have allowed so-called "raw
sugar" to have a home in their stores. Probably some products containing
it are popular. Our intention is not take the pleasure out of anyone's life,
but to play a part in upgrading the quality of American food. If enought of us
stop buying junk—even the better junk—the food manufacturers will listen.
So what
are you going to use for a sweetener if you never allow sugar to cross your
lips? Half the amount of honey should be used in substituting for sugar in
recipes. Beyong that, it's all experimental. Try carob molasses, carb syrup,
unrefined sugar cane syrup, date sugar. Best experiment of all is to follow the
advice of J.I. Rodale: "We receive so many letters from readers asking
what kind of sugar to use. So as far as we are concerned, the answer is none...
if you would be healthy, omit all sugar and just get accustomed to doing
without it." (BD)