Muscovado Sugar

Recently, my mil started to use organic Muscovado sugar to bake bread and cakes. When I first saw it, I was stunned. I have never heard of such a sugar for the life of me! But I knew for sure it must be more superior than white or brown sugar.  My mil only puts in good stuff into her bakes, makes and cooking.



 So I googled Muscovado sugar and here is what I found:
 
Muscovado sugar takes its name from the spanish 'mascabado' (meaning unrefined). Also known as Barbados sugar. This sugar is pure, wholesome, unrefined, natural cane sugar. It is also called 'poor man's sugar'.

Muscovado sugar retains all of the natural ingredients of sugar cane, making it wholesome and healthy. High in nutitional value, comparable even to pure honey.

Muscovado sugar is unrefined, with a high mineral content. Common in South America and south east Asia, but comparably more difficult to find in the USA.

Usage
It is used just like normal sugar. Excellent for baking, cooking, and as a coffee/tea sweetener.

Production Process
The production process is very traditional. The main ingredient is natural cane sugar, but some of the other ingredients are small lime (called kalamansi or calamondin, often described as a cross between a mandarin orange and a kumquat) and fresh coconut milk. The coconut milk is used in the heating process to prevent the sugar cane juice from foaming.

The heating process evaporates the water content and the cane juice will gradually thicken into a gooey liquid. This liquid is sun-dried. The hardened sugar will then be pounded to produce the natural, unrefined muscovado sugar.

Nutrient value
Compared to normal white sugar, muscovado sugar retains all the cane sugar nutrients. High in minerals: potassium, calcium, iron, it has more health benefits compared to normal white sugar, which has zero nutrients, as the refining process to produce white sugar has practically eliminated all traces of nutrients from it.