Demerara sugar is a large crystal translucent brown sugar harvested from sugar cane grown on the African island nation of Mauritius. Sweet with a hint of molasses flavor, demerara sugar is a raw sugar (aka unrefined sugar) made by dehydrating sugar cane syrup. It is particularly popular in the UK, and its large crystals make it a great garnish sugar or topping sugar for decorating baked goods.

Turbinado Sugar is produced in a similar fashion but is lighter colored with hints of honey flavor and smaller crystals.

Store demerara sugar in a cool, dry place.

Demerara sugar can be used as you would brown sugar in most recipes. It can also be dissolved in hot or cold drinks and used to make simple syrup to sweeten drinks, sorbets, or cakes. This sugar’s crystals’ large size and beautiful color lend themselves to garnishing. Using demerara sugar to top homemade crème brulee will allow you to better gauge how much sugar to use (conventional sugar often is hard to see against the custard) and impart subtle molasses flavors to your dessert.

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