You can make your own brown sugar from scratch using only two ingredients and it is ridiculously easy! Why bother making your own? Because you can control the quality ingredients you use. By combining two shelf-stable, long-lasting ingredients, you’ll never have to worry about forgetting brown sugar from the store again. Plus, homemade brown sugar somehow just tastes better!
How to Make Brown Sugar:
Where Do We Get Brown Sugar From?
Brown sugar is made from boiling down the juice of sugar cane or sugar beets. The boiled sugar thickens into molasses and granules of sugar crystals settle out, are spun to remove the molasses and are finally sold as white granulated sugar. But what if you don’t spin out the excess molasses? Well, then you have brown sugar!
Brown Sugar is Basically White Sugar + Molasses?
Yep. That’s it. That’s the big secret. White granulated sugar plus molasses in the right ratios will produce brown sugar. It tastes and bakes just like the bagged brown sugar because it is the same thing, but homemade brown sugar tastes a little sweeter if eaten raw. And of course homemade brown sugar has no additional anti-caking chemicals or preservatives added because both sugar and molasses are natural preservatives!
Once Upon A Time
People made their own sugar, which was some type of brown sugar, by boiling a sweet juice until it grained. Remember Little House in the Big Woods when Laura’s grandpa gathered maple syrup from the trees and boiled some of it down into hard cakes of brown maple sugar? That is what they used for baking and I can only imagine that it was delicious! We have lost this old-fashioned, seasonal sugar making skill but with this recipe, we can begin to bring some of that knowledge back to the kitchen.
Why Keep Molasses On-Hand Instead of Bags of Brown Sugar?
Molasses is a delicious component in several recipes. It is necessary to make gingerbread from scratch and the secret ingredient in outstanding barbecue sauces. It finds its way into glazes, caramel corn and even artisan ketchup recipes. It’s a great addition to the homestead kitchen, primarily because molasses and white sugar will let you make brown sugar in whatever color and quantity you need without having to buy bags of light or dark brown sugar from the store.
Which Molasses Do You Use?
I use Grandma’s brand Unsulphured Molasses. Their website advertises that their molasses is made from real, sun-ripened sugar cane and it is Non-GMO Project Verified.
Homemade Brown Sugar
4 cups white granulated sugar
½ cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses
Combine both ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon or use a KitchenAid to combine until a uniform brown sugar is formed.
Note:
The sugar will have a gold color and strong molasses smell, like Cracker Jacks popcorn, for the first 24 hours. After 24 hours it will mellow in fragrance and darken in color to a normal, medium-dark brown sugar. It can be used for baking immediately after mixing but will look more like store bought brown sugar over the next couple days. One 12 ounce jar of molasses contains 1½ cups of molasses and will make three batches of brown sugar or 12 total cups.
To Make Extra Dark Brown Sugar: Use 3 cups of white granulated sugar to ½ cup of molasses.
To Make 1 Cup of Brown Sugar: Use 1 cup of white granulated sugar and 2 Tbsp (1/8 cup) of molasses.
Download the Printable Recipe Card Here!
Why This Recipe is So Useful
Sugar and molasses are both natural preservatives. Both white sugar and molasses can be stored for a long period of time without spoiling. By storing two ingredients separately, you have the ability to make a third ingredient (brown sugar) as it is needed and still have white sugar and molasses for baking. If you try to store bags of brown sugar for too long, they can go hard and become compact. However, homemade brown sugar will keep soft in a canister until it is used up. The best part is there are no added anti-caking agents because they are simply not needed when real molasses is used.
Real Molasses Contains Trace Minerals
I’m not trying to say that homemade brown sugar is healthy but if you’re going to enjoy a treat, why not have some trace minerals along with it? Molasses is high in manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, zinc and potassium. If you enjoy the flavor of molasses, you can begin using it as a sweetener in other recipes and benefit from the minerals.
It is Just So Handy!
Knowing how to make brown sugar is an easy skill that gives your kitchen a charming homestead appeal and makes baked goods taste incredible. Give it a try at least once!
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