Guide to Granulated Sugar: The Favorite, Most Versatile Sweetener
- Adriane
- Jan 1
- 14 min read
Updated: Sep 10
Nothing beats the real thing. The favorite among all. We call it simply "sugar," regular sugar, or table sugar, but it's labeled as granulated. It's considered the gold standard of sweet taste: clean, pleasant sweetness from start to finish, that hits quickly without lingering — showing no secondary taste or aftertaste. Because of this perfect sweetness profile, it’s the benchmark by which we judge every sugar substitute — and the reason we often dismiss anything that falls short.
In my quest to help home cooks navigate the complex world of sugar and alternatives, I'll walk you through the essential characteristics of granulated sugar — why it's so hard to replace, what makes it so versatile, and why we love it more than any other sweetener. You’ll also get to know the companies behind it, so you can understand not just the sugar itself, but the players who bring it to your table.
Here's what you'll find on this post:
Cane vs. Beet: What’s in Your Sugar?
Granulated sugar is made from either sugar cane or sugar beet — and often, the two are blended. That's because many sugar producers don't sell directly to consumers. Instead, their sugar is sold and distributed by large sugar marketing organizations, which may blend beet and cane sugars depending on price and availability.
People often ask me, "Does the brand of sugar matter?" For most home cooks, the answer is no. Whether it’s cane, beet, or a blend, white granulated sugar generally looks, tastes, smells, and works the same in your recipes. But not everyone agrees — and there’s actually a lively debate about it. You can see the full breakdown here: 👉 Cane vs. Beet Sugar: A Difference?
Sucrose Explained: The Chemistry of Sugar
Granulated sugar ranks among the purest food products. Chemically speaking, it contains about 99.95% sucrose, whether it comes from cane or sugar beet. The remaining 0.05% consists mainly of water with a minuscule amount of impurities. Sucrose itself is a double sugar made of two single sugars – 50% glucose and 50% fructose – connected by an oxygen bond.
👉 That word "sugar" on the bag, ingredient list, or any label is shorthand for granulated sucrose made from sugar cane or sugar beets, and not from any other source.
Crystal Size in White Sugar, Simplified
As I explained in my post Here's a Quick Way to Learn About the Top 20 Sweeteners, the refining process produces pure white sugar crystals while concentrating impurities into thick, dark syrups — molasses or refiners’ syrup. Crystals are separated from syrups in a centrifuge before the sugar is dried and packaged.
👉 An important stage in sugar production is the crystallization of sucrose:
Crystal size varies by producer. It’s measured in millimeters, and what one manufacturer calls granulated sugar might be labeled extra fine granulated by another.
Range of crystal sizes. Sugar factories and refineries produce a range of white sugars with average crystal sizes ranging from coarse (0.75–0.6 mm) to medium (0.5–0.3 mm) to small (0.3–0.02 mm).
Types of white sugars (from largest to smallest): sparkling > sanding > granulated > fine > extra fine > superfine > ultrafine > powdered 6X > powdered 10X > powdered 12X > fondant.
Granulated white sugar defined. Most producers and distributors define granulated sugar as a type of refined sugar with an average crystal size ranging from 0.3 to 0.55 mm. It's typically the starting point for the production of other white sugars and brown sugars.
Finer crystals for baking. Finer crystals are made by grinding granulated sugar and then passing it through specifically sized screens. Because smaller crystals have more surface area, they dissolve faster — a quality that makes them especially popular for baking, where quick and even mixing is key.
Popular Granulated Sugar Brands in the U.S.
Most of the sugar we buy isn’t sold under famous names — it’s packaged as store brands from retailers like:
• Great Value (Walmart)
• Market Pantry | Good & Gather (Target)
• Roundy's | Smidge & Spoon (Kroger)
• Nice (Walgreens)
• 365 Everyday Value (Whole Foods)
• Happy Belly (Amazon)
• First Street (Smart & Final)
• Wegmans, Publix, and many more.
Two well-known granulated sugar brands in the U.S. include Domino (on the East Coast) and C&H (on the West Coast). Both are cane sugars owned by American Sugar Refining (ASR Group), one of the largest cane sugar producers in the country. Domino and C&H sugars come out of four refineries in California, Louisiana, Maryland, and New York. Domino Chalmette Refinery, located just outside New Orleans, is the largest refinery in the country. Learn more here: About Domino Granulated Sugar / About C&H Granulated Sugar.
Imperial Sugar and Dixie Crystals are also sister brands offering essentially the same cane sugar. Since 2022, both have been owned by U.S. Sugar Corp., which acquired Imperial Sugar Company from Louis Dreyfus Commodities — a Netherlands-based firm and one of the world’s top three sugar marketers. Their sugars are produced at a cane sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, one of the major refining facilities in the Southeast.
Crystal Sugar is a brand owned by United Sugars Corp (United), which is the nation’s second–largest marketer of refined sugar. It provides beet and cane sugars, distributing almost 25% of the country's total refined sugar. United is a cooperative owned by four producers: American Crystal (beet sugar), Minn-Dak Farmers Coop (beet sugar), Wyoming Sugar Co. (beet sugar), and US Sugar Corp. (cane sugar).
Café Delight brand is owned by Cargill, another leading marketer of refined sugar. It markets and distributes cane and beet sugars from U.S. and Mexico producers, representing the following sugar producers: Louisiana Sugar Refining (cane sugar), Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Coop, Spreckels Sugar Co. (beet sugar), Wyoming Sugar Co. (beet sugar), Zucarmex (cane sugar from Mexico), and other producers from Mexico.
Widely available brand names include: N'JOY (owned by Sugar Foods Corporation), available both as cane sugar and as beet/cane blends; and Community Coffee, generally sold as pure cane sugar. Genuine Joe, Shrurfine, and Essential Everyday are private‑label brands found in many regional grocery chains or convenience stores.
White Satin (Amalgamated Sugar), GW (Western Sugar Coop), and Pioneer (Michigan Sugar Company) are brands of granulated sugar from sugar beets.
👉 Once you know who makes your sugar, the next question is: what makes granulated sugar so loved in the kitchen? Of course, sugar is prized first and foremost for its sweetness — which we’ll dive into next — but it also plays hidden roles that shape nearly every bite.
Why Sugar Sets the Sweetness Standards
When we think of sweetness, granulated sugar is what comes to mind. We even describe the sweet taste simply as "taste like sugar."
Granulated sugar is the gold standard of sweetness. It serves as the reference point against which all other sweeteners are compared. Why? (1) It's the most common sweetener used in recipes and cookbooks; (2) it's the most versatile type of sweetener of all; (3) all we taste from sugar is sweet, as it has no secondary taste or aftertaste.
Sugar and other sweeteners taste sweet, but not all in the same way. Every sweetener has a unique taste profile, which means the sweetness sensation begins, peaks, and lingers differently for each sweetener. The "sweetness intensity over time" refers to how quickly the sweet taste is perceived (registered by our brain) and how long the taste perception lasts in our mouth. When the sweet taste subsides, what remains is called the aftertaste. Familiar secondary tastes, or off-notes, in sweeteners include metallic, bitter, and cooling. Granulated sugar, on the other hand, has a clean, pleasant sweetness from start to finish that hits quickly, without lingering. It has no aftertaste.
How sweet is sugar? Wondering how sweetness is measured? Sweetness is an essential attribute of a sweetener that doesn't change. What does change is how we perceive it — depending on the concentration of the sweetener in the food, temperature, pH level, and interaction with other ingredients. Think about the difference between tasting a sweetener dissolved in plain water versus in iced tea, hot coffee, lemonade, yogurt, cereal, or fruit. The most accurate way to evaluate sweetness is in water. That’s why, to measure it, granulated sugar and other sweeteners are dissolved in water for comparison. Refer to the image below to learn how sweetness is measured.
Why Is Sugar So Hard to Replace?
Granulated sugar isn't just sweet — it often performs many roles, obtained either individually or in combination with other ingredients. That’s why removing it altogether, or even cutting back, changes the outcome of foods. Here's why:
Sweetness — At the simplest level, granulated sugar is used just as a sweetener, such as in hot and cold drinks or when you add it to nutritious foods like plain yogurt and oatmeal. In non-sweet foods, it balances sour, bitter, salty, and spicy tastes.
Flavor and color — Sugar is a precursor of a myriad of compounds that contribute golden color and rich flavors, as it breaks down chemically during cooking to create caramelization and Maillard browning (we'll dig deeper on this next).
Preservation and safety— Sugar binds water, which makes it harder for bacteria to grow, helping extend shelf life, preventing foods from spoiling, staying fresh and moist — especially in jams, jellies, and baked goods.
Structural properties — Granulated sugar contributes to the so-called "mouthfeel," providing bulk (weight and volume), increasing viscosity, and changing the texture of foods.
Appearance — Sugar gives foods a glossy glaze and sparkling finish, making them look as good as they taste.
Hidden kitchen roles — Sugar changes how liquids behave: it increases the boiling point and lowers the freezing temperature — essential for smooth ice creams, frozen desserts, and even candies.
👉 With so many hidden jobs, it’s no wonder sugar is so hard to replace. Sugar is loved for what it brings to food, but we struggle with the calories that come with it. If not for that, it would be the perfect sweetener — quietly doing its job so well that we forget how much it actually does... until we try to bake or cook without it.
How Sugar Creates Color and Flavor
Crystals of granulated sugar are naturally white and, when dissolved in water, they become colorless and transparent. In cooking, though, sugar is valued for its subtle to rich color and flavors it helps create. The crackly top of brownies, the golden edges of sugar cookies, and the sweet aroma of homemade caramel and desserts all come from sugar breaking down. This happens when sucrose undergoes chemical changes to form new compounds during cooking and baking. This decomposition process can occur through several common reactions, including:
Sugar Inversion is a process where sucrose decomposes into glucose and fructose, resulting in what's known as invert sugar. A sucrose molecule consists of a glucose and a fructose ring, connected by an oxygen (glycosidic) bond. When a solution of sucrose is heated in the presence of an acid or the enzyme invertase, 50 to 90% of the sucrose molecules break down into their component parts (glucose and fructose), as shown in the image below. The resulting syrup is called invert sugar. 👉 The science bit: The reaction is called inversion because when sucrose breaks apart, its optical properties change. Sucrose rotates polarized light to the right and is called a right-hand sugar (aka dextrorotatory). In contrast, the rotation of the polarized light for invert sugar is to the opposite direction, and so, it is called a levorotatory sugar.
Caramelization is the process of decomposing sucrose into invert sugar (glucose and fructose) and caramel (coloring substances). Sucrose is highly stable in its granulated form at room temperature. Still, it turns into a liquid at about 340°F (a very high melting point), forming caramel, which has a brown color and pleasant taste and aroma (buttery, fruity, flowery, sweet, rum-like, and roasted). Prolonged caramelization may result in bitter and very dark products. 👉 Quick distinction: "Melting sucrose" is not the same as "dissolving sucrose." Both turn sucrose crystals into liquid, but in different ways. During melting, sucrose changes chemically into other substances. When dissolved in water, however, sucrose does not decompose — the sucrose and water molecules remain intact. If the water evaporates from the solution, sucrose crystals can form again.
The Maillard Reaction is another process where decomposed sucrose results in changes in color and flavor. It occurs through complex and multiple reactions at high temperatures in the presence of amino acids (or proteins). The Maillard reaction produces a high color and viscous juice, as well as a particular aroma and taste. Both caramelization and Maillard are referred to as browning reactions. However, Maillard results in a much larger range of compounds than caramelization, and a richer and more complex flavor. 👉 The science bit: Sucrose (granulated sugar) is called a non-reducing sugar, which means it does not have a carbonyl group "exposed" for the Maillard reactions to occur. Once it breaks down into glucose and fructose, however, both are reducing sugars with an exposed carbonyl group — and that’s when the Maillard reaction can occur.
Sugar 101: Servings, Calories, and Measurements
Beyond science, sometimes the most common questions are the simplest: What is one serving of granulated white sugar?
How many grams of sugar are in one serving?
How many calories are in a teaspoon of sugar?
How many cups are in a pound of sugar? So I pulled it all together in this handy chart below.
When measuring sugar, use proper tools, not utensils. The standard method is “dip and sweep”: dip your spoon or cup into the sugar, then level it off with a knife.
Sugar and Us: Why We Love and Can Overdo It
Our love of sugar goes all the way back to human evolution. For our ancestors, taste was a survival tool — it helped them decide if foods were safe or dangerous before swallowing. The taste is a sense that nature undoubtedly set us up — sweetness signaled pleasurable foods, bitterness warned of poisons, and sourness flagged spoilage. Our attraction to sweetness is innate — if you doubt we were born liking it, watch a baby tasting ice cream for the first time.
Sugar fuels the brain and powers survival. The brain runs almost entirely on glucose, and sugar is its primary source of fuel. Sweet foods deliver that fuel quickly because they’re digested and absorbed with ease. For our ancestors, sugar wasn’t just brain food — it powered the quick “fight or flight” response needed for hunting and survival.
Of the five tastes — sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (savory) — sweetness is the favorite. It brings the greatest pleasure for most people, though how much we enjoy it varies based on many factors such as age, sex, health, even income and education level.
It’s easy to overdo sugar — we’re hard-wired to love it and it’s everywhere. Sugar is widely available, inexpensive, and can be stored for a long time, which makes it easy to have too much. That’s why moderation, not elimination, is the goal.
Granulated sugar is harmless in small amounts but can be harmful in large quantities. It is energy-dense, 4 to 13x more than fruits, as most ripe fruits have just 10 to 12 percent sugar. High intake of sugar (or any other caloric sweetener) significantly increases our risk for dental caries, weight gain, obesity, and other chronic diseases.
How much sugar is too much? The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests no more than six teaspoons per day for women and children. Men's upper daily limit is nine teaspoons. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 (DGA) advise keeping below 10% of daily calories, which is twelve teaspoons a day on average. The WHO goes further, suggesting an ideal limit of 5% (about 6 teaspoons). If you’re regularly above these numbers, you’re probably having too much. And remember: these limits apply to all sugars, not just granulated sugar.
From Honey to HFCS: How They Stack Up Against Sugar
From honey to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), sweeteners are often labeled as better for you or worse than regular sugar. The truth? They all break down into glucose and fructose in the body. What really separates them is how they’re made, flavor, texture, and how they behave in your recipes.
🥄 Granulated Sugar
• Perception: The familiar, versatile, perfect in taste and function — loved by all, if only it could be enjoyed without limits.
• In the kitchen: Clean, neutral taste; dissolves easily; consistent performance in baking and cooking.
• Processing: Highly refined from sugar cane or sugar beet; sucrose is crystallized and purified.
• Chemically: 99.95% sucrose (bonded glucose + fructose). The remaining is mostly water with a minuscule amount of minerals, plant traces, and other natural residues. Nutritionally, just sugar calories.
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🍯 Honey
• Perception: Revered since ancient times — even praised in the Bible — honey carries the aura of nature’s original and “better-for-you” sugar.
• In the kitchen: Unlike granulated sugar’s clean neutrality, the flavor is pronounced with floral or herbal notes; adds moisture, and faster browning.
• Processing: Collected by bees, then strained and filtered.
• Chemically: Mainly free fructose and free glucose (meaning they're not bonded). Fructose is usually a bit higher (～35%) than glucose (～30%), with small amounts of maltose (0.5 – 3.5%) and sucrose (～1%). The remaining is mostly water (about 17 to 20%) plus trace vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Nutritionally, still delivers just sugar calories.
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🍁 Maple Syrup
• Perception: Valued as a pure, rustic sweetener — evoking tradition, family breakfasts, cozy comfort, and the charm of seasonal harvest.
• In the kitchen: Rather than the neutral taste of granulated sugar, it brings caramel, vanilla, and floral notes (from compounds like vanillin and strawberry furanone); used in breakfast foods and baking.
• Processing: Made by boiling maple tree sap.
• Chemically: 66% sucrose (bonded glucose + fructose). The remaining is mostly water (about 33%) plus trace compounds (minerals, phytochemicals). Nutritionally, still sugar calories.
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🌴 Coconut Sugar
• Perception: Marketed as the modern, exotic, “better-for-you” alternative.
• In the kitchen: The taste stands out compared to the neutral profile of granulated sugar; offers a mild caramel flavor; behaves like brown sugar.
• Processing: Made by boiling palm flower sap until it crystallizes.
• Chemically: 97% sugar (70–80% sucrose + 3–9% glucose + 3–9% fructose). The remaining is mainly water (2%) with tiny amounts of minerals and other plant compounds. Nutritionally, just sugar calories.
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🌽 High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
• Perception: “Worse” than sugar — the “villain” of sweeteners. Seen as cheap and industrial, tied to sodas, fast food, and ultra-processed diets, and often blamed for obesity and disease.
• In the kitchen: Neutral sweetness, similar to sugar; best known as the main ingredient in many table syrups and soft drinks.
• Processing: Cornstarch converted to glucose, then enzymes convert some glucose into fructose.
• Chemically: Free fructose + free glucose, similar to honey. It comes in different fructose-to-glucose ratios. HFCS is typically sold as HFCS-42: about 42% fructose and 58% glucose (the preferred in processed foods, cereals, and baked goods). HFCS-90 is about 90% fructose and 10% glucose, but it is mainly blended with HFCS-42 to make HFCS-55. HFCS-55 (≈55% fructose) is the primary type used in soft drinks. Nutritionally, the same sugar calories as granulated sugar and honey.
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Nutritionally: What These 5 Sweeteners Have in Common
When you look past flavor, texture, and processing, all of these sweeteners — granulated sugar, honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and HFCS — end up delivering the same building blocks to your body: glucose and fructose.
Granulated sugar vs coconut sugar vs maple syrup → Their main sugar is sucrose, where a chemical bond joins the fructose and glucose. Once you eat them, gut enzymes break sucrose down into glucose and fructose.
Honey vs HFCS → Their main sugars are free fructose and free glucose. No chemical bond joins them. Fructose might be a bit higher than glucose.
So, whether bonded (as sucrose) or free (as in honey or HFCS), your body ultimately sees them as glucose and fructose.
Micronutrients: Too Little to Matter
Sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and coconut sugar are often seen as “healthier” because they’re less processed than white granulated sugar. They do contain trace amounts of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and bioactive plant compounds (phytochemicals, phenolics, and antioxidants). But compared to granulated sugar or HFCS, the differences are nutritionally negligible.
You'd have to eat a truly unhealthful amount of them (100g or even a cup) to get any meaningful micronutrient benefit — and by then, you’d far exceed healthy sugar limits. In the end, the calories and sugar content outweigh the minuscule amounts of these nutrients.
The bottom line?
Whether it’s granulated sugar, honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, or HFCS, your body processes them the same way — as glucose and fructose. The significant differences lie in taste, texture, and their performance in recipes, rather than in health value.
So instead of focusing on which one is “healthier,” think about which one works best in terms of taste, cooking, and the pleasure it brings you.
👉 Want to see how to swap one for another? Check out my complete guide to substituting caloric sweeteners HERE.
Takeaway
With so many hidden jobs, it’s no wonder granulated white sugar is so hard to replace. It doesn’t just sweeten — it builds texture, color, balance, and preservation in ways we often overlook. You only realize how much sugar does when you try to cook or bake without it.
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