Ever thought about the forms in which sugar is infused in our daily diet? Only when we specifically avoid sugar consumption, we realise what all we are supposed to sacrifice. If you are not a diabetic, then you might not have noticed the variety of sugar used in the food industry. Right from the point when canes or beet enter the refining mills, sugar production is started. At every different stage, some or the other kind of output is formed which is further processed for usage. Following is a concise and summarized list of types of sugar which is also a reminder of how deeply we are indulged in its consumption:
| S.No. | Name | Characteristic | Uses |
| 1. | Regular | Coarse crystals (brown and white) | All-purpose, everyday cooking and on tables. |
| 2. | Caster | Superfine, easily dissolvable. | Baking, sweetening fruits and ices |
| 3. | Icing | Very fine + starch + cornflour (or calcium phosphate), fastest dissolving sugar. | Confectionery |
| 4. | Lump | Cubic Form | Restaurants and cafes for hot drinks. Sometimes used for rubbing zest from citrus fruits. |
| 5. | Preserving (gelling) | Contains pectin and citric or tartaric acid | Used for making jams and jellies |
| 6. | Vanilla | Caster + at least 10% vanilla extract | For flavouring sweet dishes and pastries |
| 7. | Demerara/ Turbinado (light) | Raw or partly refined. Some companies mix molasses in white sugar to make it brown. | Everyday use |
| 8. | Jaggery | Moist, dark brown, coarse, unrefined | As a digestive and taken with meals |
| 9. | Muscovado(light)/ Barbados (dark) | Raw cane sugar | Baking rich cakes and gels with banana, toffee and butter-scotch |
| 10. | Black Barbados | Soft, fine, moist, raw cane, very dark in color, strong flavour. | Used in gingerbread, dark fruit cakes, Christmas cakes and puddings and even in pickles. |
| 11. | Candy sugar | Large crystals of white or brown (having caramel). Made from slow crystallisation. | Served with coffee |
| 12. | Fondant | Thick white paste+ glucose syrup/cream of tartar or Icing sugar+ egg white + glucose syrup | Flavouring and decorating confectionery |
| 13. | Liquid caramel | Liquid form, needs no cooking | Flavouring yogurts, desserts, sauces and ices. |
| 14. | Vergeoise | Residue left after refining, has a pronounced flavour. | Found mainly in France, used in Flemish patisserie. |
| 15. | Syrups | Syrups are by-product of refining and are refined further for infusing certain flavours. | Cookie, brewing, baking. |
| 16. | Molasses and black treacle (refined molasses) | Dark, viscous, less sweet than honey. | Cooking, toffee, cakes, baked beans. Treacle also used in pharma for lozenges and linctuses. |
