Rock Sugar & Brown Rock Sugar by: Everyone 0 Comments Posted:1/11/2021Updated:1/11/2021 Though you may not always notice it, sugar plays just as important a role in savory cooking as it does in sweets.From braised meat dishes to stir-fries, you’ll find sugar in many of the recipes on our blog.Rock sugar in particular is often used in Chinese cooking.

In this article, we’ll explore two different types of Chinese rock sugar and their uses.  What Is Rock Sugar? The process of making rock sugar (bīngtáng, 冰糖) likely originated during the Tang Dynasty of China in the seventh century A.D.  A monk in Sichuan Province discovered that boiling the juice extracted from sugarcane would result in a thick liquid, which could then be poured through a bamboo pipe and into a pot.The liquid would crystallize over a period of several days, resulting in hard, translucent formations that looked like chunks of ice.Indeed, it was referred to as “sugar frost” or “sugar ice” for hundreds of years until the Ming Dynasty, when granulated sugar rose to popularity.  Today, rock sugar is produced in the form of irregular lumps and in smoother, more uniform chunks, and it ranges in color from pale gold to white.

It doesn’t have a particularly distinct flavor apart from its sweetness, and it tends to be slightly less sweet than standard white granulated sugar.It also creates a lovely sheen in sauces and braises (note the shine of ou

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