Toute Sweet-- A Sugar Glossary

* Chinese rock sugar--This sugar comes in large or small lumps, from clear to amber, and is the favorite of Chinese cooks, particularly from Shanghai, who use it liberally in braised meat dishes and in sweet soups and puddings as well.

Available at Asian markets.

* Dark Muscovado sugar--Muscovado sugar (a.k.a. Barbados sugar), a moist cane sugar available in both light and very dark forms, comes from Mauritius, an island off the southeastern coast of Africa. It is made by evaporating the juice and draining off the molasses. Tasting of rum, this variety works well in everything from dark rustic gingerbread cookies to the crackling glaze atop a creme bru^lee. Its rich flavor adds immeasurably to broiled fruit such as bananas, pineapple and even grapefruit. Baking with it is easy since its somewhat coarse granulated texture allows for good aeration when creaming the fats in a batter or dough. Somewhat sticky, this sugar has a lingering molasses note, rich with a caramelized, almost rum-like flavor.

Look for it at shops such as La Brea Bakery, 624 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 939-6813, and Surfas Restaurant Supply & Gourmet Food, 8825 National Blvd., Culver City, (310) 559-4770; on the Internet from https://www.cooking.com; or call India Tree Gourmet Spices & Specialties, (800) 369-4848.

* Date sugar--Dehydrated dates are granulated to yield a brown, rather coarse “sugar.” Unlike the coarse sugars made from palm sap or sugar-cane juice, date sugar remains granular on the tongue. Although not a substitute for other kinds of sugar, this variety works well as a topping or finishing sugar on pastries or compotes, and in fruit crisps or other baked goods, lending a fruity sweetness and pleasantly sandy texture.

Available at health-food stores.

* Demerara sugar--Demerara is named for the place in Guyana where this brown, large-grained sugar originated. For all of its light color, it packs a considerable molasses punch in its aroma and flavor. It’s not easily creamed, but its coarse, sandy texture makes it ideal for topping a coffee cake or an old-fashioned sugar cookie or snickerdoodle. Smelling faintly of molasses, it adds crunch to a pudding or custard and works well as the sprinkle over your morning oatmeal or a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Look for it at Surfas Restaurant Supply & Gourmet Food, 8825 National Blvd., Culver City, (310) 559-4770; or call India Tree Gourmet Spices & Specialties, (800) 369-4848 or King Arthur Flour, (800) 827-6836, or online at https://www.kingarthurflour.com.

* Jaggery--Made from sugar cane juice or the sap of the sago, coconut, date or palmyra palms, this has a distinctive taste and nutty aroma. It can have a consistency as soft as honey butter or as solid as fudge.

Jaggery still comes in rough, somewhat grainy blocks. After breaking it up into smaller pieces, you may grind it in a food processor and turn it into something rather fine-textured. Retaining a bit of a smoky note from processing, this sugar is just as at home in a beverage, a stew or a syrup.

Available at Indian markets. Palm sugar, a kind of jaggery, is used in Thai cooking and other southeast Asian dishes. Available at Thai markets.

* Piloncillo--Traditional piloncillo is made by boiling down cane juice and pouring it into molds without further processing to cool and crystallize. Piloncillo is formed into cones (the traditional “sugar loaf” shape).

The easiest and safest way to use this sugar is to place a piece on a cutting board, cover it with a towel and break it into rough shards by whacking it with a mallet or meat pounder. The resulting pieces can be ground or processed further before turning them into a syrup or sprinkling them over bread puddings, roasting them with fruit or creaming them, albeit somewhat roughly, in a batter or dough. Microwaving briefly, a few seconds at a time, will help to soften the stubbornly hard pieces.

Available at Latino markets.

* Raw washed sugar--This crunchy product tastes clearly of the sugar-cane juice from which it was made. Honeydew melon grace notes and a lingering, almost honeyed complexity of flavor makes this worth seeking out.

Look for this at health-food markets.

* Turbinado sugar--Turbinado sugar is in the category of unrefined or milled brown sugars that are honey-colored and usually large grained. These are related to the Demerara sugar, which got its name from the place in Guyana where this type of large-grained sugar originated many years ago.

Available at health-food stores.