Brown sugar/ Demerara

I am curious if anyone knows where in Taipei to find Demerara / brown sugar of the type used in baking in North America? It is not the big granular type of brown sugar normally found in Taiwan, and is made from cane sugar. It is quite sticky and lumps together. My wife uses it a lot for baking, and we could not find it when we lived in Taiwan 10 years ago. Any ideas?

that sounds like every food product in taiwan after a week.

sorry i was of no help. :sweat:

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Costco have a few brands, no idea if any are the same as the type used in NA.

PX mart carries a couple brands. Ask the for organic black sugar. Its a hualien trading company that imports from peru.

Taiwan has black sugar and brown sugar. The ingredient labels are hit and miss so buy one first and try before getting lots. But this brand is more or less the same as in Canada.

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Although I’ve seen all of the above types of brown/cane/ raw sugar here, I have never found real, proper demerara sugar in Taiwan. If I, or a friend, wants some, I buy it in Canada and bring it back.
Your wife could try substituting with the local sugars, or you could see if it’s available for online shopping? Amazon, iHerb, etc.
Good luck!!

None of those pictures are Demerara.

I’ve seen the real stuff in Jasons, but not sure if they always have it.

Given its hard to find I tend to pick it up when overseas and bring it back. I don’t go through it that fast so haven’t looked for it locally in a while.

That said, depending on what you need it for, the “No 2 Granulated Sugar” (二號沙糖) from Taiwan Sugar is easy to find and similar in taste. Apparently that one comes from Taiwan Sugar’s Shanhua factory, an older plant they’re always talking about closing down. Old and inefficient factories tend to make more flavorsome sugar - higher molasses content.

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Had to good exactly how that is made. Seems it is simply dried cane sugar juice right? There is a pretty similar one that is cheap here. One can also just buy raw sugar cane juice and dry it.

A lot of black or brown sugars here add mollases and white sugar.

Brown sugar here isn’t the same as in the US. Occasionally, I’ve seen a French brand in CitySuper that was good. I did see this on the web but then you need to find molasses or treacle: https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/make-brown-sugar/

I have baked chocolate chip cookies with brown sugar at Costco and they still turn out.

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Nice link, thanks. Just need to find some molasses in Taiwan now.

I bought this at CitySuper. I see tangmi on the shelf but not really sure if it’s from sorghum

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Brown sugar is white sugar originally, molasses added makes it brown.

There are different types, but we’re likely buying the molasses type. Where Does the Brown in Brown Sugar Come From? | The Kitchn

Ya thats what i though above wanted.

Until yesterday i had no idea what Demerara was. The stuff i always bought in canada had molasses in it as well.

But just raw sugar ahould be easy to make at home. Sugar cane and people with rollers for juicing it are island wide, jist need to dey it out and tell them dont add anything after squeezing the canes.

I did miss out Palm sugar that is brown. My girlfriends mum sends us over some from Myanmar and I find it delicious.
Mostly used for cooking.