White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process.
The refining process completely removes the
molasses to give the white sugar,
sucrose. It has a purity higher than 99.7%.
[1] Its molecular formula is C
12H
22O
11.
[2] White sugars produced from sugar cane and sugar beet are chemically indistinguishable: it is possible, however, to identify its origin through a
carbon-13 analysis.
[1]
White sugar (and some brown sugar) produced from sugar cane may be refined using bone char by a few sugar cane refiners. [3] Beet sugar has never been processed with bone char and is vegan. [4]
From a chemical and nutritional point of view, white sugar does not contain—in comparison to brown sugar—some minerals (such as calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium) present in small quantities in molasses. [5] [6] [7] The only detectable differences are, therefore, the white color and the less intense flavor. [7]