Sugar (unrefined muscovado)

Sugar is soluble in water and so can be extracted from plants like sugar cane or sugar beet quite easily, as well as dissolved when stirred into liquids like tea. The extraction process involves the concentration of the sucrose syrup from the plants and then the evaporation of all the water, which causes the sucrose to solidify into small sugar crystals. These are usually brown in colour because of a small amount of residual carbohydrate and some minerals from the plant. In the case of Muscovado sugar, high quantities of these brown impurities, in the form of molasses, are present, giving the sugar a coarser and stickier feel with a pronounced caramel flavour.