So, which is better for you?
None of these is particularly good for you.
Subsidiary question; why in the USA is there so much sugar/molasses/honey added to bread? I really have to shop around to find bread I consider edible when there. Is it a cultural thing?
I doubt it’s a “cultural” thing. I don’t hear people talking about the moral imperatives behind adding sweeteners to bread. It’s probably a matter of what most people are accustomed to.
And I think you mean “palatable” rather than “edible,” right?
If you are a bee, then I’d go with the honey, if you are a ant, then one of the sugars as the honey will be guarded by bees.
For people, in moderation and very small quantities I’d go with honey if you can get by the bees. Honey has some beneficial properties such as being anti-bacterial. Sugar has been stripped of anything ‘good’. I think raw sugar is regular sugar sprayed w/ mollasas and is basically the same.
No, I mean ‘edible’, short of some hypothetical starving-on-a-desert-island scenario where one would eat literally anything with calories.
Like, sugary bread - yuck.
Has it occurred to anybody that it might be contributing to the national obesity epidemic?
John
Yeah, moderation is the key.
Honey isn’t “anti bacterial” in the sense that it has a special chemical. It’s anti-bacterial because it has too little water and too much sugar for anything to grow in it. If you add water though, it will get moldy (which is why it’s not recommended for small babies as their digestive systems won’t move honey out of their system before it gets moldy).
Raw white sugar isn’t bad for you. It’s really just lots of calories/carbs but has no bleach or anything else. When people hear “bleach” they think chemical bleach.
White sugar is just carbon filtered to remove any impurities and make it nice and white. Read any sugar label, it’s usually only 1 thing; cane sugar (by law they have to mention any preservatives and sugar doesn’t need any).
Yeah, that’s what “palatable” means.
I think pretty much all hyperprocessed “convenience” high-calorie, high fat foods have been uniformly blamed. But I can’t see how the level of sweetness in bread could be pegged as a major contributor, compared with all the other bad stuff that’s out there.
And what bread did you have in mind? When I go to the supermarket, there seem to be about a hundred (not exaggerating) different breads in the aisle. Every single one of them is too sweet? And there are about a dozen more styles available in the bakery/deli. Those are too sweet? The baguette, the ciabatta, all too sweet?
Or are you just getting Wonderbread and Roman Meal, the cheapest junk in the aisle?
Looking for wholemeal bread made from whole wheat flour, yeast water and a little salt. Any supermarket or even corner shop would stock it here. The first twenty or so I tried were so unpalatable as to be inedible and they were duly thrown away. I found a range in Trader Joe’s which weren’t too bad. Still cost about five times what they do here. Seems strange in a wheat growing country largely descended from people from countries where good bread is a staple food.
John
Well, I won’t defend the American palate. We eat all kinds of substandard, insipid crap. It’s a side effect of a hypercommercialized society. Velveeta, Kraft cheese, Wonderbread … it’s all pretty disgusting. (I gotta say, though, I love my Spaghettios!) But most decent supermarkets will offer better options, but, yeah, you gotta pay. Actually, Trader Joe seems to have far more reasonable prices than, say, Dean and Deluca or Whole Foods.
Not really. Honey is dangerous for children under 2 because honey (like most raw agricultural products) contains botulism “spores.” They aren’t mold, they are a kind of bacteria that is killed by heat and acidic environments. But in low acidity, low oxygen environments, they can grow and produce one of the most deadly toxins in the world. The stomach is definitely low oxygen, and, in young children, is low enough in acidity to allow the spores to grow.
This is the same reason why you aren’t supposed to feed home-made baby food made from pureed, uncooked vegetables to babies. Cook those veggies, or use canned ones, before you give them to junior.
I hear you, I’ve been trying to maintain a no-sugar diet and it’s extremely difficult to find bread without sugar in it. I’m not much of a bread or sweets fan to begin with, and the idea of thick, sweet slices of bread makes me want to gag. However, I seem to recall from biology class that some form of sugar was required to make the yeast activate and the dough rise. I’ve also read that the reason processed white flour was/is so popular here is because it’s got a much longer shelf life. Whole grains seem to spoil faster, in my experience.
I agree with idea that high calorie processed foods have contributed to making Americans fatter. That doesn’t mean I don’t luuuuurve my Velveeta though. 
I blame it on the creator of Wonder bread.
Except for bulkie rolls which we use for sammiches, my house just makes it’s own bread. I’m still attempting to learn all the tricks to making good bread at home, but it’s a long road.
As for the sugar addition, I find it reduces my rising times, and I’d imagine that in mass production, anything that reduces the proofing time (rising) is good for the bottom line.
-Butler
Mold in the digestive tract? How does that happen? Also, over half the sugar in the US is beet sugar but the source changes on a day by day basis as beet and cane prices fluctuate. Still, after refinement, it’s 99.9% sucrose so it doesn’t really matter.
Raw sugar is just that, raw sugar.
White sugar is raw sugar that has been refined to have the mollases and impurities take out.
Brown sugar is white sugar with the mollases added back in but NOT any of the impurities.
Dr. Lao’s post clarifies mine. I just remember the warning about children and honey. Didn’t know it applies to many other foods.
Maybe it’s a US thing but my sugar mentions “100% cane sugar”.
FWIW, it is FDA policy to consider truly raw sugar unfit for human-food use without further refining:
http://www.fda.gov/ora/compliance_ref/cpg/cpgfod/cpg515-400.html
Great question.
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/0655.html has some info that deal with the “science” behind the difference if you are interested…
snip: “Honey actually contains the same basic sugar units as table sugar. Both contain glucose and fructose. Table sugar (sucrose) has the glucose and fructose hooked together, whereas in honey, the fructose and glucose are in individual units. Fructose is sweeter than glucose, which is one of the reasons why fructose is used in so many food products today. However, fructose is not converted to energy as efficiently as glucose; its slower metabolism means it raises blood sugar levels more gradually than glucose.” MORE info there and links to other articles as well.
I hate honey. And maple syrup products that are not fake and stored in the form of a woman.
If it says “100% cane sugar” then it is 100% cane sugar (or should be, otherwise the product is misbranded). If it doesn’t say that on the label, chances are it is beet sugar. The Wal-mart brand of sugar I have in my pantry doesn’t say anything about cane sugar on the front label and sure enough the ingredient list says just “Beet sugar.”
Brown sugar is pretty much always cane sugar though since the “molasses” produced in sugar beet refining is not allowed for human use in the US.
Mostly right. Table sugar is 99.9% sucrose, a disaccaride containing one glucose and one fructose linked together. The sugar components of honey are primarily glucose and fructose existing as free monosaccarides. But the ratio between them is rarely 1:1 and it can vary depending on which flowers were used by the bees to make it. Other sugars are often found in there too, as minor constituents.
If I might clarify, they reason for not feeding sugar to infants or anyone who has had gut sterilization for bone marrow transplant. We have resident bacteria in our GI tracts, refered to as normal flora.Normal flora is established, over time, from foods eaten. If an infant is given honey it can establish as part of the child’s flora, causing a conditoin called “Floppy baby syndrome.” Honey is the usual culprit.
Sugar (and salt) is added to almost everything in Australia as well. Its in bread, mustard, baked beans, chilli paste, crackers, etc. Most pre-packaged foods really.
I think the reason is that sugar and salt are substances that make you want more of them. So you will want to buy more of the product to get another sugar fix.