Stephanie's Food For Thought: Muscovado Sugar

I wanted to find an even less refined sugar than turbinado sugar that would have more nutrients. Muscovado sugar made the top of the list.  What is Muscovado sugar you ask?  Wise Geek says, "This cane sugar is made by pressing sugarcane to release the naturally sweet juice and then cooking it slightly before allowing it to dry. During the cooking process, various ingredients are added to help remove impurities that may be present in the sugarcane juice; typically, these impurities rise to the top in the form of foam which is skimmed out. Both coconut milk and lime juice are used in traditional processing, and these refining ingredients do not usually leave flavors behind. After the sugar is dried, it is broken apart and sold."  This information can be found here.  On Livestrong it says "Muscovado sugar maintains the same vitamin and mineral content as the juice it is made from. A 100-g portion of Muscovado sugar contains 3.9 mg of phosphorus, 85 mg of calcium, 23 mg of magnesium, 100 mg of potassium and 1.3 mg of iron."  The information can be found here

I don't plan on using Muscovado sugar very often, since a box just like the one pictured above was $4 at my local grocery store, but I really like to try new ingredients so I used it in the eggnog recipe.  In the eggnog it had a rich taste.   I believe it was the best eggnog I have tasted because I used a more full flavor ingredient.