White sugar in the context of "Sugar"

Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula C
₁₂H
₂₂O
₁₁.

For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined from either sugarcane or sugar beet. Sugar mills – typically located in tropical regions near where sugarcane is grown – crush the cane and produce raw sugar which is shipped to other factories for refining into pure sucrose. Sugar beet factories are located in temperate climates where the beet is grown, and process the beets directly into refined sugar. The sugar-refining process involves washing the raw sugar crystals before dissolving them into a sugar syrup which is filtered and then passed over carbon to remove any residual colour. The sugar syrup is then concentrated by boiling under a vacuum and crystallized as the final purification process to produce crystals of pure sucrose that are clear, odorless, and sweet.

Confections of the English Renaissance span a wide range of products. All were heavily based on sugar, which was a relatively new development. Many were considered to have medicinal properties – a belief that was influenced by the Arabic use of sugar as a medicine and that carried over from medieval sugar usage. In the mid-sixteenth century, sugar became cheaper and more widely available to the general populace due to European colonization of the New World. It began to be used more as a flavouring, preservative, and sweetener, as it is today, rather than as medicine.

A chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie that features chocolate chips or chocolate morsels as its distinguishing ingredient. Chocolate chip cookies are claimed to have originated in the United States in 1938, when Ruth Graves Wakefield chopped up a Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar and added the chopped chocolate to a cookie recipe; however, historical recipes for grated or chopped chocolate cookies exist prior to 1938 by various other authors.

Generally, the recipe starts with a dough composed of flour, butter, both brown and white sugar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, eggs, and vanilla. Variations on the recipe may add other types of chocolate, as well as additional ingredients such as nuts or oatmeal. There are also vegan versions with the necessary ingredient substitutions, such as vegan chocolate chips, vegan margarine, and egg substitutes. A chocolate chocolate chip cookie uses a dough flavored with chocolate or cocoa powder, before chocolate chips are mixed in. These variations of the recipe are also referred to as "double" or "triple" chocolate chip cookies, depending on the combination of dough and chocolate types.

Sugar cubes (also known as sugar lumps in British English) are white sugar granules pressed into small cubes measuring approximately 1 teaspoon each. They are usually used for sweetening drinks such as tea and coffee. They were invented in the early 19th century in response to the difficulties of breaking hard "sugarloafs" into small uniform size pieces. They are often found in cafes and restaurants, although their popularity as a DIY sweetener has waned with the rise of barista cafes. Nevertheless they still have many uses such as arts and crafts, as metaphor for the amount of sugar in a product, and at formal events.

A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw sugar or plantation white sugar. Some sugar mills are situated next to a back-end refinery, that turns raw sugar into (refined) white sugar.

The term is also used to refer to the equipment that crushes the sticks of sugar cane to extract the juice.

Added sugars, also known as free sugars, are sugars added to foods and drinks during processing or preparation, as opposed to natural sugars which are present before processing and preparation. Medical consensus holds that added sugars contribute little nutritional value to food, leading to a colloquial description as "empty calories". Overconsumption of sugar is correlated with excessive calorie intake and increased risk of weight gain and various diseases. Individuals who consume 17–21% of their daily calories from added sugar are reported to have a 38% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to those who consume 8% of their daily calories from added sugar.