How to Make Homemade Brown Sugar

August 29, 2023 TheHomemadeMama

Have you ever gone to make cookies, a cake, or a sauce and reached for your brown sugar only to find you are out? There is nothing more frustrating than not having an ingredient you need. I’m here to offer you an easy fix for when you run out of brown sugar. All it takes is a little bit of preparedness on your part and then you will never run out again. I’m going to teach you how to make homemade brown sugar!

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What is “brown sugar”?

Brown sugar is simply granulated sugar cane with molasses added to it. What?! That’s it? Yep, That’s it. When sugar cane (or sugar beets) is boiled down and refined to make plain white sugar and the crystals removed, molasses is the sticky, nutritious syrup that remains.

Let’s talk for a minute about sugar. Where does sugar come from? From sugar cane, right? Well, not necessarily. Over 50% of sugar production in the United States comes from sugar beets. Haven’t heard of them? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. A white-colored root vegetable that contains a high amount of sucralose.

While the sugar beet has been documented throughout history, with a presence as far back as ancient Egypt, the modern use of sugar beets for making processed sugar originated in the mid-1700s with a German chemist who discovered sweet-tasting crystals would form when the beet was pulverized. As they say, the rest is history.

To GMO or to non-GMO

Today, almost all sugar beet seed is genetically modified to be disease and pest-resistant. They have also been bioengineered in such a way that allows the sugar beets to survive when fields are sprayed with toxic herbicides. The GMO debate is highly political and heated, but the bottom line is, that some scientists and regenerative farming advocates belive GMO foods are contributing to health issues such as cancer and antibiotic-resistant diseases.

I always tell people I’m more concerned (at this point in my life) about a product being non-GMO than I am concerned about it being labeled “organic.” This doesn’t mean I’m perfect, but I try to make this a priority when shopping for ingredients.

That being said, right now I purchase non-GMO evaporated cane sugar. This non-GMO, natural product is made by squeezing the sugar cane and evaporating the juice. This less-processed product makes for a rich-tasting, gold sugar that maintains some of the nutrients sugar cane has to offer. We prefer this sugar for our regular use over the bleached, highly processed white sugar found in the grocery store. Since I’m not growing my own sugar cane (yet), this is the next best option for my family.

Why make Homemade Brown Sugar?

Making homemade brown sugar is cheaper than buying it!
It only takes a couple of minutes.
You will never run out!
It connects you more to the food you are eating.

Homemade Brown Sugar is Cheaper

This definitely depends on the quality of sugar you are buying. I want to show you a cost breakdown of what I could get at Walmart right now (August 2023). Right now, my Walmart carries a Great Value brand Light Brown Sugar 32 oz bag for $2.18. This equals 4 cups of brown sugar. They don’t carry a Great Value dark brown sugar option. The Great Value 10lb bag of Granulated Sugar is $7.28 and equals about 22.5 cups. And the Grandma’s brand Molasses 12 oz jar is $3.48. There are 24 tablespoons in 12 oz.

The measured ratio to make homemade brown sugar is 1 TBSP Molasses to 1 cup granulated sugar for light brown sugar and 2 TBSP molasses to 1 cup granulated sugar for dark brown sugar.

To make a little over the 4 cups (32 oz) of homemade brown sugar, I would need 4 cups of sugar ($1.29) plus 4 TBSP Molasses ($.29) which comes out to $1.58 for a little over 4 cups of light brown sugar. *This is just using those specific prices and sizes. I purchase both sugar and molasses in bulk so that changes the prices. For example, right now I can make 4 cups of brown sugar with my non-GMO sugar for $1.86. The larger the package, usually the lower the price. (*Azure Standard is a fantastic option for ordering high quality bulk ingredients. Check it out and use my code here.)

What about organic?

For the sake of those who prefer organic options, let’s compare those. This one is a little harder to find at Walmart, but online, you can purchase a 7.5 lb bag of Wholesome brand Organic Brown Sugar for $22.93. To get us to an equal quantity with the Great Value bag of Light Brown Sugar, that would cost $3.05 for 4 cups. A 55lb bag of Organic Cane Sugar (my next option to the brand I currently use) is $63.19. So for 4 cups of organic sugar, we are looking at $2.02. A gallon jug of Organic Blackstrap Molasses is $23.46 or $.09/TBSP. So, let’s do the math here, that means Organic Homemade Brown Sugar costs $2.38 to make.

While we aren’t talking huge amounts of savings, but when you add up small savings here and there, you end up making a big difference in the long run. We are looking at about a $.60 cost savings across the board. Is your 2-3 minutes worth $.60? Think about how much you could put toward a half cow, an extra 50 lb bag of rice for your long-term food storage, food for your meat birds, or a family vacation if you were able to save $.60 a day. In a year, you would have saved over $200!

Now I know you aren’t using 4 cups of brown sugar a day and neither am I, but if you can start to shift your mindset to find this kind of savings in other areas of your cooking, how much could you save?

Making Homemade Brown Sugar only takes a couple of minutes

As you can see in the attached video, it doesn’t take long to prep quite a bit of brown sugar at once. I usually make enough to fill my half-gallon glass jar and I use it 2 cups at a time. It takes about 2 minutes to really incorporate the molasses into the brown sugar and then you have ready-to-go brown sugar for the next few recipes.

You will never run out!

Now that you know how to restock your brown sugar jar with two basic pantry staples, you will never run out! Keep those two ingredients on your shelf and instead of having to run to the store, you will be able to mix it up in just a couple of minutes.

It connects you more to the food you are eating

My favorite reason for making homemade brown sugar is how the process connects you to the ingredient. Every time you get into the kitchen and combine raw ingredients to make a meal for your family, you make a connection with the food you are making for your family. This isn’t some weird spiritualization of food, but I firmly believe in eating natural foods and understanding where those foods come from. The more basic your ingredients are, the more you understand the meals you assemble for your family. As you learn the ingredients and how best to serve them, you will develop the skill of intuitive cooking.

Now let’s get to that recipe!