Abstract: The physical and chemical properties (water activity (aw), color, crystal structure, main components, minerals and amino acids) and sulfur dioxide contents of traditional brown sugar and refined brown granulated sugar were studied and compared. In this paper, three brown sugars and two brown granulated sugars were chosen. The results showed that aw values of both brown sugar and brown granulated sugar were less than 0.7 and did not significantly differ from each other. The color of these two kinds of sugar was characterized by a combination of red and yellow tones, and a value could be an indicator to discriminate between brown sugar and brown granulated sugar. While the crystal structure of brown sugar was regular and showed approximate rectangles, the angle of each crystal surface of brown granulated sugar, being almost oval, was not constant. The reducing sugar content of brown sugar was significantly higher than that of brown granulated sugar, while the ash and sucrose contents were significantly lower than those of brown granulated sugar. Minerals were more abundant in brown sugar, and the contents of K, Mg and Fe were significantly higher than those in brown granulated sugar. Brown sugar contained a much higher proportion of essential amino acids than brown granulated sugar. Compared with brown sugar, sulfur dioxide content of brown granulated sugar was higher, and both of them meet the industrial standards.

Key words: brown sugar, brown granulated sugar, physical and chemical properties, sulfur dioxide