Cassonade

Cassonade is the loose brown sugar people reach for when they want moisture, mild caramel notes and easy dissolving in baking or on hot food. By our assessment, its strength is exactly that soft, slightly sticky texture and the gentle taste that works in everyday pastries, sauces and porridge. The limitation is that it is still sugar: it sweetens fast and does not bring much depth beyond its brown-sugar character. In practice it clumps a little, pours less neatly than white sugar, and feels more rustic than refined. It sits in the basic sugar category rather than as a specialty ingredient, and that is about all it promises.