Refined sugar

White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar or regular sugar, is the sugar commonly used in North America and Europe, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process. White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar or regular sugar, is the sugar commonly used in North America and Europe, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process. The refining completely removes the molasses and makes the white sugar actually sucrose (with a purity higher than 99.7%), whose molecular formula is C12H22O11. The origin of the sugar thus produced is therefore chemically indistinguishable (sugar cane or sugar beet): it's however possible to identify its origin through a carbon-13 analysis (similar to radiocarbon dating used in archeology). From a chemical and nutritional point of view, white sugar does not contain - in comparison to brown sugar - some minerals (such as calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium) present in molasses, even if the quantities contained in brown sugar are so small to be actually not significant. The only detectable differences are therefore the white color and the less intense flavor.