Sugar

Sugar is a sweetener sold as a powder. Cooks use it to bake, preserve foods, and sweeten coffee.

Category: Sugars & sweeteners
Cooked most in: Asia, Europe, Africa
Top country: Indonesia
Dishes: 168 in the catalogue
Energy: 387 kcal per 100 g

Photo: Lauri Andler (Phantom) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use sugar

Typical ways to cook or use it

Bake
Preserve
Sweeten

Cooking with it

Sugar burns easily over a flame. Heating sugar near 200 °C for several minutes produces burnt sugar.

Goes well with

coffee

Shopping

Choosing and storing sugar

Sold as: Powder

Nutrition

What 100 g of sugar holds

Per 100 g. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 0%Fat 0%Carbohydrate 100%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of sugar
Energy	387 kcal · 1,618 kJ
Protein	0 g
Fat	0 g
of which saturated	0 g
Carbohydrate	100 g
of which sugars	100 g
Fibre	0 g
Sodium	1 mg
Cholesterol	0 mg

Nutrition per 100 g of sugar: minerals and vitamins
Potassium	2 mg
Calcium	1 mg
Iron	0.05 mg
Zinc	0.01 mg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (food 169655), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where sugar is cooked

168 dishes in the catalogue use sugar. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list sugar among their ingredients.

Origins

The 1400s · Portugal and Spain
Sugar was introduced to Madeira and the Canary Islands in the mid-15th century.
The 1520s · Cuba and Jamaica
Cuba and Jamaica had sugar industries by the 1520s, following its introduction to the New World.
1801 · Europe
Industrial production of beet sugar began in Cunern, Prussia.

On the table

Dishes made with sugar

48 of the 168 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

Matang satay
Indonesia
Laksa
Iran
Bok l'hong
Cambodia
Bakpia
China, Indonesia
Aşure
Tarta de Santiago
Spain
Appam
India, Sri Lanka
Baklava
Saffron pancake
Sweden
Sahoaba
Madagascar
Lángos
Hungary
Madd
Senegal
Varena
Ukraine
Zhent
Central Asia
Gazelle ankles🇲🇦🇲🇦
Pelau
Dominica, Guadeloupe, Trinidad and Tobago
Khanom thuai
Thailand
Kuli-kuli
Nigeria
Ladob
Seychelles
Rufioi
Italy
Desperation pie
United States
Dondurma
Türkiye
Älme
Kazakhstan
Molotof
Portugal
Slemang
Malaysia
Arsik
Indonesia
Mehallabiyya
Iran
Blåbärssoppa
Sweden
Zarda
India
Fırın sütlaç
Türkiye
Koba
Madagascar
Şekerpare
Rujak soto
Indonesia
Koba (sweet)
Madagascar
Pişmaniye
Türkiye
Turkish delight
Bir pletok
Indonesia
Ramanonaka
Madagascar
Sambal lingkung
Indonesia
Lotek
Indonesia
Tanggo-tanggo
Indonesia
Karedok
Indonesia
Panada
Indonesia
Rendang lokan
Indonesia
Timphan
Indonesia
Bika Ambon
Indonesia
Dendeng
Indonesia
Empal gepuk
Indonesia

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include sugar.

Family

Related forms

Made from it: caramel
Kinds: brown sugar, jaggery, palm sugar, powdered sugar

Around the world

What sugar is called

Names in 210 languages, from Wikidata.

Spanish
azúcar · azucar
French
sucre
Italian
zuccheri
Portuguese
açúcar
German
Zucker
Dutch
suiker · tafelsuiker · kristalsuiker
Greek
ζάχαρη · σάκχαρα
Turkish
şeker
Russian
сахар
Polish
cukier spożywczy
Arabic
سكر
Persian
شکر

Show all 210 languages

acm
شكر
Afrikaans
suiker
Akan
asikyire
Albanian
sheqeri
Amharic
ስኳር
Aragonese
zucre
Aramaic
ܫܟܪ
Armenian
շաքար
Aromanian
zahari
Assamese
চেনী
Asturian
azucre · zucre · azúcare
azb
شکر
Azerbaijani
şəkər
Balinese
gula
Bambara
sugoro
Bangla
চিনি
Banjar
gula
Bashkir
шәкәр
Basque
azukre
Bavarian
zugga
Belarusian
цукар
Belarusian (Taraskievica orthography)
цукар
Betawi
gula
Bhojpuri
चीनी
Bikol
asukar
Bosnian
šećer
Brazilian Portuguese
açúcar
Breton
sukr
Bulgarian
захар
Burmese
သကြား
Cantonese
糖
Catalan
sucre
cdo
tòng
Cebuano
asukal
Central Kurdish
شەکر
Chechen
шекар
Cheyenne
vé'keemahpe
Chinese
糖 · 食糖
Chuvash
сахăр
Cornish
sugra
Corsican
zuccheru
Crimean Tatar
şeker
Crimean Tatar (Latin)
şeker
Croatian
šećeri
Czech
cukr · sacharóza
Danish
sukker
Egyptian Arabic
سكر
Erzya
ламбо
Esperanto
sukero
Estonian
suhkrud · suhkur
Extremaduran
açuca
Faroese
sukur
Fiji Hindi
chini
Fijian
suka
Filipino
asukal
Finnish
sokeri
Fon
suklě
Friulian
Zucar
Gagauz
şeker
Galician
azucre
gcr
souk
Georgian
შაქარი
Guarani
eiratã
Gujarati
ખાંડ
Haitian Creole
sik
Hakka Chinese
thông
Hausa
sukari
Hawaiian
kōpaʻa
Hebrew
סוכר
Hindi
शक्कर · सुक्रोज
Hungarian
cukor
hyw
շաքար
Icelandic
matarsykur
Ido
sukro
Igbo
ńnú odẹne
Iloko
asukar
Indonesian
gula
Ingush
шекар
Interlingua
sucro
Inuktitut
ᓱᑲᒃ
Inupiaq
avu
Irish
siúcra · súcra
Japanese
砂糖 · 糖類 · 糖分
Javanese
gula
Kabyle
sskeṛ
Kannada
ಸಕ್ಕರೆ · ಸುಕ್ರೋಜ್
Kara-Kalpak
qant
Karachay-Balkar
шекер
Kashmiri
کھنٛڈ
Kashubian
cëczer
Kazakh
қант
kge
gula
Kinyarwanda
isukari
Korean
설탕 · 당
Korean (North Korea)
사탕 · 사탕가루
Kurdish
şekir
kus
sikir
Kyrgyz
кант
Ladino
asukar
Lao
ນ້ຳຕານ
Latgalian
cukrs
Latin
saccharum
Latvian
cukurs
Limburgish
Sókker
Lingala
sukáli · sukali
Lingua Franca Nova
zucar
Literary Chinese
糖
Lithuanian
cukrus
Lojban
sakta
Lombard
zuqer
Low German
Sucker
Lower Sorbian
cukor
Luxembourgish
Zocker
Macedonian
шеќер
Madurese
ghulâ
Maithili
चिनी
Malagasy
siramamy
Malay
gula · sukrosa
Malay (Arabic)
ݢولا
Malayalam
പഞ്ചസാര · സുക്രോസ്
Maltese
zokkor
Manx
shugyr
Marathi
साखर
Min Nan Chinese
thn̂g
Minangkabau
gulo
Mingrelian
შანქარი
Moksha
захар
Mongolian
элсэн чихэр
Moroccan Arabic
سكار
nah
caxtillān chiyancaca
Navajo
áshįįh łikan
Nepali
चीनी · चिनी
Newari
चिनी
Northern Sami
sohkar
Norwegian Bokmål
sukker
Norwegian Nynorsk
sukker
nrm
chucre
Occitan
sucre
Odia
ଚିନି
Old English
sweġe
Ossetic
сæкæр
Papiamento
suku
Pashto
بوره
Punjabi
ਚੀਨੀ
Quechua
asukar
rki
သကြား
Romanian
zahăr · zahar · îndulcitor · zaharuri
Rundi
Isukari
Rusyn
цукор
ryu
砂糖 · さーたー
Samogitian
sokros
Sanskrit
शर्करा
Santali
ᱪᱤᱱᱤ
Scots
succar
Scottish Gaelic
siùcar
Serbian
шећер
Serbian (Cyrillic)
шећер
Serbian (Latin)
šećer
Serbian (Latin)
šećer
Shan
ၵိူဝ်ဝၢၼ်
Shona
shuga
Sicilian
zùccaru
Silesian
cuker
Simplified Chinese
糖
Simplified Chinese (China)
糖
Sindhi
کَنڊ
Sinhala
සීනි
Slovak
cukor
Slovenian
sladkor
Somali
sonkor
Sranan Tongo
sukru
Sundanese
gula
Swahili
sukari
Swedish
socker
Swiss German
Zucker
Tajik
қанд
Talysh
qənd
Tamil
சீனி · சர்க்கரை
Tatar
шикәр
Tatar (Cyrillic)
шикәр
Telugu
చక్కెర · సుక్రోజ్
Thai
น้ำตาล
Toki Pona
ko kiwen suwi
Traditional Chinese
糖
Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)
糖
Turkmen
gant
Tuvinian
чиъгир
Udmurt
сакыр · сакар
Ukrainian
цукор
Upper Sorbian
cokor
Urdu
شکّر
Uyghur
شېكەر
Uzbek
qand
Venetian
sùcaro
Veps
sahar
Vietnamese
đường · đường thực phẩm · chất đường
Walloon
souke
Waray
asukar
Wayuu
suukala
Welsh
siwgr
West Flemish
suyker
Western Frisian
sûker
Western Panjabi
شکر
Wolof
suukar
Wu Chinese
糖
Yakut
саахар
Yiddish
צוקער
Yoruba
ṣúgà
Zhuang
dangz
Zulu
ushukela

Sources and credits

Data

GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
USDA FoodData Central (Foundation, SR Legacy): nutrition values (Public domain (US government work, CC0))
Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
Wikimedia Commons: photos
Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q11002

Photos