There's Something In Sugar That Doesn't Look Like Sugar

Lately I've been finding these bits in sugar before I pour my coffee. It dissolves like sugar, so it isn't paper. That was largest piece I've found so far. Mostly they've been small and hard to see until I dump it in my cup.

Sorry for the poor quality. Its surface looks like a droughted wasteland with powder cliffs. The yellowish crystal above the structure is a sugar grain. The structure has no qualities that resemble the grains around them. First thought was that it's paper bits, but it doesn't share its qualities. Second thought is that it could be very fine grounded sugar that builds up like a resin on the machinery and flakes off in the process, but the fine power cliffs don't resemble at all the crystal structure of sugar.

Does anyone know what this could be? Syphon your sugar I bet you can find one of these structures yourself. I have a small pocket sized microscope for jewelry, that with a camera phone makes for a terrible quality.

a reply to: TheGhoul

It looks like it is just sugar crystals that have joined together to make a large chunk of sugar. Sending it off for laboratory testing is the only real way to know what we are looking at. I doubt anyone can give more than my rudimentary analysis from looking at a picture. 

a reply to: tamusan

I figured as much. I knew the quality was bad but tried.

How does one go about doing that? I've come across many things that I would have loved to know what it really is.

It's just sugar that's had contact with a bit of moisture and the crystals stuck together.

You can get it tested in a lab if you're prepared to pay for it.

a reply to: Byrd

The grains are see through crystals that reflect light, but this structure is white all around. In the microscope its very small grains that don't look like the sugar around it.

Would fire be a good test to do?

I'll try to get better pictures but like it's said. I don't think it will help here.

If someone can look though their sugar and give it a look. I'm 100% certain you can find one of these. I've seen them in every bag bought so far.

You know. I wouldn't put past those that add something that looks like sugar with the quick glance to induce something in us without our knowing. It's going on all the time.

originally posted by: TheGhoul
a reply to: Byrd

The grains are see through crystals that reflect light, but this structure is white all around. In the microscope its very small grains that don't look like the sugar around it.

Would fire be a good test to do?

FIRE was my first thought. If you have several samples, put fire to one and see how it burns, then do the same with a pile of clean sugar crystals. Do it on a stainless steel or aluminum surface if you can.

The images are not loading on my connection so I can't see what they look like, but I'm inclined to agree with what the previous repies said, that it's likely just lumps of crystals that have become moist and have clumped together and become discolored.

a reply to: incoserv

But clumps of sugar look like rocks. I've delt with those all the time. They are chaotic in shape. These have been Flat and small sand like cliff through the microscope.

I'm going to do the fire when I sift enough of these out.

originally posted by: TheGhoul
I'll try to get better pictures but like it's said. I don't think it will help here.

If someone can look though their sugar and give it a look. I'm 100% certain you can find one of these. I've seen them in every bag bought so far.

You know. I wouldn't put past those that add something that looks like sugar with the quick glance to induce something in us without our knowing. It's going on all the time.

Someone like you with the same suspicions would find it and they'd lose their business.

I'm pretty sure that you're just paranoid but thats a positive and healthy trait for the betterment of humanity.

a reply to: TheGhoul

You can try these if you are science minded. You can get an idea of how much sugar verses impurities you are dealing with.

How to Test for the Presence of Sugar
Prepare a test sample by mixing a small amount of food with distilled water.
In a test tube, add 40 drops of the sample liquid and ten drops of Benedict's solution.
Warm the test tube by placing it in a hot water bath or container of hot tap water for five minutes.
If sugar is present, the blue color will change to green, yellow, or red, depending on how much sugar is present. Green indicates a lower concentration than yellow, which is a lower concentration than red. The different colors may be used to compare the relative amounts of sugar in different samples.

a reply to: TheGhoul

If someone can look though their sugar and give it a look. I'm 100% certain you can find one of these. I've seen them in every bag bought so far.

I just checked my sugar with a 100x microscope I use to check for trichrome development.

The light refracting bits seem different from the other grains. Taste's like sugar but so does ethylene glycol.

There is a shape differentiation as well. I really don't know what to look for.....

Sorry everyone. I jumped the gun on this. When I looked at it, it was so far from looking like sugar I was really hoping someone has seen it and could explain more.

These structures are easily seen with the naked eye. Looks like bits of paper amongst the sugar and when I saw it under my cheap microscope it alarmed me to make this silly thread.

I opened a new sugar bag and so far haven't found this structure yet. I don't have enough for a reliable test. So maybe it's in your sugar maybe not. I'll even try to recreate the substance with sugar. Should be possible if its sugar.

To the Mods, please delete to save space and I'll get better at this Thread making. I promise.

The sugar I've been buying lately, which is the same sugar I've always bought, has been tasting even sweeter than it always has. But that artificial sweetener type sweeter. Just a smidge. But enough that I've wondered if something was going on with the sugar now.
Also, what use to be 5lb bags are now 4lb bags. Not sure if others had noticed.

We don’t use white sugar, only the natural stuff, so I can’t check. But is it possible that it’s some kind of anti caking agent? Anything listed in the ingredients?

WOQ

Food Insight

The Science of Anti-Caking Agents

What are they (anti-caking agents) doing in my food?flour on a table

Without anti-caking agents, my cookie ingredients (sugar, flour, baking powder etc.) would, over time, become solid blocks of chalk. These dry ingredients slowly suck humidity out of the air as time passes. That water allows the particles to bind with one another. This also leads to lower product quality as the ingredients oxidize and lose their ability to flow when being poured. Anti-caking agents solve this conundrum by either coating the particles themselves to shield them or absorbing moisture before the powder does.

a reply to: Antisocialist

I throw the bags away when I dump them in my container and never really thought to look at the ingredients because I thought I was buying sugar. I think that's it though. A powder substance that forms flakes that don't look like sugar. Thank you very much for the insight.

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: TheGhoul

If someone can look though their sugar and give it a look. I'm 100% certain you can find one of these. I've seen them in every bag bought so far.

I just checked my sugar with a 100x microscope I use to check for trichrome development.

The light refracting bits seem different from the other grains. Taste's like sugar but so does ethylene glycol.

There is a shape differentiation as well. I really don't know what to look for.....

Any chance you could examine it at higher magnification and do a comparison? I know the shape of pure salt is cube shaped, not sure what sugar would look like. (?)

a reply to: TheGhoul

I want you to stop examining your food after you've already bought it and committed to eating it!

99% of almost everything you buy has been processed, genetically modified, contains additives and preservatives, is nutritionally enhanced (by god only knows what), and has been deemed safe by the food and drug administration for you to consume!

Why would you question it?

originally posted by: Komodo

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: TheGhoul

If someone can look though their sugar and give it a look. I'm 100% certain you can find one of these. I've seen them in every bag bought so far.

I just checked my sugar with a 100x microscope I use to check for trichrome development.

The light refracting bits seem different from the other grains. Taste's like sugar but so does ethylene glycol.

There is a shape differentiation as well. I really don't know what to look for.....

Any chance you could examine it at higher magnification and do a comparison? I know the shape of pure salt is cube shaped, not sure what sugar would look like. (?)

Done at twice the magnification. The sugar granules from a different batch looked like the last test.

No real definitive shape to the crystals other than basically rectangular, some clear, most cloudy. I think properly to investigate this matter we need to up our game to the molecular level; that's beyond my capabilities.

imo....depending on the processing and processer of sugar; there could be a a large contamination element.

I prefer the taste of Mexican sugar but it's brown not white and more than likely processed from sugar cane, not corn or beets like in the US.

The Mexican sugar has a distinctive TASTE, and not just another sweetener like the Domino that I just tested.