Light brown sugar
This raw sugar is a product of the milling process. Used primarily in the confectionery, baking and canning industries.

• Imparts colour • Low cost • Preferred aroma • Enhances shelf life • Enhances flavour

Dark brown sugar
This raw sugar is aproduct of the milling process. It is coated with molasses to give the desired dark colour in the final product. It is used primarily for taste and colour in the following industries: Sweets (toffees, fudges, caramels); baking (fruit cakes, gingerbread, muffins, cakes, mince pies); brewing (sorghum beer).

• Preferred aroma • Imparts colour • Contributes to texture • Enhances shelf life • Enhances flavour

Caramel brown sugar
A raw sugar coated with a caramel colourant. It is used mainly as a coffee sweetener, but is also used for baking purposes and as a
general sweetener.

• Preferred aroma
• Imparts colour
• Contributes to texture
• Enhances shelf life
• Enhances flavour

Treacle (soft) brown sugar
A raw sugar coated with molasses. It is used primarily for taste and colour in the following industries: Sweets (toffees, fudges, caramels); baking (fruit cakes, gingerbread, muffins, cakes, mince pies); brewing (sorghum beer).

• Preferred aroma
• Imparts colour
• Contributes to texture
• Enhances shelf life
• Enhances flavour

Bakers icing sugar
A milled raw sugar containing an anti-caking agent. Used primarily in the
baking industry where colour is not critical.

• Quick dissolving
• Improves texture
• Dusting purposes
• Low cost

Liquid sugar
A sucrose syrup used in the manufacture of carbonated soft drinks, confectionery and alcoholic beverages. Liquid sugar can be used in any application where granulated sugar is dissolved.

• Pure cane
• Best colour
• Controls texture
• Enhances flavour
• Improves shelf-life

Partial invert syrup
A syrup used in many industries including baking, confectionery, pharmaceutical and ice cream manufacturing.

• Colour and flavour
• Improves texture
• Improves shelf-life

Full invert syrup
A syrup with a solids content of between 69%-76%. Most commonly used in the pharmaceutical and cordial industries. Also used in a variety of food applications.

• Preserving properties
• Retains moisture (Humectant)
• Controls crystallisation
• Controls freezing point
• Appears sweeter
• Mixes easily

Highly concentrated invert syrup
It is used primarily in the confectionery industry.

A blend of inverted low purity refinery syrups or the final syrup produced
at the raw sugar mill. Used in a wide range of products including liquorice
confections, Christmas cakes and puddings, mince pies and cough syrups. Useful in the baking and confectionery industries.

• Colour and flavour
• Humectant

There are three types of caramels:

Open-cooked caramel
A caramel with a high viscosity and medium colour intensity. Most commonly used in the brandy, wine, wine vinegar, spirits and soft drink industries as a stable colouring agent.

Pressure-cooked caramel
A caramel with a low viscosity a low or medium colour intensity. Used
primarily in the brandy, cider, wine, soft drink and spirit industries as a
stable colour agent.

General purpose caramel
A caramel used in many food applications such as sauces, soups, gravy
browning, vinegar, canned meats, baking and sweet confectionery.

Artificial sweeteners are either used directly in commercially processed
foods, or they are mixed with one or more starch-based sweeteners before sale to consumers. Artificial sweeteners are so intensely sweet that dextrose or maltodextrin, or both, are added to dilute their intense sweetness in order to imitate the sweetness of a sugar. Only incredibly small amounts are required to mimic sugar’s sweet taste. The dextrose or maltodextrin carriers add calories to the artificial sweeteners.

Acesulfame K or acesulfame potassium is approximately 200 times sweeter
than sugar. It has no calories because it’s not metabolised by the body. In addition to being a general-purpose sweetener, Acesulfame K can be found in thousands of oral hygiene and pharmaceutical products, as well as foods and beverages. It also offers the advantage of being stable at high temperatures.

Aspartame is also around 200 times sweeter than sugar. Common sweetener
brands containing aspartame includes NutraSweet and Equal. Aspartame is
completely broken down by the body into its two component amino acids –
aspartic acid and phenylalanine – and a small amount of methanol (wood
alcohol). Although aspartame has four calories per gram, its intense sweetness means so little of aspartame is used that essentially no calories
are provided.

Neotame is composed of aspartic acid and phenylalanine. It is about 40 times
sweeter than aspartame, or approximately 8 000 times sweeter than sugar.
It is completely broken down into aspartic acid and phenylalanine by the
body and because only trace amounts of neotame are required to mimic the
sweetness of sugar, it contributes no calories.

Saccharin was discovered more than 100 years ago. Its sweetness depends on
how it is used, and ranges from 200 to 700 times sweeter than sugar. In the US, saccharin is approved as a special dietary sweetener which limits its use to beverages and tabletop products. Also, approval for its use stipulates that specific maximum amounts are not to be exceeded.

Sucralose is made from sucrose by a multi-step patented manufacturing
process and is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Food manufacturers value
sucralose because it is the most heat stable of the artificial sweeteners. This
property has increased the introduction of sucralose into a broad range of
foods and beverages previously sweetened with the other approved general purpose artificial sweeteners.

Cape Sweeteners, a Division of Tongaat-Hulett, specialises in the development and manufacture of intense sweetener blends and complete sweetening systems. Their range includes Acesulfame K, Aspartame, Sodium Cyclamate, Sodium Saccharin, Polydextrose, Lactitol, Crystalline Frustose and sweetener blends specifically tailored to suit client needs or applications.

Lactitol is a reduced calorie sweetener derived from milk sugar, which plays
a versatile role in foods such as chocolate, ice cream and baked goods.