Golden Castor Sugar ?

Lots of overseas baking programmes at the moment seem to use golden castor sugar, has anybody seen it for sale in New Zealand !.I am sure the white stuff we have will work.but just wondering.

I've been using soft brown sugar and haven't had a problem. It's a bit darker than golden caster sugar but not very much darker. Purists may balk but it does me!

I have been after this for a while now.Have just made contact with a fellow cakebaker/decorator in the UK and I am going to ask her about it.I did wonder about raw sugar, put through the blender, but would really like to know exactly what it is.Maybe one of those shops that import stuff from the UK might be able to help.Just would be nice to compare it and see what sort of a difference it makes using the correct product.

Just googled these, don't know why I didn't before although I had thought I had and certainly didn't find these.

"Golden Caster
Billington's Golden Caster is a light, fine-grained, free-flowing sugar with a subtle buttery taste. Unrefined Golden Caster should be used in place of white caster sugar as its golden colour is perfect for meringues, cakes and biscuits. "

Here is someone else asking the exact same question on the NZ Womens' Weekly site - the response is that golden caster isn't available in NZ, and to just use white caster in instead.

I’ve got some recipes from the UK that use “golden caster sugar”. I haven’t seen it anywhere in New Zealand, so what can I substitute it with!
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Golden caster sugar is a light, fine-grained, free-flowing sugar with a subtle buttery taste. It’s a natural, unrefined alternative to refined white caster sugar.

Unrefined sugars are simply produced to lock in, rather that refine out, the natural molasses of the sugar cane. Some recipes call for golden caster sugar to be used in place of white caster sugar as its golden colour is good for meringues, cakes and biscuits. We are not aware of stores in New Zealand selling golden caster sugar so use white caster sugar instead.

It is unrefined caster sugar. There is still a tiny bit of natural molasses left in the sugar. It does not have the heavy sticky texture of brown sugar. It is free-flowing, just like white sugar. The sources I've read always say to just substitute white caster sugar.j

Golden Caster Sugar: A light, unrefined, superfine sugar with a subtle buttery taste, that can be used instead of refined white caster (superfine) sugar in shortbread, meringues and sponges

By Peter Gordon at SkyCity

One of my favourites is unrefined golden caster. It has enough molasses among its sugar crystals to give it a lovely caramelised taste but not so much (as with muscovado) that it becomes overbearing. The pale golden meringues made from this are delicious, and vanilla ice cream made from it is also that little bit more delicious.

I remember my Gran sprinkling brown sugar over her porridge in winter; this was most likely demerara sugar, which is moister than white sugar and contains more molasses, therefore more caramel overtones. You can make a great pav from this - using half caster and half demerara sugar, and it's also lovely used in baking cakes and biscuits - try making shortbread with it next time. It will be a little moister so cook a few more minutes.

I have a coffee mill that I use to whizz raw sugar and use that, it works the same.I never buy caster sugar these days, I just whizz plain white sugar, the results are the same and much cheaper.

Ahhh, so a coffee mill will be going on my birthday list I think!Thanks nauru.

Yes, a great little addition to my kitchen gadgets.I also use mine to grind nuts too, especially almonds as they are so expensive to buy ready ground.I clean it after using with a pastry brush (kept specially for that job) and a damp cloth and leave to dry before storing.

Many thanks, I was wondering about raw sugar, in a processor/mill as it seems the most likely option.perhaps Chelsea Sugar will put out a golden castor sugar product in the not too distant future.keeping up with overseas trends and all that

Golden castor sugar in the UK is about the same colour as our raw sugar - it depends on the recipe whether I use raw sugar or "normal" caster sugar.

I have some golden sugar that I use.It is the Ceres Organics brand and packet says that it naturally milled.I purchased this from New World supermarket some time ago - don't know whether it is still available but check it out in the organics section if they have one.

I ran out of brown sugar and asked hubby to pick some up while out and he came home with 'home brand brown sugar' it was a very light colour and not like brown sugar at all very light and granulated like castor sugar, wont be buying that again as the brown sugar I have know in the past has been dark and more dense than this!so maybe this was more like golden castor sugar!

I've discussed this in the past with an English friend who is a keen baker. She says it's crap. Just use ordinary white caster sugar: the result will be the same.

Could you mix a bit of brown sugar in with the white castor! if you really wanted the flavour, that is.
I used to make a brown sugar shortbread, it was really yum. I haven't made that in a while, might have to this weekend. Sometimes I put a hand full of fruitcake mix in too.

I agree - I think of it as a raw sugar version of caster sugar rather than anything else.It doesn't taste or have the texture of brown sugar - I find it slightly less sweet than regular white caster sugar too.

The link below will take you to the nutritional information of golden sugar.
http://www.ceres.co.nz/Media/Articles/Article!name=66-Sweet+Options