Honey is produced by bees from nectar and has a distinctive flavour which depends on the flowers which the bees visit. The honey is extracted from wax honey-combs by spinning or by heat extraction. Honey contains many sugars, but mainly glucose and fructose. Much brown sugar starts off as refined white sugar, which then is coated with molasses to make it brown. Brown sugars, syrups, honey and treacle provide sweetness and flavour.
Sugars can also contribute to the texture and mouthfeel of products, eg ice cream.
Caster sugar is most suitable for this due to its fine crystal structure and as it inhibits gluten development in flour, helping the bakery item achieve a light texture. The inclusion of sugar in bakery products helps them keep their moisture, as sugar has water attracting properties, ie it improves shelf-life and maintains texture and mouthfeel. Using brown sugar, syrups and treacle in products such as rich fruit cake also helps colour development. It is used extensively in jam and marmalade manufacture. The higher the sugar content of a fruit pie filling, the longer it will last.