Caster sugar - Wordsmith.org

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I am attempting a Tasmanian recipe for blood orange, pomegranate and cardamom jelly. The quantities are all is Tasmanian (e.g. milleliters and grams). It only took math skills to solve that challenge. The greater one was when it called for "caster" sugar. I think this means something roughly the equivalent of powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar, but who knows? And why call it caster?

I do. Jo and I had several discussions, both online and in person over this. Caster, I think, because it can be put on the table in a caster.
No, it is NOT powdered sugar; if you're going to be cooking that recipe, you'll be better off using our regular table sugar. Caster sugar does have slightly smaller grains than our white sugar, but it is definitely grains, not powder.

Thanks, kiddo. I found the thread. Shudda looked first.

The Thread

and that old thread, of course, is..
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Jackie: Why does caster sugar come in smaller grains

You've got me, Dale. Just the way they make it, I guess. Jo (who is British) and I exchanged some recipes, which led to these couple of very startling (to me) questions:
She: what is shortening?
Me: what is caster sugar?

Interesting, trying to explain something when there is no (or little) common frame of reference. I would list my explanation of shortening as a deferred success.

We call it it castor sugar here, not caster sugar.

The infamous Wikipedia offers this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_sugar#Types_of_culinary_sugar

and then there's also this:
http://www.ochef.com/947.htm

"Columbus became romantically involved with the Governor of the Island, Beatrice. He stayed a month."

The stuff you can learn in the Wikipedia!

Synchronicity...

We were just talking about cardamom at work and I told the manager it was spelled cardamon, he said "No. Cardamom" Are they two different spices?

Angular, aromatic seeds of herb grown in India and Ceylon, and having anise-like taste. Used whole or ground in pickling, breads, cookies and many Scandinavian desserts.
www.komplet.com/USA/Lexikon.a4d

cardamom: rhizomatous herb of India having aromatic seeds used as seasoning
cardamom: aromatic seeds used as seasoning like cinnamon and cloves especially in pickles and barbecue sauces
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Or three?

{i]Definition of cardamum
n. - Aromatic seeds used as seasoning like cinnamon and cloves especially in pickles and barbecue sauces 3
http://www.morewords.com/word/cardamum/

Here's this from http://www.freesearch.co.uk/dictionary/cardamum

cardamom, UK ALSO cardamum, US ALSO cardamon

noun {C or U}

an Indian plant, the seeds of which are used as a spice, especially in Asian food:
- cardamom seeds

- Add two teaspoonfuls of ground cardamom.

So, you can spell it any way you want, mon, but spellcheck in Word only recognises "mom".

Rules?? We doan need no steenkin' rules!!

I'm going with the terminal M.

The Latin botanical name of the stuff is Elettaria cardamomum or Amomum cardamomum. They both gots M's.

The French is cardamome. The German is Kardamom. The Spanish is cardamomo. Those whacky Italians split their bet and spell it either cardamomo or cardamone.

Seems to me like the M's have it.

PS: The jelly was/is exquisite.

The quantities are all Tasmanian?

Why is North America still using the imperial system when the rest of the world has already gone metric?

> imperial system

you said it.

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We call it it castor sugar here, not caster sugar.

Maybe it's made from beaver droppings. Goes good in your kopi luwak.

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You've got me, Dale. Just the way they make it, I guess. Jo (who is British) and I exchanged some recipes, which led to these couple of very startling (to me) questions:
She: what is shortening?
Me: what is caster sugar?

Interesting, trying to explain something when there is no (or little) common frame of reference. I would list my explanation of shortening as a deferred success.

I've heard of shortening bread from the song, of course. I just assumed it was American for shortbread. So what is it, then?

> shortening

oleomargerine. crisco. lard.

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We call it it castor sugar here, not caster sugar.

The spelling castor sugar used to be the prevailing one, but caster sugar seems to be more usual now, perhaps because it is used by some sugar manufacturers on their packaging.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/castorsugar?view=uk

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Shortening is called shortening because it is a semisolid edible fat used to shorten baked goods. To shorten means to introduce fats to flours (e.g. pastry dough) thereby preventing the cohesion of the molecules of wheat gluten strands and thereby produces baked goods which are light, tender and flaky. Lard is the best shortener in the Universe but is politically incorrect.

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We call it it castor sugar here, not caster sugar.

The spelling castor sugar used to be the prevailing one, but caster sugar seems to be more usual now, perhaps because it is used by some sugar manufacturers on their packaging.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/castorsugar?view=uk

Well, I had hoped you would have noticed that I said we call it castor sugar HERE. What others call it, or what the most common spelling is, has no particular relevance to my specific comment.

Max, Max, I was not disputing in any way, shape, or form that it is called castor sugar in New Zealand. I simply quoted your remarks because they mentioned both spellings. I had always assumed that caster sugar was a miss-spelling by people who do not use it or even know what it is.

I have heard that if one eats a bit of castor/caster sugar, it can sweeten one's disposition.

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Lard is the best shortener in the Universe but is politically incorrect.

Not to mention medically.

What do non-USns call shortening, then?

actually faldage, "crisco" (a liquid vegetable oil that has been "hydolized")is full of 'trans fats" and we now know that transfats-- Increase the bad cholesterol, and decrease the the good! Lard is actually a healthier fat than than crisco.(it just increases the bad (the LDL's)(and has no effect what so ever, on HDL's)

likewise butter is healthier than oleo's (margarines) that contain transfats, for the same reasons.

Lard (or butter) are not the healthiest of foods to eat, but they actually are better for you than liquid oils that have been 'treated' to make them into 'solid' shortenings.

(shades of woody allan --any day now, red meat will be found to be healthier than low fat chicken!)

Sticky toffee pudding - a wonderful Scottish treat - uses both caster sugar and muscovado sugar. On our first attempt to make it, we scoured the Web for definitions. You just don't see these words in US cookbooks, nor can you find the products in most US food stores. We used "raw" sugar for the muscovado and ran regular refined sugar through a cuisinart to produce a facsimile of caster sugar. The results were delicious! We have since learned that using regular refined sugar does just as well as using caster, and that you can fake the muscovado by adding a dash of molassas to refined sugar. Celiacs in the crowd may also be happy to know that sticky toffee pudding can be made with any combination of substitute flours.

And cardamom is good for stomachs, however you spell it. Drop a pod in your tea cup and reuse it until the flavor is all gone. Then you can break out the seeds and use them in cooking to eke out the last bit of essence.

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Lard is the best shortener in the Universe...

Lard will produce the flakiest pastries, but I think butter provides a better flavor. Margarine and US-style shortening (which is made up of super saturated vegetable oils) are not worth considering.

yeah, I know *that problem Dean - I once tried to splain my Fungible Pudding recipe to some of this lot, and ran up against the whole terminology and weights'n'measures wall! But the recipe's worth it I think.