What is icing sugar?
Icing sugar is a sweetener product based on glucides, often used in confectionery as an alternative to the common granular (or granulated) sugar; all this thanks to the greater decorative aesthetic value and its characteristics of thinness and impalpability.
How to do it at home
The icing sugar can also be produced at home level starting from the granulated one. Using a blender, a mixer, a blender or (even better) a cutter, it is possible to pulverize the granules of sucrose until the desired consistency is reached.
Although it is a fairly simple method, we remind you to be very careful not to contaminate the sugar with water or other liquids and, if you need to use it to garnish, to add 2-3% cornstarch. Eventually, the icing sugar can be enriched with other vanillin-type powdered flavors.
Nutritional Features
The nutritional composition of icing sugar is essentially in favor of glucides, while high amounts of proteins or lipids are not present. However, while the granulated sugar contains ONLY simple carbohydrates, in a particular professional icing sugar (for laboratories, pastry shops and food industries) small amounts of starch (cornstarch) and lipids are highlighted. This different mixture (compared to simple sucrose powder) has a very precise function; it constitutes the hydrophobic sugar, or rather that which - although coming into contact with humidity - has a lower capacity for solution. Due to these characteristics, hydrophobic sugar is particularly suitable for decorations, as it better preserves its whiteness compared to traditional icing sugar. The latter, if moistened, in fact acquires a translucent appearance and a sticky consistency.
In addition to the gaskets, the icing sugar can be used for the production of icings, creams, whipped cream, base doughs, biscuits etc.
See Examples of Icing Sugar Recipes
As anticipated, icing sugar essentially contains carbohydrates and the intake of vitamins and mineral salts is not relevant; it would therefore be totally meaningless to summarize the nutritional values within a table.
What is interesting are: the content of carbohydrates (99.6%, of which simple 97.9%) and the total energy intake (389 kcal / 100g). The icing sugar is therefore a product unsuitable for the diet against overweight and, even more, for the diet against hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
