> Doing some cooking experiment to try to determine chemical identity...

No attempt was made to "determine chemical identity", no chemistry at all
was attempted.
Yes, sucrose certainly is identical to sucrose - that was never in question.
Sucrose is sucrose is sucrose.
The impact of the non-sucrose components in a bag of beet sugar were
demonstrated, nothing more.
And no one (here, at least) is claiming that bees would even notice one vs
the other.

The problem can be seen with no more than a hand lens, so the first question
that was asked was "what would cause sucrose, or any crystalizing substance,
to crystalize badly"?
Clearly, substances other than sucrose in the mix.

So, impurities. Now, what problem do those impurities pose?
The only practical problems posed by the impurities seem to be in cooking -
what else would one do with sugar?

What was demonstrated was clear and specific practical differences between
the two sugars in practical applications of sugar.
As Medhat said succinctly, the beet sugars seem to need more refining to
remove the apparent impurities that can be seen with the naked eye and in
actual applications of sugar, such as carmelization.
I agree.

Now, I'm sure one could spend all day trying to replicate carmelization in a
lab setting, but the proof is still "in the pudding".

So, there are some impurities in the beet sugar we can buy, and if one can
determine that with simple equipment and processes, why spend more time,
money and resources on the problem?

> We study chemistry in school today, not alchemy.

Sorry to have angered, but there was no attempt to replace the fine work
done by chemists.

If the only tool one has is the hammer of chemistry, there is no need to
mistake the art of cooking for a nail.

If one wants to ask an actual "chemistry" question, I guess one could ask
what the specific impurities are, and what percentage they are per kg of
beet sugar, but I don't know what anyone would do with that information.





	

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