Powdered Sugar
White sugar milled to a powder and cut with a little starch against caking. It dissolves on contact, which is exactly why a Mint Julep reaches for it and why it suits any drink built over crushed ice.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Pure sweetness that arrives instantly and cleanly, with a faint powdery softness from the starch: no colour and no flavour of its own.
Storage & Handling
Airtight and bone dry: the starch draws damp and the powder cakes, so sieve out any lumps before use.
Shelf Life
Around two years kept dry; it keeps but cakes with age.
Usage
Dissolved into the mint and spirit of a Mint Julep before the ice goes in, where the instant melt matters. Elsewhere it sweetens shaken drinks and dusts a finished serve without needing to dissolve at all.
Three Names, One Thing
Powdered sugar, icing sugar and confectioners’ sugar are one thing under three names: white sugar ground to a powder and cut with a little starch so it does not cake.
The American 10x marking just tells you how fine the grind is rather than describing a different product. Any of the three works in a recipe calling for any of the others, which is worth knowing given how often recipes cross the Atlantic.
Why the Julep Wants It
It dissolves on contact, and that is the whole reason the drink reaches for it. Built over crushed ice, a Julep has little water and no hard shake to melt a coarser grain.
The habit predates cheap simple syrup and outlived it, which is unusual: most sugar techniques were replaced by syrup the moment it became convenient. Here the instant melt still does something syrup cannot, since syrup would add water the drink does not want.
The Starch
The trace of anti-caking starch is rarely a problem, though it can leave a faint cloud in a very clear drink. In a Julep over crushed ice it is invisible.
Where absolute clarity matters, blitz caster sugar in a grinder for a few seconds and you have a starch-free powder. That is worth doing for a stirred, transparent drink and unnecessary for anything else.
Keeping It
Airtight and bone dry. The starch draws damp readily, and a damp powder cakes into lumps that will not dissolve however hard the drink is stirred.
Sieve before use as a matter of habit. It takes seconds and it is the difference between a sugar that melts on contact and one that sits in the bottom of the glass, which defeats the only reason for using it.
It is also worth keeping a separate small container for bar use rather than dipping into the baking bag. A bag opened and reclosed a hundred times takes up far more damp than a sealed tub does, and the difference shows in how readily it dissolves.
Top Tips
- It dissolves on contact, which is why it suits crushed-ice drinks where there is no water to melt a coarser sugar.
- Sieve before use: the starch draws damp and the powder cakes into lumps.
- Icing sugar, confectioners’ sugar and powdered sugar are the same thing, so any of them works in a Julep.
Possible Substitutions
- Caster sugar dissolved first, or as a fine simple syrup
- Simple syrup, already liquid
- Caster sugar blitzed to a powder for a starch-free version
Production Method
Refined white sugar ground to a fine powder, then cut with a small amount of anti-caking starch, usually cornflour, to keep it free-running.
Common Questions
Is powdered sugar the same as icing sugar?
Yes. Powdered sugar, icing sugar and confectioners’ sugar are the same thing: sugar ground to a powder with a little starch added to stop it caking. The American 10x marking just describes how fine the grind is.
Why does a Mint Julep use powdered sugar?
It dissolves on contact, which matters over crushed ice where there is little water and no hard shake to melt a coarser grain. The habit predates cheap simple syrup, and the instant melt still does something syrup cannot.
Does the starch in powdered sugar affect a cocktail?
Barely. The small amount of anti-caking starch can leave a faint cloud in a very clear drink, and in a Julep over crushed ice it is invisible. Blitz caster sugar yourself if you want a starch-free powder.
Why has my powdered sugar gone lumpy?
It has taken up moisture, which the anti-caking starch draws readily. Sieve the lumps out before use, keep it airtight and bone dry, and a small sealed tub for bar use will stay in better condition than a much-reopened baking bag.
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Often Used With
Guide by Jerry Can Spirits