James Beard Award winner Gale Gand is the host of Sweet Dreams on the Food Network and executive pastry chef and partner of Tru and Cenitare restaurants in the Chicago area. We asked her to share her thoughts on sugar.

What makes sugar so versatile?
Sugar greatly affects texture—it can make things chewy or crisp and can help air incorporate into a batter. It adds sweetness, of course, so it’s really a ¬multifunctional ingredient.

What kinds of sugars do you keep on hand for everyday use?
Organic Sucanat (brand name for Sugar Cane Natural, available in health food stores and large supermarkets), organic light brown and raw sugars (evaporated cane juice), organic and regular powdered sugar, granulated white sugar, and superfine white sugar.

How are organic sugars different from other sugars?
Refined sugars go through processing that organic sugars don’t, so I find ¬organic sugars have more flavor.

Do granulated sugar and brown sugar perform differently in recipes, or do they just provide different flavors?
Brown sugar has extra moisture from the molasses in it, so it performs differently from granulated white sugar. In certain applications, the two are interchangeable, like whipped cream or a meringue to top a pie (I do a brown sugar meringue for a lemon meringue pie, and it’s delicious). But in baking, you need to be careful if you want to substitute all brown sugar in a recipe that calls for all granulated white sugar, because of the different moisture content. The added moisture makes things heavier and wetter and may cause baked goods to brown more quickly.

What is an unconventional way you’ve used sugar in recipes?
I use coarse sugar to caramelize on top of rice pudding.