Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is made by mixing white sugar with molasses, which gives it its color, flavor, and moisture. The molasses used to make brown sugar comes from sugar cane, not sugar beets. Brown sugar can be made by adding molasses syrup to boiling sugar crystals that result from the sugar-refining process, or by coating white granulated sugar with molasses. While sugar beets and sugar cane are used to make white granulated sugar, only molasses from sugar cane is used in the production of brown sugar. Brown sugar can come in various forms, such as coarse or soft, depending on their moisture content, which can be modified through different processing techniques and by adjusting the amount of molasses they contain. Light brown sugar contains 3-4% molasses, while dark brown sugar contains 6-10% molasses. The two types of brown sugar are mostly interchangeable in recipes, but dark brown sugar brings slightly more moisture and acidity to recipes, along with extra molasses flavor.

In summary, brown sugar is made by mixing white sugar with molasses, which gives it its color, flavor, and moisture. The molasses used to make brown sugar comes from sugar cane, and brown sugar can come in various forms depending on its moisture content.