Sugar

Sugar is the backbone of the sweet shelf in the baking, sugar and desserts department, and the grind matters more than most people expect. Coarse granulated crystals dissolve steadily in a pan of milk tea, while caster and icing sugar are milled finer so they vanish into butter for cakes, biscuits and buttercream. In Hindi it is cheeni, in Tamil sakkarai, and it turns up in almost every dessert that is not made with jaggery.

White sugar is the everyday choice for chai, lemonade and sugar syrup, because it tastes of sweetness and nothing else. Brown sugar, from pale demerara to dark soft muscovado styles, keeps some of the cane molasses, which gives flapjacks, fruit cakes and coffee a toffee note. Sugar cubes are for the tea tray and for guests who like to count their own.

For anyone cutting back, table-top sweeteners come as granules for sprinkling and as tiny tablets that drop straight into a mug. Glucose sits here too, used by home bakers and sweet makers for its softer sweetness and the way it keeps icings and fudge smooth.

Moisture is the enemy of every sugar. Keep an airtight jar near, not above, the hob, and if brown sugar sets hard, seal it overnight with a slice of bread or a damp piece of kitchen paper and it will soften again.