Shopping - sugar and salt

When I first arrived in Japan I didn't know many kanji, and sometimes I forgot to take my dictionary to the supermarket. One of the most confusing things was salt and sugar - which is which???

This picture shows the kanji for 4 types of sugar:

糖　とう　sugar    

This just means "sugar" but most bags have a different name, for example -->

グラニュー糖　　
ぐらにゅー　とう　
"guranyu tou"      granulated sugar


白砂糖　　　しろざとう　　"shirozatou"        white sugar

黒砂糖　　　くろざとう　"kurozatou"        brown sugar


But please be careful! If you want simple sugar for cooking, to put in your tea, etc, then please choose granulated sugar. It is like sand and is not sticky. This is the sugar you will find in western countries.

Japanese "shirozatou" means "white sugar" and it is cheaper than granulated sugar BUT it is very fine grained and it is sticky. The taste is the same as granulated sugar but if you try to use it in a recipe, your baking will turn out differently.

Salt is always sold next to sugar. Nowadays there are many kinds of salt and some bags have English on them, so it is easier to understand which is sugar and which is salt. Long ago I made a mistake and bought 2kg of salt when I really wanted sugar!

塩　　しお　　
"shio"      salt