Brown sugar refers to the finished sugar of sugar cane and honey, which is made by squeezing and concentrating sugar cane. Brown sugar is divided into flake sugar, brown sugar powder and bowl sugar. According to the different crystal particles, it contains almost all the components in sugarcane juice because it is not highly refined. Besides the function of sugar, it also contains vitamins and trace elements, such as iron, zinc, manganese and chromium. Its nutrient content is much higher than that of white sugar.
Brown sugar is not only used as a sweetener in China, but also considered as a health product since ancient times. For example, as early as the first century A.D., it was recorded in Dong Fangshuo's Theory of strangeness and Tao Hongjing's Records of Famous Doctors: brown sugar can moisten lung qi, help five internal organs, promote fluid production and detoxify, help temper and slow liver qi; Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica (1596) also recorded that "brown sugar can strengthen the spleen and soothe the liver, enrich blood and promote blood circulation, dredge blood stasis and expel toxins", but its principle of health care was not known before.