Brown sugar starts off much the same as white sugar (i.e., it comes from the cane) but instead of being completely refined, some molasses is retained and mixed in with the white sugar crystals ...

Whereas white sugar has virtually all of the molasses removed and goes through further refining to remove traces of color, only molasses on the surface of turbinado sugar crystals is removed.

Its brown crystals come from the natural molasses in the sugar cane. ... White sugar is not reintroduced to molasses during the refining process, so it has a sweet taste and white color.

Refined white sugar, though ubiquitous in our diet, is not without its health hazards. ... This juice is heated and filtered to remove impurities, before being concentrated to form crystals.

White sugar, processed from cane or beets, lacks minerals unlike brown sugar, which contains molasses and is used in baking.

White and brown sugar come from the same source -- sugar beets or sugar cane. They're soaked and squeezed to make sugar juice. That juice gets purified and separated into sugar crystals and molasses.