Baking for the holidays? Consider using Maui-grown and produced sugar from Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., the state’s last sugar plantation.

While most of the HC&S harvest goes to the C&H refinery in California where it is blended with sugar from other regions, about 10 percent stays in Hawaii to produce two products.

Premium Maui Gold (turbinado), a natural cane sugar, is a less refined, darker, coarser sugar than regular white sugar. It has more molasses flavor, making it particularly good in gingerbread, oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies. And when you’re adding sugar to your morning coffee, consider that most “Sugar in the Raw” packets contain Maui sugar.

Evaporated cane juice, once known as plantation raw white sugar, is also an HC&S product. Its granules are a little lighter and finer in texture than turbinado. It is used a lot in the beverage industry as a sweetener; you’ll see evaporated cane juice on the ingredient labels of Hawaiian Sun, Ito En and Island Maid drinks. Some food companies and retailers will repackage evaporated cane juice as raw sugar, and it’s another terrific substitute for granulated sugar in baked goods.

The company hopes to have its products on Oahu shelves soon. In the meantime, order some at 877-6924 or 800-735-9348.

Sugar isn’t only about sweetness. Baked goods are tender and achieve a golden tone because of sugar; ice cream and sorbets get soft and velvety because of sugar. In jams and jellies, sugar balances acidity and prohibits the growth of molds and yeasts. Sugar performs many functions and is a carbohydrate that supplies energy to the body. How sweet is that?

Hawaii food writer Joan Namkoong offers a weekly tidbit on fresh seasonal products, many of them locally grown.