The Effects of Sugar

Meringue would be bland without the addition of sugar, which also helps stabilize the foam, especially in the oven. Its addition, however, is something of a mixed blessing, as sugar also delays the foaming process and decreases the volume and lightness of the meringue. This is especially noticeable when meringue is whipped by hand, but even when using an electric mixer, the granulated sugar must be introduced gradually and, in most cases, never before the whipped egg whites have increased approximately 4 times in volume, so that the sugar will not prevent the albumin from working to stiffen the foam. As an example of what it means to add the sugar gradually, when making the recipe for French Meringue, it should take approximately 3 minutes to add the 2 pounds (910 g) of sugar to the egg whites—a little longer if the egg whites are cold.