It is widely believed that cane sugar was first used in Polynesia from where it spread to India. In 510 BC, Emporer Darius of Persia invaded India where he found “The reed which gives honey without bees.”
The secret of cane sugar was kept a closely guarded Persian secret as they worked on developing the commodity for export and profit. When the Arab peoples invaded Persia in 642 AD, they found their secret crop and learned how sugar was made. As their expansion continued, they established sugar production in other lands they conquered including North Africa and Spain.
Sugar was later discovered by Western Europeans as a result of the Crusades, so the first sugar wasn’t recorded in England until 1069. The subsequent centuries saw a major expansion of western European trade with the East, including the importation of sugar. At this time, it was regarded as a luxury, mainly enjoyed by those wealthy enough to afford it.
In the 15th century, European sugar was refined in Venice, to make it more affordable to those in the area because it was difficult to transport as a food-grade product. In the same century, Columbus sailed to the Americas, and it is recorded that in 1493 he took sugar cane plants to grow in the Caribbean. The climate there was perfect for the growth of the cane, which helped the sugar industry to flourish.
Sugar beet was first identified as another source in 1747. Again, for commodity value purposes, it was kept a secret until the Napoleon wars at the start of the 19th century when Britain blockaded sugar imports to continental Europe. By 1880 sugar beet had replaced sugar cane as the main source of sugar on continental Europe. Both sources flourished though, with slavery being the main workforce.
Back then, sugar had one name: Sugar. It had two sources: Sugar cane and beets.
As new sources were discovered, and industrialization of food evolved, sugar started picking up more names.
Then it became a known source of health problems and weight gain, so those names started morphing away from the word sugar, or at least gaining words in front of it to somehow make it sounds less bad.
Now we have 84+ names for sugar and the list continues to grow. Here’s what we have now, to try to throw consumers off from this fattening, nutrient-void ingredient, that is so refined now, it’s basically just a chemical in many cases.
- Agave nectar
- Barbados sugar
- Barley malt
- Barley syrup
- Beet sugar
- Blackstrap molasses
- Brown rice syrup
- Brown sugar
- Buttered syrup
- Buttered
- Buttercream
- Cane crystals
- Cane juice
- Cane juice crystals
- Cane sugar
- Cane syrup
- Caramel
- Carob syrup
- Castor sugar
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Corn sweetener
- Corn syrup
- Corn syrup solids
- Crystalline fructose
- Dates
- Date sugar
- Dehydrated cane juice
- Demerara sugar
- Dextrin and dextran
- Dextrose
- Diastase
- Diastatic malt
- Ethyl maltol
- Evaporated cane juice
- Florida cystals
- Free-flowing brown sugars
- Fructose
- Fruit juice
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Galactose
- Glucose
- Glucose solids
- Glucose syrup solids
- Golden sugar
- Golden syrup
- Granulated sugar
- Grape sugar
- High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
- Honey
- Hydrolyzed starch
- Icing sugar
- Invert sugar
- Lactose
- Malt
- Maltodextrin
- Maltol
- Maltose
- Malt syrup
- Maltotroise
- Mannose
- D-Mannose
- Mannitol
- Maple syrup
- Molasses
- Muscovado
- Panela sugar
- Palm syrup
- Panocha
- Powdered sugar
- Raw sugar
- Refiner’s syrup
- Rice syrup
- Saccharose
- Sorbitol
- Sorghum syrup
- Sweet sorghum
- Starch
- Sucrose
- Sucanat
- Syrup
- Table sugar
- Treacle
- Turbinado sugar
- Yellow sugar
Don’t be duped! Read your labels! And if you don’t know a word on a label, don’t buy that food.
In fact, treat food labels as warning labels, much like the warning labels on cigarette packs. And the more words it has, the stronger the warning!
P.S. Confectioner’s sugar also makes a great cocaine snort prop for a Halloween costume, as seen below (this is Bev and me). 😉
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