CONTENT
ETYMOLOGY 2
PRODUCTION 2
CULINARY SUGARS 3
HISTORY 5
SUGAR’S EFFECT ON YOUR HEALTH 5
SUGAR DEPRESSES THE IMMUNE SYSTEM 6
HOW CANE SUGAR IS MADE – THE BASIC STORY 7
REFERENCES 9
ETYMOLOGY
The English word „sugar“ may ultimately originate from the Sanskrit word sharkara or sarkara, which means „sugar“ or „pebble“. It probably came to English by way of the French, Spanish and/or Italians who derived their word for sugar from the Arabic al sukkar (whence the Portuguese word aзucar, the Spanish word azъcar, the Italian word zucchero, the Old French word zuchre and the contemporary French word sucre). The Arabs in turn presumably derived their word from the Persian shakar, derived from the original Sanskrit.
Note that the English word jaggery (coarse brown Indian sugar) has similar ultimate etymological origins. * 1
PRODUCTION
The first production of sugar from sugar-cane took place in India.. Alexander the Great companions reported seeing „honey produced without the intervention of bees“ and it remained exotic in Europe until the Arabs started cultivating it in Sicily and Spain. Only after the Crusades did it begin to rival honey as the sweetener in Europe. The Spanish began cultivating sugar-cane in the West Indies in 1506, and in Cuba in 1523. The Portuguese first cultivated sugar-cane in Brazil in 1532.
Table sugar or sucrose comes from plant sources. Two important sugar crops predominate: sugarcane (Saccharin spp.) and sugar beets (Beta vulgarise), in which sugar can account for 12% to 20% of the plant’s dry weight. Some minor commercial sugar crops include the date palm > (Phoenix dactylifera), sorghum > (Sorghum vulgar), and the sugar maple (Acer saccharin). In the financial year 2001/2002 ,worldwide production of sugar amounted to 134.1 million tonnes .