Sugar History

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Did you know that on a yearly basis, each person consumes 77 pounds of sugar on average? Since the discovery of sugarcane, that number has been constantly increasing, as we have developed countless sugary foods, drinks, and candies. But, when and how did we get all of this sugar? There is much more history behind these varieties of sugary foods than you may think.
Sugar has been changing and evolving for thousands of years, from ancient sugarcane plants to the candies, sports drinks, and chocolate that satisfy our sweet tooth today. The sugar we know today is sucrose, a molecule composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and is two simpler sugars, fructose, and glucose, stuck together. 13.7 billion years ago, when the Big Bang occurred, …show more content…

From there, sugar began to reach places such as Egypt, China, and the Caribbean. Sugar reached Europe by the year 1100 A.D, and made it’s way into French, Dutch and British Colonies. It also spread to the Asian mainland during that time of sugar distribution. Famous people in our history helped to spread this sugar around the world. It is thought that “When Columbus set off on his second voyage to the New World, he too carried cane,” says author of National Geographic, Rich Cohen. Along with Christopher Columbus, a Portuguese Prince, referred to as Henry the Navigator, sent sugarcane to Portugal with a group of early …show more content…

Sugar brought in such a great profit that it was nicknamed “White gold” by British colonists. After sugar crops were milled and harvested, they were carried by ships to other countries. Sugar was no doubt a very important overseas trading item, and helped the European and British economies a great deal. When sugar was still considered extremely valuable and expensive, it was even traded for exceedingly valuable building materials. Products such as gold, italian marble and onyx were exchanged for their weight in sugar. Trade for these materials made sugar profits even more substantial. “Profit from the sugar trade was so significant that it may have even helped America achieve independence from Great Britain.”
From basic sweeteners, sugar started to be experimented with, and was eventually changed into the first candies. Candy originated in ancient Egypt, where nuts were coated with honey, and in Greece, they ate honey covered flowers and dried fruits. However, much before this, the cavemen even tried to create candy, by drying out honey, or even just eating honey or honeycomb by itself. “Candy can be traced back as far as 1500 B.C,” where figs, nuts, dates, and spices were also used as ingredients to make candy in the

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